Donor: International organization - CARE in Vietnam

Implementation period: 6/2007 - 12/2009

Location: at 2 communes- LuongThuong and NongThinh, Cho Moi district, replicated to 2 communes- Con Minh and LuongThuong of Na Ri district, BacKan Province

Budget: 404,204 USD.

The objectives of the project: Lives of poor women in HoaBinh and BacKan will be improved and they will actively participate in solving the problems related to their rights.

Key results:

Training for poor women to develop livelihoods: Improving knowledge in applying advanced science and technology to economic development has been identified as the first important operation to be deployed in the activities of the club.

• In 2004-2009 periods, inHoaBinh, the club has organized 16 farmer field school (FFS) training courses under 8 themes of livelihood development for 160 interested groups of 64 clubs with 1,707 members trained and shared in NST. The clup replicating locality in BacKan province, in 2 years has organized 12 training courses under six themes of livelihoods for 167 interested groups of 33 clups with more than 1,855 club members trained and shared in NST.
• In 4 years at HoaBinh, there were 87 poor households headed by women under the eliminated poverty club, 1691 club members (67%) had improved family income thanks to the livelihood development program organized by clubs. In BacKan province, there were 1 094 members of NST (59%) had increased income thanks to the livelihood development program organized by clubs.

Building and operating of revolving fund to support poor women.

• Providing small credit funds for poor households in the club, implementing the income increased activities to improve household economy. Besides, Building a suitable saving mechanism to create saving habit for members.
• Enhancing capacity for the Management Board of the club to carry out activities in saving credit funds.
• Developing mechanisms for sustainable development through the creation of resources for regular activities of the club.

Raising awareness about the law for poor women

• Many issues relating to the rights of poor women have been identified such as: issues of domestic violence, gender inequality in the family and community, land use rights (rights to grant red cover), rights to receive policies in supporting livelihood development programs of the  of the government like free vaccines, low interest loans for the poor, etc…
• During the operation of the club from 2004 to 2009, a number of key issues related to the rights of poor women has been addressed by the local governments as the request of the clubs such as: poor women were supported in bulding production plans to access to loans from the Bank for social policies in Lac Son district - HoaBinh province, or poor women were supported in planning and designing afforestation by technical agencies of Cho Moi district - province Bac Kan.

Organizing activities for the club

• Club activities is a forum attracted the participation of all the club members. Usually the club organizes regular activities once/month on a fixed day in the month as the agreement of the members of the club. Also, the club is able to hold extraordinary meetings to implement seasonal activities of the club.
• The activity contents:

• Sharing experience and knowledge gained through the livelihood development training courses ;
• Sharing the knowledge gained from the training courses on the law;
• Discussing and giving solutions to solve difficult cases and problems related to women's rights;
• Discussing the issues related to gender equality in the family and in society;
• Sharing experiences in economic development of family;
• Reporting the operated results of the revolving fund and voting for the new loaned members.
• Evaluating the operated results of the club in last month and planing activities for next month;
• Organizing cultural exchange activities in the clubs and among the clubs in the commune;