The Northwest Development Cooperation Center (TABA) serves as the consultant and manager of the women’s startup support fund in Lac Son, Hoa Binh, and Tam Duong, Lai Chau, funded by Helen Keller International (HKI) in Vietnam. The fund’s goal is to raise women’s awareness of personal development and economic entrepreneurship. Additionally, it provides loans to women with good startup ideas to help them successfully implement their ideas in practice, thereby increasing the income of women in the two districts of Lac Son and Tam Duong.
To achieve this goal, TABA carried out practical activities from January 30, 2018, to January 31, 2019, in the two districts of Lac Son and Tam Duong. Specifically:
– Consulting to complete the fund’s regulations with community participation. TABA serves as the consultant and manager of the women’s startup support fund, while the Women’s Union of Lac Son and the Farmers’ Union of Tam Duong will receive, manage, and recover the disbursed funds locally.
– Organizing startup festivals in the two districts of Lac Son and Tam Duong. Specifically, TABA guides women who wish to borrow funds in creating detailed business plans. Once completed, the women’s business plans are presented and defended at the startup festival organized by TABA.
– Each commune selects 10 outstanding business plans to receive funding and support for implementation. TABA then provides the funds and technical advice for implementation to the women.
After one year of management, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center has achieved the following results with the women’s startup support fund in Lac Son, Hoa Binh, and Tam Duong, Lai Chau:
– With a capital of 800 million VND per district, 40 women in Lac Son, Hoa Binh, and Tam Duong, Lai Chau have received loans and support to successfully implement small business plans. Successful loan models include raising specialty chickens and pigs, and exploiting local products such as Lac Son wild chili and specialty rice.
– The 40 women who received loans also participated in three training courses on business management skills and online business. Moreover, the women joined the “Mam Market – Rural Women’s Start-up” network.
– The women’s startup support fund managed by TABA will continue to operate widely in the community and develop further in the coming years. After the first phase, the fund’s capital continues to revolve and has entered the second phase of funding for 2020-2021.
