Rule Breaking

 A considerable number of organisations have had significant cuts to their funding.  If these reductions were around 10%, the cuts they make could be ‘incremental’ – but I may be wrong.  However, they are facing cuts of the order of 30-40%, which are unlikely to be achieved with incremental savings.

One solution is to simply not supply some services, but this may not be politically, legally or morally acceptable.  And hoping that the Government will change its mind and relent is unrealistic. What to do?

When you are faced with an impossible problem, there is only one course of action.

You have to break a rule.  It is the ONLY way out

Here’s an example of rule-breaking.

Bangladesh is a country where around 50% of the population are ‘rural poor’.  They have no money, no assets, own no land and are often illiterate – and the women are among the poorest.

Getting a loan from a normal bank would be completely impossible for these people.

In 1976, Professor Muhammad Yunus started the Grameen Bank., a project to extend finance to the poor to provide self-employment and lift them out of poverty.  The average loan is around $100 (US). Over 95% of the loans are made to women, no collateral is required and they do not sign any legal documents (many can’t read anyway), and defaulters are never taken to court!

This is not aid, repayments are made weekly and interest is charged at 16%.  It has been a huge success.

Professor Yunus broke all the banking rules and won the Noble Peace prize.

Overcoming funding cuts while maintaining the organisation’s services and integrity will be very stressful and a severe test of leadership.  Long-held and cherished assumptions and beliefs will have to be challenged, perhaps even reversed.


Details of the Grameen Bank project can be found here.  http://www.grameen.com/