Muhammad Yunus brings microcredit to Scotland

Muhammad Yunus is one of this blogger's biggest heroes. But it has been a while since we have linked to any news about him... so lets put a stop to that right now.

Yunus is in Scotland this week to begin a new school at Caledonian University to study poverty fighting efforts. This will coincide with the launch of a new Grammen Bank branch in Glasgow. Yunus' Grammen Bank is spreading its microcredit efforts throughout the developed world. Still, there is some debate on whether it would work in richer nations.

BBC reporter Gillian Sharpe takes a look at the new branch of Grammen Bank.

In her corner office, Glasgow Caledonian University Principal Prof Pamela Gillies is explaining how she sees the possibilities offered by the bank.

"I think this is going to be one of the biggest public health interventions in Scotland since the banning of smoking in public places," she says.

"It is an idea that crosses cultures and economic boundaries and gives control and responsibility for the health and well-being of their everyday lives back to the poorest people in society."

....

There's a transformation of another kind taking place in the Provanmill area of Glasgow.

At three or four tables people have come to a lunch club run by local women. There is lentil soup, as well as a roll and sausage on offer, a chance to chat and a couple of games of bingo - all for a couple of pounds.

The women - all volunteers - who run this place are part of a self-reliance group facilitated by the Church of Scotland.

Each member contributes a small amount of money each week which goes to buy ingredients for the following week.

One of those involved is Jake Crawley, whose dream is to set up her own laundry and create herself a job.

The ultimate aim of this project is to help her do that - there are potential premises in the church where the lunch club is run.

Since they set up about 18 months ago, the women have driven the lunch club forward by their own efforts.

Now they are getting together costings with a view to setting up the laundry as a business.
For that they will need some kind of micro loan and Ms Crawley says she will need help to ease her off benefits and hopefully into her own business.

"Myself, I would rather move on," she comments. "Get our laundry set up and I create myself a job, because that's what I want to do - not because a job centre or work programme is forcing me to do jobs."

One in five of Scotland's children in poverty

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals that 1 in 5 of Scotland's children live in poverty. The report says that translates to 210,000 children or 21% percent. The number has actually increased from years before.

From the East Lothian News, we learn more of the reports conclusions.

Levels of child deprivation have fallen faster in Scotland than other parts of the UK in the last decade but have stalled since 2004/05, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report.

And it suggests that the UK Government's target of eradicating child poverty by 2020 will not be met if progress continues at the current rate.

Measures to reduce deprivation in Scotland are now fairly similar to the rest of the UK, according to the report.

It called on the Scottish and UK governments to do more to reduce child poverty north of the border and suggested a wide range of policy measures.

Focal point of Scottish poverty

from The Herald

IN 1832, when a cholera epidemic swept Glasgow, the majority of its 3000 victims could be found in the poor communities living east of Glasgow Cross.

Nearly two centuries later, the major causes of illness have shifted but the city's health inequalities remain stark: in 2002, the death toll from heart disease in this area was 56% above the Scottish average, while one-third of its residents were suffering a long-term illness.

The perspective was offered yesterday by Professor Michael Pacione, chairman of geography at Strathclyde University, as a example of how stubbornly inequality and poverty in Scotland's biggest city have persisted.

While major efforts have been made to regenerate Glasgow and find a new economic role after the decline of heavy industry, the poor health and lack of opportunities for people living in some of its most impoverished communities remains.
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Prof Pacione was speaking at the Transcending Poverties Conference, which sought to bring some fresh perspectives to an age-old problem. The event, organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and sponsored by The Herald, had three broad aims: to set Glasgow's problems in a historical perspective, to define the make-up of poverty in the city and to shape the debate around future policies and strategies to tackle it.

Though poverty exists across Scotland, the choice of Glasgow as a focal point for the conference was significant. Not only does it suffer some of the worst poverty and ill-health in Europe but it has also seen a concerted effort to regenerate itself by attracting inward investment and targeting government spending on those most in need.

Steven Purcell, Glasgow City Council leader, pointed to the investment in schools, housing and public services as evidence of momentum gathered in transforming the city's fortunes.

"I have no hesitation in saying that we can never tackle the problems of long-term poverty that too many people still face - not least poverty of ambition - if we don't get more people into work," he said.

But he also stressed the importance of offering cultural opportunities to young people and of giving community bodies a greater role - the "next logical stage in devolution", as he described it.

For Professor Ray Hudson, director of the Wolfson Research Institute at Durham University, the inequalities Glasgow faces are a legacy of the same capitalist forces which made it the second city of empire, one of the key "workshops of the world".

Even at its industrial peak, he pointed out, Glasgow's economic success depended on the low wages and harsh living conditions of its workforce.

More worryingly, Prof Hudson warned that efforts to redress the city's post-industrial economic decline have been notably doubled-edged: while it has succeeded in attracting inward investment, many of the jobs created in call centres and service industries have been low-paid and dead-end.

Similarly, Prof Pacione argued that the slum clearances of the 1960s and 1970s had merely shifted the problems of the urban poor away from inner-city areas such as Gorbals, Bridgeton and Cowcaddens and inner suburbs such as Possilpark, Blackhill and Springburn to the outlying schemes of Drumchapel, Easterhouse, Castlemilk and Pollok. Moreover, the city's poorest 10% are now increasingly concentrated in these areas.

The suggestions on how to remedy these problems ranged from economic strategies over jobs and training to community involvement and cultural transformation - possibly a reflection of the diverse range of people now involved in regeneration.

Professor Stephanie Young, senior director of skills and learning at Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, said the key to turning around the city's economy was not simply about providing jobs, but "good jobs".

At the moment, Prof Young argued, spending is focused on those at the periphery of the job market, people who can be helped, prodded and persuaded into work. But little attention, or resources, is given to people once they find work or, at the other end of the spectrum, those in long-term unemployment.

As a result, people at the bottom rung of the employment ladder find it easy to "cycle" in and out of work, usually in the form of low-paid jobs that offer little or no opportunity for promotion or long-term security.

Good jobs, she said, were those which "offer people the opportunity to progress and offer the kind of wages and salaries they can raise families on". She added: "It's okay to get people into entry-level jobs but our aspiration needs to be to move them on from that."

David Webster, of Glasgow Council's development and regeneration services, argued that the east and north of the city needed to attract development to catch up with the more affluent western and southern corridors. "Existing projects and programmes will begin to address the problems, but there is a real question whether these by themselves will be enough given the very strong development pressures in the west," he said.

Another crucial element to reversing the fortunes of these communities was addressing the family breakdowns that have occurred as men lost their traditional role as breadwinners working in the heavy manufacturing sector.

The point was echoed by Professor Phil Hanlon, an expert in public health at Glasgow University, who claimed that addressing the growing gap between rich and poor would require a shift away from "materialistic" ways of viewing the problem to a perspective that takes in people's emotional and spiritual experience. Reversing Bill Clinton's famous dictum, he quipped: "It's not the economy, stupid, it's culture."

Where you survive on benefits and die younger than others in the same city
17,000: The number of new jobs created in Glasgow over the past year

66%: Glasgow employment rate, up from 55% in 1999 but still lower than the 75% Scottish average

57,000: The number of people on Incapacity Benefit

51,000: The number of people on income support

40%: Earnings of males living in the most deprived 15% of Scotland are 40% lower than in the rest of the country

£83,915: Average house price in the east end of Glasgow in 2005, compared to £151,975 in the north/west of the city

46.4%: The proportion of families in Glasgow with lone parents, compared to 25.7% across Scotland

One in four: The number of Scottish children living in poverty, officially defined as those living on less than 60% of the average income after housing costs are met

54: Life expectancy of males in poorest parts of Glasgow, compared to 87.7 in the most affluent areas

One-third: The proportion of Glaswegian males aged between 16 and 49, excluding students, who were out of work in 2001

Eight years: The gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest Scots in 2001, up from 6.5 a decade before

One-third: The proportion of murders that take place in Glasgow

Scots want say over foreign aid

from The BBC

More than three quarters of Scots want Scotland to decide how to spend its share of international development funds, a charity survey has revealed.

According to the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), the country contributes an estimated £377m to the UK Government's budget.

Of the 1,060 people polled, 76% wanted Scotland to decide how the money should be spent.

The feeling was strongest amongst the 25 to 34 age group (83%).

This compared with 61% for 18 to 25-year-olds.

When asked "Did the G8 at Gleneagles in 2005 make any difference to world poverty?", 73% thought it had made no difference whatsoever.

Sciaf also found that almost 90% of people questioned believe the Scottish Executive should buy Fair Trade products wherever possible.

Sciaf chief executive Paul Chitnis said: "The results say a lot about the people of Scotland and how they see the place of Scotland in the world.

"Some of the results came as a surprise to us. They will also provide a wake-up call to politicians and commentators."

Almost £4.6bn was due to be spent by the UK Government's Department of International Development (DFID) during 2005/06.

World poverty

The department has two headquarters, one in London and one in East Kilbride, near Glasgow, along with 64 overseas offices.

Schemes tackled last year included providing humanitarian aid to Sudan in Africa, assisting the electoral process in Pakistan and fighting the spread of Aids in Uganda.

DFID praised Scotland's commitment to ending world poverty, but said the UK's international development was reserved policy.

A department spokesman said: "Scottish people do have a say in how the government focuses its priorities and holds it to account for what it spends and delivers."

He said people in Scotland played a role in the consultation which preceded the process of its white paper which sets out the direction for international development over the next 10 years.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) said an SNP-led executive would double Scotland's existing devolved overseas aid budget from £4.5m to about £9m.

Party leader Alex Salmond said: "The results of this poll are welcome and show that when the real issues are put to people, they want Scotland to take responsibility for her affairs, both at home and throughout the world."

The Scottish Executive said it could not solely stock Fair Trade produce due to public body buying laws, but that it did stock Fair Trade tea and coffee which was also used as a matter of policy in all meetings.

A spokesman said: "The executive has made its support for fair trade clear and is committed to making Scotland a Fair Trade Nation."

SNP could not fund aid, says Benn

from The Scotsman

MURDO MACLEOD POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

LABOUR has claimed that an independent Scotland would be unable to play its part in fighting world poverty.

International Development Secretary Hillary Benn said that if it left the UK, Scotland would no longer have the cash to fund its part in overseas projects such as the fight against disease and poverty in Africa and to campaign for and fund debt relief.

The SNP has accused Labour of "scare-mongering" and pointed out the UK does not meet its own international aid targets.

Speaking at the Labour Party Youth and Student Conference in Glasgow, Benn said: "The choice this century will be between a world that looks outwards, embraces multilateralism and makes it work in all our interests, and a world in which isolationism and narrow nationalism hold sway.

"What we do, when we have the chance, to fight global poverty is the real test. Would an independent Scotland led by the SNP fund the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, which will save children's lives? Would it help finance the African Union mission in Darfur? Would it help finance debt cancellation? And how would it do all this with an £11bn hole in the finances?"

Labour has constantly said that an independent Scotland would have to deal with a huge budget deficit, a claim that the Nationalists do not accept. Home Secretary John Reid has also claimed that, as a small country, an independent Scotland would be unable to deal with the threat of international terrorism.

An SNP spokesman said: "Hillary Benn is a member of the UK government, which for decades has failed to meet international aid targets. Tony Blair's international legacy is a war in Iraq and £25bn to be spent on a new replacement for Trident, which we do not need and which will do nothing to alleviate world poverty. The SNP has always said that an independent Scotland will meet its international aid obligations, just as other small and successful European countries have done and are doing."

• Writing in today's Scotland on Sunday, Tony Blair claims that Labour has so successfully managed the Scottish economy that Edinburgh is now the third-richest part of the UK, after Notting Hill and Chelsea.

In a sneak preview of a Labour analysis to be released at the end of this week, the Prime Minister also says that his party has lifted 200,000 children and 200,000 pensioners out of poverty.

Help Us Lift 90,000 Kids Out Of Poverty: Charity calls for grants to aid the poor

from The Daily Record

By Dave King

SAVE The Children yesterday called on all MSPs to back their campaign for seasonal cash grants to lift 90,000 Scottish kids out of poverty.

A study by the charity showed that 60 per cent of low-income families would never have enough to live on.

They are now calling for two seasonal grants a year to be given to Scotland's poorest families, including a winter grant to help with fuel and clothing costs.

It is estimated these grants alone could take 90,000 Scots children above the poverty line.

Two separate motions backing the campaign have been laid in parliament by Labour's Jackie Baillie and Nationalist MSP Sandra White.

They have been supported by colleagues from all parties.

Jane Gibreel, Save The Children's programme director for Scotland, said: "The response to our plea for seasonal grants has been phenomenal - from the public and the media, as well as the cross-party political support.

"It will continue to be the top priority for 2007. We urge everyone to get behind action for children living in poverty in Scotland.

"We all bear responsibility for this issue, it's not an acceptable choice for a developed nation."

Douglas Hamilton, Save The Children's head of policy and research in Scotland, added: "Our campaign kick-started debates across Scottish society, within businesses, communities and the press.

"We hope more MSPs will make it a New Year's resolution by putting this on their election agendas for 2007.

"We know it's real and it's happening in Scotland because children and families have told us."

Meanwhile, an MSP yesterday called for a scheme pioneered in Bangladesh to be used to fight women's poverty in Scotland.

Liberal Democrat MSP Nora Radcliffe said a system of microcredit could lift thousands of Scottish women out of poverty and contribute to the growth of the nation's economy.