Student and External Engagement with the Yunus Initiative
Engaging with students across the GW community is a key component of IIEP Yunus Initiative. As we collaborate with organizations around Washington, DC and around the world, facilitating a connection between our students and these organizations has become an integral part of our work. The Yunus Initiative has worked with organizations including the World Bank, Grameen Bank, Poverty Stoplight, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and more.
Student Internship Spotlight: April Cheng (BA ‘27) at Grameen Bank in Dhaka Bangladesh
Student Internship Spotlight: Ethan Kerr (BA ‘25) at Fundación Paraguaya - Poverty Stoplight in Asunción, Paraguay
Yunus Initiative Student Group
In addition to facilitating opportunities for students across GW, hosting various events, and producing research, the Yunus Initiative is also home to a student group. The student group, made up of students from across the GW community who are interested in the Initiative’s key themes: extreme deprivation, measurement and multidimensional poverty, and microfinance/microcredit. The student group meets on a regular basis to share ideas and discuss monthly reading topics. The reading schedule for 2025-2026 is below:
Fall Semester: Yunus 101
October: A World of Three Zeros by Muhammad Yunus
November: Banker to the Poor: Microbanking and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
December/January: A World of 3 Zeros Documentary by Áine Clarke and Michel Van der Veken
*Students participating in the reading group do not need to purchase the books and should reach out for links to the materials.
Spring Semester: Choose Your Own Adventure!
Inequality Track
February: Hunger and Public Action by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen
March: Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World by Branko Milanovic
Microfinance Track
February: Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs by Muhammad Yunus
March: Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance by Mike Goldberg and Eric Palladini
Questions?
For more information about the Yunus Initiative student group, please contact Dr. James Foster or yunus
gwu [dot] edu (yunus[at]gwu[dot]edu).