The 2006 Nobel prize has been awarded to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank (which he founded). Trickle Up has long been my favorite charity. It is based on a model similar to the Grameen Bank where small micro-loans help people help create an economic future for themselves out of poverty (Trickle Up makes small grants instead of loans).
Trickle up and Grameen bank are amazing studies in financial literacy. They provide both seed capital and training to help people create businesses and have an absolutely amazing track record. Interview on the Noble Prize web site:
Muhammad Yunus: The one message that we are trying to promote all the time, that poverty in the world is an artificial creation. It doesn’t belong to human civilization, and we can change that, we can make people come out of poverty and have the real state of affairs. So the only thing we have to do is to redesign our institutions and policies, and there will be no people who will be suffering from poverty. So I would hope that this award will make this message heard many times, and in a kind of forceful way, so that people start believing that we can create a poverty-free world. That’s what I would like to do.
From Tickle Up:
In addition, Trickle Up partner agencies structure their training with the entrepreneurs using the Trickle Up Business Plan, which outlines the product or service, the market, how the grant will be spent, projected cash flow, and projected income. Partner agencies use the Trickle Up Business Report to enable entrepreneurs to record their actual costs, profit, savings or reinvestment, and plans for growth.
On Muhammad Yunus:
It is great to see the Nobel Prize honor an economist who helped create a system that provide opportunities for millions of people to change their lives. The people are given some capital and then get to use their ability and knowledge to change their own financial lives.
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[...] a World Without Poverty by Muhammah Yunus (founder of the Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient). Giving people the opportunity to advance economically is something I see as very important. It is [...]