Mothers who have small children at the child care group 1, Phung Quoi A ward insisted on having the child care group re-open. In addition, there are proposals on building the fence or
surrounding walls for the school, paving the school yard currently it is a sand lot; providing toys, clean water supply, mats, cooking utensils etc.,…
Critical problems reflected through both the group discussions and our observations were:
- Sanitation: All child care groups do not have toilet. According to a teacher, they took the
children to the river – like local people here who mostly did not have toilet.
- Nutrition as the subsidy was limited compared to food price.
- Safety as the surroundings of the child care location was also flooded or going to the
river for instead of having a latrine implied a risk to the safety for children.
- Sustainability of childcare groups: At the moment, many of the childcare groups are
not functional due to the lack of finance for the teachers and the children expenses. External dependence instead of community reliance or local intiatives causes the
disruption of the model.
5.3 POOR WOMEN AND MEN HAVE LOW ACCESS TO CREDITSFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
It was brought up in the discussion with local women and staff of the women’s union in both Thanh An township and Bui Huu Nghia ward that it was difficult for the poor – especially poor
women – to access to available preferential- interest credit. Poor people do not have land or any significant property to put in security or mortgage as required by all commercial banks.
Poor people or households usually access to governmental credit through the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies – which offer loans guaranteed through local mass associations such as
the Farmer’s Union, the Women’s Union, Veteran’s Association or Youth’s Union. Thanh An’s Women Union managed three programmes:
-
Programme for poor households offers a maximum loan of 10 million VND and minimum of 2 million VND in two years, with an interest of 0.65 ;
- Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation offers a loan of 8 million VND in five years
with an interest of 0.9 for building water storage and latrine; and -
Education loan for students in 4-5 years offers a total of 22 million VND 6-8 million VND per year per student.
However, both poor men and women informed the assessment team that many people could not get these loans since funds were not available.
Women and men are in need for loans
The family of Nguyen Van Nam and Truong Thi Tuyen living by the Canal 16, Phung Quoi A ward is
classified as a poor household. Tuyen received a two-year loan of four million Vietnamese dongs
from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies with the guarantee of the local Women’s Union. Every
quarter, she pays an interest of nearly 80,000 dongs. The head of the local Women’s Union
collects this interest from Tuyen. Tuyen raised two pigs for 6 months and could sell
200 kg of pork for 6,750,000 dongs. She spent 5 million in raising these two pigs, which means she earned 1,750,000 dongs from them. Last year she sold two other pigs and got a
million. Her family spent that amount of money for an electricity meter to start an electricity
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account for their own – they used to have to pay a higher price for sharing electricity with their neighbors.
After selling the second pair of pigs, Tuyen paid back four million dongs to the Bank of Social Policy. The couple wanted to get another to continue raising more pigs. But Tuyen is not
sure if she can get another loan, she knows many poor people lined up for a limited funding. She wants a loan of 10,000,000 dongs. One million to repair and enlarge the pig case,
4,200,000 to buy six small pigs and the rest will be for raising them. Tuyen has never been trained in raising pig.
The assessment has pointed out the following findings related to credit access:
• The government’s credit provision for the poor does not meet their demands. In some
cases of refusal, the bank andor local associations did not provide guarantee for some households as these organizations did not see the possibility of paying back
these loans or if the household would not be able to generate income from the loan. However, a number of local women said the process of screening and approval was
not really fair as some households got the loan, while the others in similar conditions did not.
• Loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies are relatively small, from 5 to 7
million dongs. However, due to a large demand, these loans are separated into smaller loans 4 millions. The duration of the loan is also considerable short one
year which is not efficient. Local people proposed a larger size and longer duration of loans – up to three years – for the poor.
• According to local authorities and staff, loans were given in a package with technical
training or household economics e.g. training on raising pigs. In fact, some households participated in the assessment did not attend these trainings. They met
difficulties in dealing with pandemic. Some households said they could not attend those trainings as the venue was too far. Other households said they were not invited
as the number of participants in each training course was limited.
• A low awareness on sanitation was observed among households asking for loan for
livestock mostly for raising pigs in Phung Quoi A ward Thanh An township and Con Son island Bui Huu Nghia ward – where local people live mostly on agriculture.
As most people do not have much land, they build the cage for pigs next to their house and the sanitation was not proper.
The head of the Women’s Union in Phung Quoi A ward described a model of ‘ capital
accumulation group ’ running from February 2006. This model did not require mortgage or
guarantee like loans from the bank. This model of self-help group also strengthened the connection among the local women. However, the size of the fund accumulated through this
model was relatively small compare to the demand for livestock e.g. raising pigs. In addition, if this initiative will be multiplied, it should be complemented with the techinical
trainings and coaching and could be emerged with other activities by the Women’s Union such as raising awareness on women’s rights besides providing loan.
Capital accumulation group T ổ hùn vốn
There are 11 participants, each person contributed 200,000 dongs per month totally the group has 2,200,000 dongs per month. On the 25th every month, the group will organise a
lucky draw. The lucky person will get the fund of the month. Participant can use the loan for buying a small pig, send their children to school or repair the house etc.
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5.4 CHALLENGES FOR MIGRANT WORKERS, ESPECIALLY FOR FAMILIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN
