Board Meeting in Norway Focuses on New Ways to Help the UN Improve Livelihoods in Africa, Bolster Women's and Children's Health, and Combat Climate Change

Twelve of the world's leading voices for global progress and change are gathering this week for the United Nations Foundation Board of Directors meeting in Norway. The semi-annual meeting, presided over by UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner, is taking place June 19-25 in Oslo and the northernmost regions of the country. The Board is meeting with government, corporate and nonprofit leaders to build support for UN efforts to improve global health, catalyze innovations in international development and call for global action on climate change. The Board's discussions focus on ways to help new partners connect with the lifesaving work of the United Nations.

"Norway is a leader in tackling some of the biggest problems facing our world, and we're proud to be cooperating so closely with the Norwegian government and the UN to improve health and education and combat climate change," said Turner, who is also a UN Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals. "I applaud the Nordic countries for their leadership as funders of global development and supporters of the UN. They are matching rhetoric with real support, and it's making a difference."

The meetings are being hosted in Norway by Board member Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General Emeritus, World Health Organization and Former Prime Minister of Norway. While in Oslo, UN Foundation Board members will meet with HM King Harald V, HM Queen Sonja, HRH Crown Prince Haakon and HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit. The Board's schedule includes a special session with Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to map out ways to leverage Norway's ongoing support of UN causes and innovations that improve women's and children's health, including significant commitments to vaccinating children in developing countries. The Board will discuss UN Foundation and UN priorities and programs as part of meetings with Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Erik Solheim, Minister for the Environment and International Development.

"The UN Foundation's Board is a united voice for change. Having the Board in Norway sends a powerful message that we have a lot to learn from one another and can have a greater impact on the Millennium Development Goals when we work together," said Brundtland.

Last Spring, I co-taught a multi-disciplinary course with my wife, a social worker, at the Bridgewater State University on the socio-economics of Bangladesh. One of the topics we covered was "Poverty and Measures to Remove Poverty," and we proudly mentioned Grameen, Brac, and Banchte Shekha, and the tireless work being done by other NGOs.

However, the students gave a standing ovation when we projected the likeness of Prof. Yunus on the big screen, and shared with them his vow to eradicate poverty from the face of the earth, particularly his famous statement: "I have set a date of 2030 when not a single person in Bangladesh will be poor. Then we will build a poverty museum to show it to our children."

Towards the end of our discussion on anti-poverty measures, a graduate student asked: "How do you know that the steps taken by the government or an NGO to combat really work? For example, if you offer free childcare to the slum dwellers, does that lower the poverty rate in this group?"

To answer this type of question and to allow better targeting of resources work is being done at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of MIT. The J-PAL team believes that when policymakers in developing countries are faced with competing theories and a multitude of tools for poverty reduction, they need clear guidance to rate these and to channel their limited resources. Is it more cost-effective to offer lower interest on loans, or is it better to have interest rates tied to repayment history?

By Celeste Tholen Rosenlof, Deseret News

Deseret News associate editorial page editor and columnist Jay Evensen has won the Cameron Duncan award and will accept it at a June 19 banquet in Washington, D.C.

The award recognizes a journalist each year who has brought awareness to poverty through his or her reporting. Evensen has written several editorials about the work of Dr. Muhammed Yunus, involving microfinance loans for people in poverty, helping them to build a business and become self-reliant.

"I've always been a little frustrated that I'm sitting here in Salt Lake writing about faraway places like Bangladesh and feeling like I'm not changing anything. By being recognized for this award, maybe I have been able to help some people by writing about what Dr. Yunus is doing," Evensen said.

Microfinance, or microcredit, is the practice of loaning small amounts to people, in this case those stuck in poverty without a credit rating. Yunus started doing so in 1974 when he met a young woman making bamboo stools. Her employer provided the materials and she earned only 2 cents a day. Yunus loaned her $6 to buy her own materials, jumping her profit to $1.25 a day, enabling her to pay back the loan and, in effect, become middle class. He later opened the Grameen Bank, giving millions more the opportunity to become self-sufficient.

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prof. Yunus, is like a rare gem. This rare gem should be displayed in the National Museum as a treasured showpiece; instead, some people in Bangladesh are trying to break the gem into pieces to verify its purity. There is no need to destroy this treasured gem in the name of purity verification.

Bangladesh has always been known as one of the poorest nations in the world and for its natural disasters, floods, cyclones, etc. However, Prof Yunus depicted Bangladesh differently. He made the world realise that Bangladesh may be poor in terms of resources but it is rich in producing brilliant minds like him who can help the whole world. He has been helping the poor and the women, the two most neglected groups, for decades in Bangladesh and around the globe,

His social business ideas are brilliant. They solved social problems which had been in existence for many years. Social Business is an impressive way to satisfy the needs of needy people. There are not many individuals in Bangladesh who constantly think about improving the lives of the poor and needy, who are in desperate need of help to survive.

Prof. Yunus not only thinks about their day-to-day needs, he also thinks about their education -- the key to their future success. He has established nursing schools in collaboration with foreign universities to train poor women so that they can stand on their own feet and at the same time help their families.

Prof. Yunus is also concerned about the health of the poor. There are so many poor children who suffer from malnutrition. He introduces a special yogurt called "Shakti," which has all the vitamins and minerals that are essential for children's nourishment, in collaboration with Danone (a world renowned yogurt company). If a malnourished child eats this yogurt for several months, he/she won't have malnutrition problem.