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A micro-solution to poverty?

T
Grameen in
Kosovo: A Post-War
Humanitarian
Manoeuvre
By Hongyu Wang
(AuthorHouse, 2015, 108
pp)
Reviewed by Jim Mulroney.
A version of this review first
appeared in the Sunday
Examiner in Hong Kong.

o state that microcredit is a human right is bold, but it is the

conviction of Hongyu Wang, the Hong Kong-based author of
this short but enlightening book about the impact that a little
money coupled with the right expert advice can have on the lives of
impoverished people, even within the context of war-torn Kosovo in the
early 2000s. While this book is a technical read, it is not a difficult one
for anyone who has an interest in microcredit or breaking the poverty
cycle that has trapped around three-quarters of the global population.
But even the uninitiated or casual reader can turn the last page with at
least the hope that the poor do not always have to be among us. Wangs
expos justifies hope that with enough political will, creating a model of
wealth sharing to give all people a decent life is not beyond the ability of
the global economy.
Microcredit was not a new concept when Muhammad Yunus,
destined to win the Nobel Peace Prize, institutionalized it within the
Bangladeshi Central Bank in 1976 and at the internationally recognized
Grameen Bank seven years later. By 1989, microcredit was truly an
internationalized reality, eventually spreading its tentacles to 40
countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and
Africa. The concept was already well established in the developed world
but known as credit unions. Yet while their business almost exclusively
involved consumption, especially of white goods, Yunus believed that
microcredit could work for those who had little or nothing not to
consume, but to produce.
The author, born in mainland China and educated in Macau, builds
his thesis on the belief that humankind is simple, yet revolutionary:
there is potential within each human being to eradicate the suffering
caused by poverty. The Grameen Trust has provided support to
more than 150 partners using the approach that Yunus championed
of introducing sustainable credit programs into some of the worlds

JU LY- S E P T E M B E R 201 6 / VO LU M E 6 / NU M B E R 3

most desperate poverty-stricken regions. But

successful microcredit programs are not built
on ignorance, and Wang explains in detail
the necessity and process of providing expert
assessments of proposed projects, careful
screening of candidates and the discipline
required to monitor programs. He quotes
figures showing an almost negligible default
rate on repayment, with most outstanding
loans attributable to death, sickness or
natural disasters. Microcredit has succeeded
where states have failed to provide adequate
infrastructure for normal business and
employment practices to thrive, but Wang
demonstrates that even in the most hostile
environment of a totally failed state such as
postwar Kosovo, it can also succeed because it
creates its own infrastructure and introduces
its own discipline.

iny and politically fragile, Kosovo was

decimated by two vicious years of ethnic
cleansing in 1998 to 1999, robbing it of a huge
percentage of its population, industry and
social infrastructure. When a relief program
run by the Italian government asked the
Grameen Trust to go to Kosovo in 2000, it
arrived amid a fragile peace that saw more
damage inflicted than the war itself.
While the preponderance of unfamiliar
acronyms that Wang uses in his book can
be irritating for readers, he does give a brief
enough overview of Kosovos prewar history.
This is adequately credible enough to set the
scene and sufficient to give an understanding
of the problems that people were facing and
with whom the microcredit gurus had to deal.
Some households only had women left; all

B O O K R EV I EWS

There is potential within each

human being to eradicate suffering
caused by poverty.

the men were killed, Wang quotes a Grameen

Trust manager as saying.
A 2003 assessment showed positive results.
The project had provided opportunities
for women where none had existed and
promoted opportunities for war victims.
Most importantly, it showed incrementally
increasing incomes and growth of
entrepreneurial skills, while at the same time
building strong communities and boosting the
self-esteem of its members. It also put women
in the center of decision-making processes,
gave an impetus to employment and developed
a culture of saving, especially among women.
In addition, the project bred resilience to
overcome natural disasters and in particular
assisted people in dealing with the harsh,
freezing winters in Kosovo. A year later, the
project was able to move into a second phase
where enterprises were able to cover their own
costs and loans to successful projects could be
increased to aid growth and expansion.

ventually, the Grameen relief project grew

to the extent that demand for microloans
was beyond the capacity of lenders. This
ultimately reflects the success of any such
program, which ideally should lead to the
growth of a full-blown banking system.
The authors own background took him
into the world of Habitat, a program that

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The project had provided opportunities for women where none had
existed and promoted opportunities for war victims.

trades sweat for capital in providing low-cost

housing. His experience with microfinance
came out of a document study in Grameens
head office in Dhaka and his book was
originally an assessment report on the Kosovo
project. Consequently, it does not go into
the community aspect of peer-monitored
discipline and cooperation among members
that produces the cultural change essential to
the success of microfinance. Perhaps that is
another story.

However, Wang clearly demonstrates the

possibility that encouraging human ingenuity
and self-development can yield an economic
return far greater than a small investment.
Does he establish his claim that microfinance
is a human right? He says so, as it concerns
human dignity and equal opportunity. But
ultimately, the reader must decide whether
microfinance trumps those who believe that
the majority of the worlds population is
condemned to live in poverty.