Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Editorial: Coops: A thousand Muhammad Yunus
MUHAMMAD Yunus has been a household name long before the man who owns it was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. As founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Yunus helped many of his countrymen rise from abject poverty through small loans as capital in to start their own small enterprises.
Yunus's effective approach to solve the problems of poverty and hunger in his impoverished homeland embraced neither quick-rich economic tricks nor the self-limiting dole-out culture. He just harnessed the power of the free market to address economic ills his country is suffering from.
In the Philippines, that role has been assumed by thousands of cooperatives toiling in the countryside, offering low interest microcredit services so that the poor can become entrepreneurs and championing agrarian reform and agricultural production.
Northern Mindanao is witness to the vibrancy of these "social businesses," which enormous contributions can be seen on its P5.8 billion to the region's P60-billion economy.
According to the Cooperative Development Authority, cooperatives in the region have provided more than 6,000 regular jobs and thousands of economic opportunities to micro and small entrepreneurs. Cooperatives in the region also contribute about 10 percent of the Gross Regional Domestic Product.
Essentially, coops are breathing life to Mindanao, which has long been a victim of economic marginalization.
And more than the food on the table, cooperatives give poor people security-the power to lift themselves from poverty and regain their dignity.
