Financial inclusion for low-income earners

Financial inclusion is an important development direction to achieve the goal of providing quality and convenient services to customers who are poor and policy beneficiaries, customers in rural, mountainous, remote and isolated areas. Over the years, through its activities, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has contributed to the implementation of Vietnam's National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

More efficient credit management process

Developing non-cash payments and modern banking services is an inevitable trend in the context of the 4th industrial revolution. The development of technology also opens up opportunities to expand financial access for people and businesses, especially vulnerable groups such as the poor and policy beneficiaries in rural areas.

In that trend, in 2019, the VBSP in collaboration with partners implemented the Project “Mobile Banking Services - Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment for Low-Income People and Women in Vietnam”. The project contributes to enhancing and improving access to comprehensive financial services for poor households, low-income households and other policy beneficiaries, and especially micro-enterprises run by women, who currently lack access to formal financial services. The project has achieved some encouraging results in effectively applying digital technology to the VBSP’s operations.

Staff of the Social Policy Bank guide the Association to install the Financial Education application - Photo: Huu Tran

In particular, since 2023, during the Project expansion phase, the Asia Foundation has supported the VBSP to implement the Digital Education Program on mobile phones for VBSP customers. This is a self-study program in the form of online training through lessons provided in video format in the Digital Education section of the VBSP's Policy Credit Management Application (The Policy Credit Management Application is developed with the aim of supporting users who are VBSP staff, staff of socio- political organizations, Representative Boards, Board of Directors of VBSP, Heads of Savings and Loan Groups, Village Heads, and local poverty reduction officers to have timely information and perform more effectively the operations in the lending process and policy credit management).

The digital education program is implemented at 20 branches of the Social Policy Bank in provinces and cities, including two training components: Basic Digital Education (Go Digital) and Advanced Digital Education (Grow Digital), focusing on customers of the Social Policy Bank participating in small business production and service activities, or operating/owning small and growing businesses, with a focus on women-owned businesses.

“Digitalizing” preferential credit helps borrowers become more proactive

As a Thai ethnic, residing in Dak Ha commune, Quang Ngai province, Mr. Ha Van Thuan was introduced by the staff of the Social Policy Bank to participate in both basic (Go Digital) and advanced (Grow Digital) digital education programs.

The Digital Education program equipped him with the necessary skills in using social platforms such as Zalo, Facebook and YouTube, and taught him how to use the Internet safely. Mr. Thuan shared: "The most interesting and useful learning content for my life and work is 'Online Sales' and 'Responsible Business'." He used online channels such as YouTube and "Friend of Farmers" on VTV's application to watch tutorials and learn practical knowledge in caring for plants and animals.

Learning has changed Mr. Thuan's approach to agricultural production and business. In caring for coffee trees, he has learned how to identify and remove unnecessary branches to help the trees grow stronger. He also knows how to apply methods to control and prevent diseases for trees, such as timely spraying and using organic methods. Mr. Thuan shared: "Before, I often did it blindly according to tradition, when pruning branches, I often cut wrongly, and I also left the radial branches. After learning online, I know how to prune branches, predict fungal diseases of trees to spray to prevent them." Thanks to applying this knowledge, his family's production activities have changed significantly, increasing coffee yield from 15-17 tons to 22-25 tons/ha.

In pig farming, Mr. Thuan has applied new methods to prevent diseases and manage animal waste. He is aware that the discharge of waste during the farming process is very harmful to the environment, so he has relied on the knowledge he has acquired to compost pig manure as fertilizer for his coffee plants instead of using chemical fertilizers, helping to save about 10 million VND per year. This method not only reduces costs but also improves the quality and productivity of his family's coffee. In addition, through Zalo and Facebook channels, Mr. Thuan has connected directly with many customers outside the village and commune without going through intermediaries, helping to increase income and improve family life.

Inspired by his success, Mr. Thuan became a mentor to other members of the Savings and Loan Group of the VBSP, of which he is the Group Leader. He shared his knowledge and encouraged other members to embrace digital technology to improve their livelihoods.

The representative of the leaders of the Social Policy Bank said that the above achievements come from the fact that the Social Policy Bank branches select customers who are students who have completed the Basic Digital Education program and have applied the knowledge and skills learned to daily life and production and business work.

The Government and mass organizations highly appreciate the significance of the Digital Education program, which is suitable and actively contributes to the implementation of the policy of promoting digital transformation and digital economy of the locality and the general development trend of the country.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/tai-chinh-toan-dien-huong-toi-nguoi-thu-nhap-thap-172905.html