Pha Danh (Ky Son) is a poor commune, the people's lives still face many difficulties, so credit policy activities at the grassroots level are also very difficult. In that general context, previously, the activities of the Savings and Loan Group in Pieng Pho village faced many difficulties, the compliance awareness of the group members was still low, often overdue debts, high interest, 100% of the group members did not participate in saving. The change began in 2009, when Ms. Xa Thi Vien - a Thai ethnic group took on the role of Head of the Savings and Loan Group of the village. With the trust and compliance of the group members, the Savings and Loan Group in Pieng Pho village changed rapidly, the quality of management was increasingly improved, by the end of 2010 there were no more overdue debts, 100% of the borrowing households paid off all outstanding interest and strictly complied with monthly interest payments, 100% of the households participated in monthly savings. Up to now, the total outstanding loan balance of the group has reached over 2 billion VND, the total savings of the group has reached over 150 million VND. The capital from the Social Policy Bank has helped 16 poor households in the village escape poverty sustainably; some particularly poor households have risen up, have a prosperous life, and become typical households with effective loans for the villagers to learn and follow.
For example, Ms. Luong Thi Huong, who had a small child and her husband died early, was very poor. She borrowed 5 million VND from the program for ethnic minorities with special difficulties to buy a cow. In 2010, she was able to borrow an additional 30 million VND to increase her herd. Up to now, she has a total herd of over 20 cows, built a new, spacious house, and became a well-off household in the village. Or the case of Ms. Lo Thi Lan, one of the poorest households in the village, was able to borrow capital from the program for poor households, then from the program for production and business households in difficult areas. She has now escaped poverty and is investing in raising livestock, providing effective broiler chickens and breeding chickens.
Going to Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district - a commune with special difficulties, here are mainly people from the lowlands migrating to build a new economic zone. Recalling the first days of "building a career", Ms. To Thi Huong in Quynh 2 village, Chau Binh commune said: My family is a poor household in the village with 5 members; 2 husband and wife are the main laborers and 3 children are of school age. In early 2016, while difficulties were piling up, the family's meals were sometimes hungry, sometimes full, luckily I was admitted to the Savings and Loan Group and was considered to borrow capital from the District Social Policy Bank with the amount of 25 million VND from the housing loan program for the poor. Thanks to that, my family repaired the temporary house to have a place to settle down. After that, her family continued to borrow capital to raise buffaloes and cows, dig fish ponds and plant forests.
Up to now, Ms. Huong's family has escaped poverty and become a well-off household in the commune and district. The development of livestock farming and production and business activities has helped her family have enough conditions to take care of their children's education. In particular, the eldest daughter is an excellent student in the province and is currently continuing to study at Quy Chau High School. "To have what I have today is truly a dream, a dream that I never dreamed of before. Among them, the Social Policy Bank of Quy Chau district, the women's union officials of Chau Binh commune and the savings and loan group in the village where I live are the people who have made great contributions - accompanying and supporting my family's dream to become a reality" - Ms. Huong shared.
Up to now, it is difficult to count how many examples of overcoming difficulties to rise up, how many students have money to pursue their studies, how many warm houses have been built from policy credit capital... That result is thanks to the support capital, the appropriate organizational model, along with a network of transaction points spread throughout the province down to the communes and the system of Savings and Loan Groups in villages and hamlets, which is considered as the "extended arm" of the Social Policy Bank in implementing policy credit. With a creative method of operation through entrusting some work stages to 04 socio-political organizations, connecting with the network of savings and loan groups up to 100% of villages and hamlets and organizing transactions at the commune level; social policy credit activities in Nghe An have been actively participated in by the entire political system, ensuring publicity and democracy.
For example, in Do Luong district, socio-political organizations entrusted with lending in the area have done a good job of entrusting and managing policy credit capital, thereby helping thousands of subjects in need of loans to access preferential capital as quickly as possible. The Youth Union of Giang Son Tay commune is considered the unit that best performs the task of entrusting loans. Currently, the total outstanding debt under management is 4.5 billion VND with 85 borrowers still having outstanding debt at 2 lending groups. Thanks to preferential capital, after 15 years of operation since the separation of Giang Son commune into 2 communes, Giang Son Dong and Giang Son Tay, the entrusted units at the commune level have helped over 400 households escape poverty, of which over 150 households managed by the Youth Union have escaped poverty. To help poor households use capital effectively, the Youth Union attaches great importance to guiding borrowers on livestock farming techniques, production, and business knowledge. Every year, the Commune Youth Union coordinates with the Department of Agriculture to organize the transfer of science and technology according to the season or each type of crop, livestock, production and business type to help poor households and policy beneficiaries understand scientific and technical advances to apply in practice. After 15 years of implementing the lending trust activity from the loan capital of the Social Policy Bank since the separation of the commune, the Commune Youth Union has helped hundreds of households escape poverty, contributing positively to socio-economic development, the commune was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as meeting the new rural standards in 2021.
The capital of policy credit programs has had great power, affecting many aspects of social life. Mr. Tran Khac Hung - Director of the Provincial Social Policy Bank said: "The journey over the past 20 years in Nghe An has affirmed the suitability and timeliness in implementing policy credit programs, which have increased the efficiency of capital sources; the responsibility and determination of those participating in the policy credit flow have turned small capital into motivation for the poor and policy beneficiaries to rise up and take control of their lives. Policy credit has made an important contribution to the achievements of economic development, the goal of sustainable poverty reduction, ensuring social security and building new rural areas of the province".
From the first 3 credit programs, Nghe An Bank for Social Policies has so far deployed 22 credit programs. The 20-year loan turnover reached 32,451 billion VND with 1,280 thousand poor households and policy beneficiaries receiving loans. The total outstanding debt as of August 31, 2022 reached 10,524 billion VND, an increase of 10,217 billion VND compared to the time of establishment (an increase of 34.31 times), with 277.8 thousand customers still having outstanding loans. Of which, the poor household lending program has the highest 20-year loan turnover, reaching 8,284 billion VND, with over 294.4 thousand poor households borrowing capital. Next are the lending programs for near-poor households and lending programs for households escaping poverty. Nghe An is also the locality with the largest outstanding debt of the Student Loan Program in the country: over the past 20 years, the loan turnover has been 4,475 billion VND with more than 250 thousand households borrowing capital for 625 thousand students to go to school. The outstanding debt as of August 31, 2022 is 285 billion VND, accounting for 2.71% of the total outstanding debt, with 8.04 thousand households borrowing capital.
Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Board of Directors of the Provincial Social Policy Bank assessed that the 20-year journey of implementing credit for the poor and other policy beneficiaries according to Decree No. 78/2002/ND-CP is not long but has achieved great results and significance. Along with the integration of national target programs, the poverty rate of Nghe An from 2002 was 14.79% to now has decreased to 2.74% (according to the old standard). The province has resolutely implemented credit programs, with ways to achieve the highest efficiency. The province has also taken advantage of large capital sources from the Central Government combined with assigning specific targets to districts, cities and towns for implementation. By June 30, 2022, local budget capital transferred to the Social Policy Bank for loans to poor households and other policy beneficiaries was VND 235.2 billion.
“Promoting the achieved results, in the coming time, the Provincial People's Committee will continue to direct all levels and sectors to coordinate with the Provincial Social Policy Bank to effectively implement preferential credit programs; closely manage and monitor this capital source; better implement the contents of Directive 40 and Conclusion 06 of the Central Party Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership over policy credit; at the same time, focus on mobilizing maximum resources to meet the capital needs of poor households and policy beneficiaries. The province will also study and gradually increase capital from the local budget to implement projects on poverty reduction and job creation for workers, in order to accelerate the pace of poverty reduction and ensure social security in the area" - Comrade Le Hong Vinh emphasized.
