| "You must believe in the poor and in their willingness
to get out of misery"
Muhamad YUNUS, the founder of the Grameen Bank, the bank for the poor
in Bangladesh (www.grameen.org).
Access to capital, keep one's savings in a safe place: these are top
priorities for the people in all the areas we have surveyed. Till recently,
the savings-credit program was the main focus of Thiên Chí. In Dúc Linh
and Tánh Linh, over 6200 women members had joined the groups. Most interesting,
the savings have reached a higher level than the credit provided by Thiên
Chí. Thiện Chi provides regular training to the groups and assists them
in managing their savings. The repayment rate is over 99% in almost all
communes. The impact on the poor's income had been measured as quite huge.
See document
about the former program in Tiến Thành, and the long term impact.
However access to bank credit has improved tremendously since approximately
2003 years ago: the VBARD (Bank for Agriculture) started providing credit
to almost anybody, although still keeping their land title in custody.
In the past many people did not have a land title, today they do. Loans
of several millions VND can be obtained easily in a matter of days. The
loan is usually repaid after 1 year and can be replaced by a new loan
in a few days. As a result, the Thiên Chí program has become less relevant.
In a few communes the Women's Union has taken it over; in others the program
has been phased out.
Thiên Chí focuses now on the extremely poor
-who have a yearly income of approximately 80 euros.
Rules:
- weekly savings -amount fixed by the group
- attend the group meetings
- use the loans as decided
- repay your loans in time
- participate in the social activities.
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How
the interests (credit) are used (1,2% flat):
- training of new groups
- refresher training courses
- books
- management costs incurred by the authorities
- salary of the village workers
- incentives for the deserving members
- provision for losses & inflation.
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Amounts
of credit for each cycle: |
Cycle
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Amount of loan
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Deposit
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- cycle 1
- cycle 2
- cycle 3
- cycle 4
- cycle 5
- etc.
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- from 500.000 đ to 800.000 đ
- from 800.000 đ to 1000.000 đ
- up to 1.200.000 đ
- up to 1.500.000 đ
- according to the capacity to repay
- etc.
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- for 500.000: 25.000 đ
- for 800.000: 60.000 đ
- for 1.000.000: 100.000 đ
- for 1.200.000: 120.000 đ
- for 1.500.000: 150.000 đ
- any higher amount: 150.000 đ
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A few key principles
- a new group will operate well for at least 8 weeks before having
access to credit
- a loan application will be signed by all group members (shared
responsibility)
- deposit the fixed amount (savings)
- repay the loan weekly
- if any member fails to repay its loan, the group as a whole
will loose access to further credit. Delays are charged 1%/week
- after the 1st loan has been repaid for 50% or more, the member
gains access to an interest free "social loan", for
a latrine, a well , a water filter, etc.
- if a social loan is used for a different purpose, then the member
will bear an interest of 1,2% as for a normal loan.
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Deposits
- will produce an interest of 10%/full year
- can be withdrawn only when all members of the group have finished
repay their loans
- if members deposit voluntary savings in excess of the minimum
amount, this complementary amount can be withdrawn at any time.
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Compensations
- the group leaders attending the quarterly meetings will receive
15.000 đ day (covers food etc.)
- all members will receive various training at their group meeting
- will have the opportunity to receive a reward for best performance.
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Books
- Group level: 3 books
- Savings book. The group leader & any
member who receives money sign.
- Credit book. The village worker & the
group leader must sign it every week. The group members must
sign at least once a month.
- Deposit book. Signed for every entry by the
group member & the village worker.
- Village worker: 3 books
- Savings book for the centre (one centre
regroups several groups). Reports all operations for all members
during the week.
- Credit book. Signed by the village worker
& the Viêt Nam Plus in charge (when receiving money).
- Deposit book. Signed by the village worker
& the Viêt Nam Plus in charge (when receiving money).
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To learn more:
The
Viêt Nam Plus micro finance program at the cross roads.doc
Cách tính lãi suất
tại Thiện Chí: cố định, tính lui
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