Vietnam

The official name of Vietnam is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam is growing rapidly, but it is also a place where the gap between rich and poor is widening.

There are places where people are so poor that they can barely survive a day with one-day income, especially in rural areas.

MYI supports the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is the southern Mekong Delta, an area traditionally developed for aquaculture and agriculture, and includes the provinces of Can Tho, Hau Giang, and Vinh Long. However, the Mekong Delta is also a climate disaster risk zone where sea levels are rising, salt water damage, and land erosion are occurring due to climate change. Vietnam ranks 6th in the Global Climate Risk Index and 10 of the 13 Mekong Delta regions are affected by salt water. To respond to this matter, MYI is installing a saltwater measuring station downstream of the river to prevent damage and respond to the effect caused by climate change.

MYI offers low-interest micro-credit to small merchants, small business owners, and handicraftsmen from low-income groups to improve financial accessibility and increase income. MYI strengthened the Vietnamese government's fund management expertise and accountability by organizing a fund management committee focused on local officials. MYI provided basic economic education for participants and an online computer system for managing reimbursements at the same time.

From 2011 to 2022, MYI provided 5,847 small, low-interest, unsecured loans to 1,714 people. Through these loans, MYI has helped establish alternative financial services in the region, strengthened a socio-economic safety net, and vitalized the local commercial area.

Furthermore, because microcredit has ensured its sustainability, it can be continuously operated in the region, even when it is ultimately transferred to the local government.

As a result, the micro-credit was selected as a representative project of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and KCOC in 2022.

We aim to address issues such as the unavailability of agricultural land, domestic water pollution, and land erosion caused by rising sea levels, decreasing Mekong water volume, and degradation of sediments. Through the Climate Vulnerability Assessment, MYI works with local governments to investigate areas of Vietnam likely to be affected by climate disasters and establish a disaster response system for affected areas. To prevent damage from saltwater intrusion, MYI worked with the local government to install a saltwater measuring station downstream of the river to monitor the concentration of saltwater and introduced ICT technology so that residents and public officials can immediately verify and predict the measured data by publishing it on a mobile application. MYI is building an operating system that can work accordingly. MYI is building an operating system that can reduce the concentration of saltwater when it increases in conjunction with small-scale dam operation as well.

People’s lives and existences are threatened by changes in river flow and rising sea levels due to climate change.

Natural sea walls will be built in the Mekong Delta region, where there is a risk of erosion of land to avoid further damage.

MYI supports the recovery of residents who have suffered direct or indirect damage followed by a disaster through economic capacity empowerment and psychological counseling programs. MYI also establishes a response system so that local governments and residents can respond to disasters, and MYI provides disaster response capacity empowerment programs as well as material support such as ambulances and first-aid kits to develop resilience and self-reliance in local communities.