Medal Honors Advocate for Poor

The Congressional gold medal was presented to Professor Muhammad Yunus April 17 during a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

The medal, designed and struck by the United States Mint, recognizes and honors Yunus’s extraordinary contributions to the fight against global poverty and the effort to promote economic and social change.

Yunus is the father of the concept of making small “microcredit” loans to the very poor and the founder of Grameen Bank, which pioneered his microcredit concept. More than 95 percent of microcredit borrowers are women.

Yunus is also a recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The only book on this specialized series of exposition, commemorative and monetary medals approximating dollar size.

The medal’s obverse was designed by Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Master Designer Donna Weaver and sculpted by Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill. The design features a portrait of Yunus. The medal’s reverse was designed by Mint AIP Master Designer Richard Masters and sculpted by Mint Sculptor-Engraver Jim Licaretz. The design depicts a lotus open in full bloom, rising above the water and cradling the world in its petals, symbolizing Professor Yunus’s dream to end world poverty.

The Mint is selling 3-inch and 1½-inch bronze reproductions of the medal priced at $39.95 and 6.95, respectively.