Although my knowledge about the grameen system’s effectivness and magnitude is more from archival sources, I think that the informations that I have from diverse sources are very consistent – Grameen has changed the lives of thousands of poor and downtrodden. The system has changes the way the poor have been looking at life, women have been highly empowered, education level of girls have risen and standards of living have improved substantially. Over and above, people have gained faith in the banking system.

Incidentally, you’re of course right that it is easier to criticize existing programs than to create new ones. Then again, when someone wins a Nobel Prize and is a rock star of the international development world — not to mention an aggressive self-promoter — holding his claims up to scrutiny hardly seems out of bounds.

Poverty motivates the poor to indulge in criminal behavior for a living. To demotivate such criminal behavior, it would be important to provide the poor with alternate source of living. There are two option here, either spoon feed the poor with a pittance of poverty allowances, as is done in the west, or, to provide a slightly higher amount in the form of low cost loans. The first option only allows status quo to the poor, whereas the second option gives the poor an opportunity to self-sustenance. Morover the first option makes the poor more lazy to do hard labor, while the second option gives them the motivation to work. Of course there would be exceptions and there would be loan defaults, but, it would breed a better society which is more self reliant.

Thus, it is more important to take initiatives than to find fault with initiatives.

http://stefanmikarlsson.blogspot.com/2006/10/peace-price-for-banking.html