Grameen Foundation Scholarship Program

Grameen Foundation announced it has received the largest single gift for its scholarship program: $155,375 from the Shirin Pandju Merali Foundation to educate 200 Bangladeshi girls.

Read a story about how students at Fairfield University raised over $1,000 to fund a scholarship for poor rural student in Bangladesh.

One in five children around the world – 100 to 125 million children worldwide – is not enrolled in primary school. Studies show that there is a strong correlation between education and economic growth in developing countries. However, every year a large number of students in rural areas are unable to pursue higher education due to financial constraint. To address this persistent problem, the Grameen Foundation Education Scholarship program supports the education of many meritorious poor children of both borrowers and non-borrowers in rural areas by providing for tuition, books, uniforms, and other related educational expenses.

One program that the Grameen Foundation supports is the Grameen Shikkha (“Shikkha” means education in Bengali), a non-profit organization founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh.  This program’s innovative approach has provided more than 2,100 scholarships from elementary to university level for poor rural children.  To date, Grameen Foundation has sponsored 503 of these scholarships. Each scholarship amount is $1,600. $1,500 is deposited by Grameen Shikkha at a local bank for six months to generate interest income. In the mean time, Grameen Shikkha carefully selects scholarship recipients based on merit and socioeconomic conditions. The scholarships are then disbursed at a monthly rate of 200-500 Taka (approximately $4-$8) and continue for the duration of five years.  Once a scholar finishes his/her studies, the monthly disbursements help support the education of a new student as funds continue to be generated from the interest income received from the initial donation.  In this way, your scholarship fund is eternal and supports multiple students. $100 from the $1,600 donation will be kept by Grameen Foundation for the management of the scholarship program.

You may contribute $1,600 or any of its multiples.  Smaller amounts are accepted as well; however, when you provide $1,600, you are able to support the education of one full student every five years, choose to name the scholarship after you or a loved one, and select a student by gender, grade, and location. As a donor, you will also receive a yearly progress report on the student you sponsor. The easiest way to donate is to do so online where you can choose the amount. Otherwise, you can send a check made payable to the Grameen Foundation at 1101 15th St NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005 and indicate “scholarship program” on the check.

Supporting a student’s education helps not only the student but the entire family to progress out of poverty. With your support and others, 250 Bangladeshi children have been able to continue their education and excel. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Sabrina Quaraishi at 202-628-3560 ext. 157.

Watch a video of some of our scholarship recipients: