VBSP brings new spring to poorer households

VBSP continues striving for sustainable, inclusive development with this year’s Tet programme

The working group of the bank (VBSP) led by general ­director Duong Quyet Thang arrived to Nguyen Binh district in the northern ­mountainous province of Cao Bang province and Dinh Lap district in the neighbouring province of Lang Son ahead of the lunar New Year to present Tet donations to local poor households and policy beneficiaries.

The gift packages came to the hands of hundreds of needy households in the districts to bring warmth to people in this northern upland region.

Last year in Cao Bang alone, VBSP spent more than VND2 billion ($87,000) building a school in Thong Nong district, donating gifts to heroic Vietnamese mothers and veterans, and building houses for poor people, and tombs to worship the province’s martyrs who gave their lives to defend the borders, and more.

VBSP general director Duong Quyet Thang hands out Tet donations

The bank’s Trade Union has completed a wide range of social welfare programmes ­valued at more than VND27.6 billion ($1.2 million) to pay tribute to people who have ­contributed to the revolutionary cause and to support the life of needy families and policy ­beneficiaries.

Ly Kiem Hin, a resident in Na Hoang hamlet in Tam Kim commune of Cao Bang, said, “On normal days, our people are given loans from the bank for production and business, then the bank staff teach us how to improve the efficiency of planting and husbandry practices.”

“On the occasion of Tet, the bank leaders themselves have come and given us many gifts. We will do our best to leave behind poverty next year,” he said.

Tam Kim and Hoa Tham are two villages of long-lasting revolutionary tradition in Nguyen Binh district where ­diverse ethnic minority groups co-exist such as Dao, Nung, H’Mong, and Muong. As these villages solely live from agricultural production with difficult transport ­conditions plus poor and backward infrastructure, local ­people report low living ­standards with a fairly high rate of poor households.

By virtue of preferential credit policies towards poor households and those of ethnic minority groups facing difficult living conditions in mountainous areas, many households could take up loans to develop the household economy, from there improving their life and getting rid of poverty in a ­sustainable manner.

These include the family of Trieu Van Phia and Hua Thi Lien from Van Lang district in Lang Son, who ­received preferential credit to buy a machine to produce tofu and to raise pigs, and who have been constantly improving their living conditions ever since.

In another case, the family of Hoang Thi Bang in Hoa An district of Cao Bang made it out of poverty in late 2016. In 2017, Bang’s family borrowed VND50 million ($2,170) from the bank to buy two cattle for agricultural ­production. The family now ­enjoys significantly improved living conditions.

In light of the proper ­development orientations and solutions, credit for social ­policies have contributed a fair share to helping the northern highland provinces such as Cao Bang and Lang Son to ­successfully carry out the ­national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction and new-style rural area ­building towards 2020.