Vietnam: Hope for Landless Families

The Mekong Delta, which has a high proportion of ethnic minorities, is extremely poor. Many families are landless. People lack the most important things: food is scarce and there is hardly any access to clean drinking water. Neither the annual rice crop nor the fishing industry provide sufficient income and must be supplemented by small and ultra-small businesses. However, people often lack the required capital to do that, regardless of how small this capital may be. Due to the various requirements a borrower must meet and their geographical distance from finance banks, taking out formal loans is quite difficult for poor households.

How does CARE help?
CARE supports the poorest households in the provinces An Giang and Soc Trang found small businesses in stock breeding, small retail or trade. CARE’s support is particularly designed for women. From experience we know that this works best by forming small groups which will mutually support and motivate each other in their efforts to save money. The advantage of this kind of saving is that there will be money available to the women in case of need. CARE also establishes contact with finance banks and provides training in various fields that the establishment of new business enterprises entails, for example in the creation of business plans and repayment schedules or in marketing.

Furthermore, CARE supports people in the provision of water and nutrition. CARE drills wells and provides the necessary tools for water treatment so that people have access to clean drinking water which they need in order to survive. This prevents diarrhea-related illness, for example, which is still on of the most common causes of death worldwide. In this way, people do not need to spend as much money for expensive medication. In addition, CARE makes energy-saving and environmentally-friendly ovens available. Read more