The January Series of Calvin College

2009 - Robert Rooy - A Witness to Change: Profiling Microfinance and the Empowerment of Poor Families


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Having worked as an assistant director on more than forty Hollywood productions, including Minority Report, Honeymoon in Vegas and the epic television series Lonesome Dove, Rooy now focuses his energy on creating media programs that engage and educate people about important human issues. His company, Rooy Media LLC, has worked in more than twenty countries in partnership with such organizations as UNICEF, the Microcredit Summit Campaign, the Grameen Foundation and Rodale Institute. He is arguably one of the foremost chroniclers of microfinance, an innovative anti-poverty strategy that has helped millions of families escape poverty. To Our Credit, his seminal PBS documentary series featuring Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, introduced many Americans to this ground-breaking idea. It was the first of a dozen programs he has produced on the subject and the first of several collaborations with Dr. Yunus. Rooy, a former president of Calvin Thespians, returns to his alma mater to share his journey of discovery, his belief in the power of people-centered development, and his commitment to using the powerful tool of film on behalf of the disenfranchised.
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The January Series of Calvin CollegeBy Calvin College