Feb
15
Muhammad Yunus, Veolia, and Safe Water for Bangladesh
February 15, 2009 | Posted by Michael "Aquadoc" Campana
2 Comments
This story is not new; it’s almost a year old, but I just stumbled upon it and was intrigued.
You remember Dr. Muhammad Yunus? Often called “Banker to the Poor”, he was the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, along with the bank he founded, Grameen Bank.
Yunus is a Bangladeshi and a PhD economist (Vanderbilt) who believes that credit is a fundamental human right. He is generally hailed as the one who developed microcredit, the granting of small loans to poor people so that they can use their entrepreneurial skills to establish small businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. Many of the recipients are women.
I think most people would agree that Yunus is one of the world’s “good guys”. I certainly do.
So where’s the water connection? Well, Grameen Bank and Veolia Water have established a 50-50 partnership to bring safe water to 100,000 people in Bangladesh. From Yunus’ WWW site:
Grameen Bank and Veolia Water agreed recently to set up a new company called Grameen-Veolia Water Ltd. to supply drinking water to the poorest people of Bangladesh.
The company will be 50% owned by Veolia Water AMI (Africa, Middle East, India) and 50% by Grameen Healthcare (a company doing social business in the areas of health and hygiene) and its mission will be to operate several water treatment and production plants in the poorest villages in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has abundant groundwater resources that are not too deep and therefore provide relatively easy access to water. Unfortunately, for geological reasons, almost all of the groundwater has been found to be contaminated by arsenic, at levels that make it a health hazard. Today, more than 30 million Bangladeshis are exposed to the sometimes fatal consequences of chronic arsenic poisoning.
Grameen and Veolia Water have therefore decided to join forces to provide tailor-made solutions that supply drinking water to the poorest communities of Bangladesh.
“I am very impressed by the social business model developed by Professor Muhammad Yunus. I am convinced that it is precisely what we need to implement effective solutions for the supply of drinking water to the poorest communities”, said Antoine Frérot, CEO of Veolia Water.
With this agreement, Veolia Water paves a new way and contributes to the achievement of the millenium’s goals.
For Professor Muhammad Yunus “Economy must adapt itself to the needs of the poor, and to begin with, provide for their essential needs such as the need for drinking water. Grameen Veolia is dedicated to this aim, and I expect a lot from this partnership.”
The alliance between the precepts of “social business” pioneered by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006 and the expertise of Veolia Water, which already supplies drinking water to almost 6.5 million people in Africa and India, will enable Grameen-Veolia Water Ltd to bring drinking water to more than 100, 000 people for a total investment estimated at € 500 000. This unique and exemplary partnership will bring people into the economic mainstream by providing an immediately operational and highly effective solution to a fundamental need.
At the end of 2008, the first plant, that is currently in the planning stage, will supply water suitable for cooking and drinking to 25, 000 inhabitants of Goalmari, a village 100 km from Dhaka. Consumers will pay a price that will be set on the basis of what they can afford. All the profits will be reinvested in the further development of the project.
A partnership? Big deal, right? Well, Veolia Water is often painted as one of the “bad guys” of world water by “water activists”, a company that is privatizing and commodifying water and ripping off the poor with its eyes on the rest of us.
I don’t believe that Veolia Water is a pure as the driven snow and that it has probably made some egregious errors along the way, but I don’t believe that it’s the Satan many allege it to be. What it’s done is forge a partnership with a reputable organization to fill a void that government or the NGOs can’t or won’t fill: that of providing safe water for the poor. Yeah, Veolia will probably make a profit. That’s great. The poor will get safe water, and yes, they will have to pay something for it, which means they will value it and be less inclined to waste it.
Let us not forget that it was not some sleazy corporation that exposed many Bangladeshis to arsenic-laden ground water, but nonprofit organizations who failed to do their hydrogeologic and water quality homework.
I hope this partnership works out, and if it does, that it will be a model to help alleviate the needless suffering of millions of people.
Kudos to Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Veolia.
“Poor people are not asking for charity. Charity is not a solution to poverty.” – Dr. Muhammad Yunus
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Dr mohammed has done a great job , never mind the nobel peace award but someone that has a kind heart like that and has taken the time and consideration to put his energy into helping those that are in need deserves more than that ! great work Dr Mohammed the world needs more people like him.
‘I think most people would agree that Yunus is one of the world’s “good guys”. I certainly do.’ Such comment is surprising to the people who knows what ishappening in Bangladesh in the name of microcredit under the cover of poverty reduction. The book on the following link will help one to open one’s eyes in thisregard: http://www.shrabonprokashani.com/events.php