Savings for Children’s Futures

The story is written by Le Quang Luong.

“We used to spend the money we had and could only save the little that was left over, if any,” recalled Giang Thi Bau, a 40-year-old woman from the northern province of Dien Bien. “All of the poor families in my village believed we’d never be able to save much money.”

Like many others belonging to the H’mong ethnic minority living in Tua Chua district, Ms. Bau and her husband cultivate rice and soybeans on hillside fields. However, they were unable to grow much as their land is limited in size, the seeds they used resulted in stunted crop growth, and they employed outdated farming techniques.

With low yields, the family could not save much after selling their crops and consequently lacked money for food in the annual two-to-four month period between harvests. During these times, Mr. and Ms. Bau were forced to borrow money from their relatives and Mr. Bau had to travel far from home in search of alternative employment.

“My husband used to have to go 200km away to get work because we couldn’t just live off our land,” said Ms Bau. “He’d come home after a few months or if he couldn’t get a job,” she added. “While he was away, I looked after our rice paddy, took care of the children, and sometimes worked for locals with more farmland than us.”

Many deprived families in Tua Chua rely on a daily diet of vegetables and rice, which is sometimes supplemented with corn. Meat is a luxury and is only served for special events, such as during the Lunar New Year holiday or traditional H’mong celebrations.

The government pays the school fees for local children from poor backgrounds. However, there is no state assistance for clothing and many parents cannot afford to buy decent clothes for their children. This is of particular importance in the winter as the children lack adequate clothing.

A significant number of local youngsters leave education after finishing primary or junior secondary school as they are required to work to earn money for their parents, enter into marriage, and/or have been performing badly in class.

Ms Bau’s family has been receiving assistance from World Vision and two of her children, one of whom belongs to World Vision’s sponsorship programme, now attend school. Also, Mr Bau no longer has to travel between harvests to earn extra income.

“Some people from World Vision taught us new ways to grow crops and gave us seeds that produce better yields,” Ms Bau commented. “We’ve harvested more maize and soybeans than before this year and we’ve had more time to spend at home with the kids.”

Ms Bau and her family were participants in World Vision’s ‘Economic Development for Poor Families Project’, which has helped 400 poor households like Ms. Bau’s. World Vision offered such families with small children training in effective agricultural techniques and gave them seeds and livestock for breeding after ascertaining their relevant needs. Alongside support for deprived families, the project undertook similar activities for teenagers aged 16 to 18 years old.

A second strand of the project focused on the establishment of community-based saving and loan groups, which promote and organize a savings culture for poor farmers and provide them with access to credit.

Ms Bau spoke about her experience as part of the project. “We learned about how to start saving and how to spend money carefully. I now know the importance of saving for the future and I’ve joined my local saving and loan group.”

“We borrowed 500,000 dong (US$24) [from the saving and loan group] that we used to buy a pregnant sow and some chickens,” she explained. “My husband and I have also joined in with some of the group’s training sessions and we helped make a pigsty,” she continued. “We feel more confident about escaping poverty now.”

Twelve saving and loan groups have been opened in Tua Chua since the start of last year. The groups’ members, of whom there are almost 150 in total, have the opportunity to learn about saving, credit, financial reporting and budget management at their twice-monthly meetings.

Every month, each member puts 30,000-100,000 dong (US$1.40-4.70) into his or her group’s savings account, which is used to fund loan activities. The group members can take out loans to start or grow their businesses or to pay for their children’s schooling. The rationale underpinning this aspect of the project is the fostering of habitual saving, coupled with access to credit, will significantly improve poor families’ resilience to monetary difficulties.

“The extra money we’ve made from selling our corn and poultry has meant we’ve been able to buy more food and pay our children’s school fees,” said Ms Bau. “The future for our family’s income now looks much better,” she concluded.