Sustainable development requires well co-ordinated and functioning formal and informal institutions. In developing countries, courts, regulations and formal conventions are often observed in the breach or fail to function. By default, informal institutions – tradition, culture, family structures and general social norms – play a crucial role. Trust, solidarity and social cohesion make up the tripod of community identity which can even promote development, as the Nobel Committee recognised by awarding its 2006 Peace prize to the micro credit pioneering Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammed Yunus.