Bắc Ninh
National Employment Fund supports sustainable poverty reduction
Capital from the National Employment Fund (NEF) has been effectively disbursed by the Vietnam Bank for Social Policy (VBSP) system, opening up new production directions, helping poor households and those just escaping poverty have the opportunity to rise up.
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To Thi Sinh (left) escapes poverty thanks to concessional loans. |
The family of To Thi Sinh, born in 1973 in Moi residential area, Chu township, Luc Ngan district was in difficulty in the past. She got married in 1999, the couple moved out to live separately with their parents in a 50sq.m house with more than 5 sao (1 sao = 360sq.m) of barren hilly land. Three children were born in turn while her husband's health was not good, so the financial burden of the family was placed on her shoulders.
In 2017, she obtained a loan of 50 million VND (2,132 USD) from the NEF via the township Women's Union. She bought a pair of breeding cows and so far she has sold four calves. Along with the money from selling calves, her family borrowed more money to improve the hill garden, planting nearly 400 lychee and apple trees. From 2021, the orchard has generated tens of millions of Vietnamese dong a year, helping her family get out of poverty.
Bao Son, a mountainous and ethnic minority inhibited commune in Luc Nam district, currently has three villages with special difficulties namely Dong Cong, Ho Son 1 and Quat Son. In order to support people to escape poverty from growing pineapples on hilly land, the communal administration and the VBSP’s district transaction office have effectively disbursed loans from the NEF. As a result, the poverty rate in the whole commune in 2022 was 4.85%, down 1.56% from 2021.
Among the typical farmer households that have got out of poverty from preferential loans is the family of Vi Van Tuan (born in 1983) from the Dao ethnic group in Dong Cong village. In 2020, he got a loan of VND100 million (4,264 USD) from the VBSP to develop a Queen pineapple cultivation model following the VietGAP process on an area of 0.5 hectares.
Tuan shared: "Thanks to timely and practical funding, my hometown’s pineapple has become a key agricultural commodity, helping many households like my family to escape poverty sustainably. A stable income from pineapple helps me to repair my house and cover my children's study."
Luc Nam district currently maintains nearly 400 lending groups with total outstanding loans for poor households and households that have just escaped from poverty reaching 334 billion VND (14.2 million USD) with about 5,000 borrowers.
Established in 1992, the NEF is a source of preferential credit for small business establishments and households.
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An officer of VBSP Yen The processes procedures for a local to obtain loan from the National Employment Fund. |
In order to enable people to access and use loans, the provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has actively coordinated with VBSP Bac Giang, agencies, mass organizations and local authorities to promote dissemination work. The fund has brought positive effects, helping many households with capital to start their businesses.
According to VBSP Bac Giang, since it started to disburse NEF loans in 2003, the total outstanding loans have reached more than 312.2 billion VND (13.3 million USD) with more than 10,400 customers. Nearly 16,600 people have been provided with jobs. The rate of overdue debts remained low, at only 0.02% of total outstanding loans in 2022.
As preferential capital is a lever to help local people get out of poverty, the VBSP has implemented many solutions to bring capital to the beneficiaries.
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