Download PDF of this full issue: v55n2.pdf (41.4 MB)

Empowering the Poor Amidst Big Changes in Vietnam

By Bhavia Wagner

Vietnam is currently undergoing significant changes in its government.

In February 2025, Vietnam's National Assembly approved a massive government restructuring with the goals of reducing bureaucracy and creating a more efficient and responsive government.

Starting in July, the Vietnamese government implemented its largest administrative reform since the country's reunification in 1976. The number of provinces and centrally-run cities was reduced from 63 to 34. The district level of government was abolished, leaving only provincial and commune-level governments. The number of ministries and government agencies was reduced from 22 to 17.

The restructuring is part of a broader anti-graft campaign. By streamlining ministries and eliminating layers of bureaucracy, authorities aim to enhance transparency and reduce corruption.

These changes mean that we are now working directly with the Vietnam Women's Union at the provincial level instead of the centralized government in Hanoi. These administrative changes do not affect our two humanitarian programs of 1) education for poor rural girls and 2) micro-credit for women who are living in rural poverty.

We are continuing to work in the remote mountainous Ha Giang Province, one of the poorest rural provinces. This province is located in the far north of Vietnam, on the border with China. It is hard to make a living in this rural area with its rugged terrain. Most families are farmers who grow corn or rice.

Ha Giang Province is an impoverished area where children typically drop out of school to work on the family farm, in road construction, or to get married at a young age.

This year, with the help of the readers of The Veteran, we donated $9,640 to these programs of education for rural girls and micro-credit for women.

The students are from indigenous ethnic groups, including Dao and Hmong. The school principals and local teachers select the students for our program. Girls are chosen because they are more disadvantaged than boys. Most of the children have just finished primary school, and with our $9,640 gift, we can support 15 girls all the way through high school graduation.

Our funds are distributed to students by our partner organization, Platypus, a non-profit organization from Australia that provides aid to Vietnam. Volunteers run Platypus in Australia, with one part-time staff member in Vietnam. The founder of Platypus, Bob Greer, travels to Vietnam each year to visit and monitor our programs.

Each child receives $100, which covers school supplies, a school uniform, and some food for their families. Statistics show that education for girls is one of the most effective ways of ending poverty. When women are educated, they can earn more and improve their children's lives by providing better nutrition, healthcare, and education.

We are also providing micro-credit loans to poor women in Vietnam. Rural women living in Ha Giang Province are using our funds to start income generation projects, usually pig raising, which helps improve their family's living conditions. The average loan amount is $400 and has a two-year term. The recipients are mothers with children, and the extra income from starting their small business changes their lives. As they transition from extreme poverty to successful businesswomen, they become more respected in their communities, and their self-esteem improves. They are happy because they overcame poverty through their own effort, with the help of our loan.

The poor in Vietnam have limited access to credit, and usually their only option is to borrow from unethical private lenders who charge very high interest rates. Sometimes, villagers are charged double what they borrowed. Poor people are therefore reluctant to borrow because they lack confidence in their ability to repay their debt.

Our loan provides enough money to build a pen for the pigs, get the piglets vaccinated, and buy proper feed to get started. The pigs roam freely during the day and come home at night for food and shelter. By the time the loans are due, two years later, the family may have had three to four litters of pigs with up to eight piglets in each litter. With their extra income, the family may buy shares in a cow or horse, start raising ducks or chickens, or build a fish pond, which increases their income even further. Each successful loan recipient must pass on a baby sow to a new loan participant.

Women's economic empowerment is one of the best ways to end poverty, along with girls' education. The micro-credit program we are part of has helped 440 women and their families out of poverty.

Please help us provide support to these two programs. One hundred dollars will support one child in school for one year. Funds that are reserved to help the child in future school years, all the way through graduation, will be temporarily used in the women's microloan program. We make excellent use of your gift.

Donations of any amount are most welcome and will be a tremendous help. You can send a check to Friendship with Cambodia, PO Box 5231, Eugene, OR 97405, or you can donate online at friendshipwithcambodia.org. Donations are tax-deductible.

Friendship with Cambodia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has been providing aid to Cambodia since 2003. Friendship with Cambodia's founder, Bhavia Wagner, has been volunteering to help Vietnam since 1992, as an act of friendship and reconciliation.

Bhavia Wagner led friendship tours in Vietnam for Global Exchange in 1992 and 1994. She is the director of Friendship with Cambodia and author of Soul Survivors: Stories of Women and Children in Cambodia.

Sponsored student at her home in the highlands of Ha Giang Province.

Micro-loan recipients, staff from the Vietnam Women's Union (front), and Platypus founder Bob Greer.

Loan recipient with two piglets