Background to Mukti

• Muktii is the innovative project of Abdul Khalek Quazi who was inspired to come up with the idea 15 years ago when his mother village of Manikgonge Bangladesh was crippled by the outbreak of a new phenomenon.
• The revolutionary idea of micro-credit was sweeping through the population; these organisations were said to be saving the poor through entrepreneurial loans, yet were expecting extortionist rates of interest in return. People needed to make a ludicrous amount of profit to be able to live with these loans – an impossible task. They were driven to take further loans to try and ease the problem and thus led to a vicious cycle. It had left some of these people drowning in debt, plunging them further into poverty.
• With nothing to hold onto, many were driven to suicide, the only escape from these voracious organisations.
• An interview with Abdul Khalek Quazi himself uncovers the roots of the Muktii System:
• “I mulled over this crisis that was destroying my village and I realised that even when I gave charity to the needy, in actual fact, I was aggravating the situation, making them dependant on this charity. Through this realisation I grasped the idea that such charity needs to be structured in a way that it would encourage people to become self-sufficient. Thus, I developed a plan for an interest-free scheme that could truly help the people. Unlike donating to charitable organisations, 100% of the money would go directly to those in need. None of it would be lost in administration, meaning full benefit would remain with the poor and constantly revolve providing continuing benefit for years to come.”
• Through this fundamental ideal, Abdul Khalek Quazi has been able to set up and expand his Muktii system to numerous villages over Bangladesh and help hundreds of people.
• However, the expansion of the system has not come at any cost; Abdul Khalek Quazi has been able to found Regulators, people who work within the villages to distribute and collect the loans.
• Their incentive however, is not of the traditional monetary sort. Instead Abdul Khalek Quazi is able benefit them through an innovative means of assistance.
• Find out more about how Abdul Khalek Quazi has been able navigate around the costs of administration that would, in other systems, reduce the money that would go to the poor, at How Muktii Work