Vietnamese - Belgian Credit Project

Women's empowerment

Through training, group dynamics and group activity, poor rural women have proven their capacity and creativity. As a result of that process of self-discovery, they have achieved a new identity as human beings that are able to make their own decisions and achieve self-reliance. Viable businesses are the basis on which empowerment is built. Economic success of a business project is very important in determining the power structure. When a woman's enterprise is profitable, she can repay the loan from her profits. Her loan is perceived not as an overwhelming " debt burden ", but as an investment leading to increased income and self-reliance. However, if her business does not generate a surplus, then she must repay the loan from other earnings (for example from her husband's money). In this case, she does not benefit from added income and actually increases her dependence on others.

Economic empowerment is a crucial prerequisite for social empowerment. Empowerment is a process where women not only stand on their feet economically, but also take on various exploitative structures. Given women's subordinate position and unequal relations of power between women and men, empowerment involves addressing gender issues, seeking equity, with women and men as leaders and decision-makers. Capacity building, consciousness-raising and managing a successful business project can increase self-esteem and self-confidence, and will help women to realize their own self-help potential and overcome notions that poverty is a question of fate.

For the project microfinance activities are not only about providing relief from poverty. The impact on empowerment of the poor is very important. It is about giving poor women the opportunity and the choice to be active participants in their own destiny. The member-borrowers of the project may control and manage their own resources and their own development. They may also develop skills and abilities, organizational capacity and contacts with financial and government institutions. Therefore, the project improves their situation not only economically, but also socio-culturally (their position in the family and in society), psychologically (increased self-esteem), and politically (more decision-making power). In this respect, the project is a powerful tool for improving the status of women, liberating them from certain constraints, and reducing their vulnerability.

With group training and group formation, borrowers obtained the knowledge, skills and values necessary to run their groups and Centres effectively and manage their business projects successfully. In monthly Centre meetings of the groups, apart from the business of micro credit, other social issues affecting the borrowers like health care, sanitation, family planning, local ecology, management of common resources are also discussed and solutions are sought through collective action. The majority of the clients find homogeneous groups of 10 members an excellent means of forging relationships and solidarity with other women. Experience has shown that in the framework of the microfinance activities women could improve their basic knowledge of business, and develop a great spirit of business. Sufficient consciousness has been raised.

For most of the clients of the VBCP who are living in extreme poverty, micro-credit can break the 'culture of hopelessness' and the family income earned by the mothers generally has a greater impact on the well-being of the family unit (nutrition, children's education and family planning.)

Mrs. Le Thi Ba, client of the project in Tien Giang province explains:

"In my group and even in our commune there is now a certain level of solidarity amongst the poor. It was intimidating for me to go to the first meetings of the project. With the help of the project, I started a small business of duck raising and fruit growing. I am now more skilled and feel better about myself. My husband died eleven years ago and life used to be always difficult for me.I am now no longer oppressed and my situation is no longer insurmountable."

A group leader in Tien Giang Branch said:

"The participation in income-generating activities supported by VBCP loans has indeed enhanced our economic independence, social status and position within the household and this change has been accompanied by much less intra-household tension than one might have believed".

Apparently the husbands and other male members in the household have accepted the new situation willingly and in some cases, even enthusiastically. Almost everyone with whom we discussed this issue stated not only that their husbands did not interfere with the way they used their loans or with the proceeds thereof, but that the relationship with their husbands and equally important, with their family-in-law has improved and their overall status in the household and in the local community has gone up. Most of the respondents also mentioned an improvement in the attitude of the neighbours and of other women in the neighbourhood.

Gender issue

Although the project focuses on women only, the gender issue has been considered. Gender issues do not only consider the sex of the borrower but also the position of the borrowers in society. This position can be analysed from a number of points of view: physical strength, customs, rights, laws and economic power.

Changes in the status of women because of VBCP membership can be seen in measurable economic terms and less easily defined social terms. Key economic measures of women's changed status are their participation in the work force and their increased income and assets. Through access to the program, many poor women - who have never received a loan from any official resource - have for the first time received credit in their own name with full responsibility for managing and utilizing it for the development of their household's economy and improvement of their living standard. The house survey and some interviews found evidence of increased social status of women.

The women reported that husbands were more likely to treat them as equals, and that there was a decrease in physical violence and other verbal abuse. There were not only changes in men's attitudes toward women but also women's attitudes about themselves. Poor women, particularly in the mountainous and remote areas, have few chances of getting involved in social activities and have little voice in their family and in the society. Joining the project through its smallest units i.e. women groups with monthly collective activities (loan utilization, organizing family life and health care, sharing experiences, and helping each other in production) have opened up new opportunities for poor women to improve their economical and social status.

Women's participation in groups for borrowing gives them the confidence and support that enables them to assert their rights to economic assets.

page last updated:29/11/02