News / Industry News Article
Poverty Alleviation Loans Fully Repaid
August 5, 2009All of the families in the GVI-NorthWood Poverty Alleviation Program have fully paid back their loans. The Bac Ha Farmers' Association, GVI's partner in Lao Cai that supervises the loans, also reports that all loans were paid back on time and with full interest.
The Association calls the program a success and is excited to parner with GVI over the next several years. All the households in the program have used the loans appropriately and for their intended purpose of business expansion and providing emergency capital. 39 loans were given to families in Lau Thi Ngai commune, Bac Ha district, Lao Cai when the program was launched in March 2009. The small loans (maximum $125) were generated by NorthWood's Poverty Alleviation program and are collected by the Bac Ha Farmers' Assocation.
The concept for the Poverty Alleviation program (initially called the Emergency Loan Program) was suggested by officials in DoLISA (the department of Labour, war Invalids and Social Affairs - the equivalent of our welfare agency here in the US) during NorthWood's October 2007 discovery trip. Through the collaborative effort of NorthWood, GVI, and officials in Lao Cai, a program was created to provide bridge capital to local village businesses and farmers in times of emergencies and to provide business expansion loans for village businesses and farmers.
