Dien Bien Phu: Introduction
Photo: Adorable children and several villagers
January 27, Saturday
I am in Dien Bien Phu with Natalie, her boyfriend Jalel, and our translator Trang. I am commencing a very exciting new microfinance start-up project here. I am collaborating with a Vietnamese-American friend, Natalie, to set up a small pilot project in an ethnic minority village in Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu, famous for the 1954 battle against the French Union marking the end of the French involvement in IndoChina, is a very sensitive area in Vietnam.
I am in Dien Bien Phu with Natalie, her boyfriend Jalel, and our translator Trang. I am commencing a very exciting new microfinance start-up project here. I am collaborating with a Vietnamese-American friend, Natalie, to set up a small pilot project in an ethnic minority village in Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu, famous for the 1954 battle against the French Union marking the end of the French involvement in IndoChina, is a very sensitive area in Vietnam.
The battle was significant beyond the valleys of Dien Bien Phu. Vo Nguyen Giap's victory ended major French involvement in Indochina and led to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. Eventually, these conditions inspired American involvement in the Vietnam War. The battle of Điện Biên Phủ is often described as a great victory for a Southeast Asian nation over a modern Western (i.e. colonial) power.
Dien Bien Phu's proximity to the Laos border makes it a priority area to protect from invasion. Since 1975, the government has funneled money and people to build up this city. Dien Bien Phu is comprised of several ethnic minority populations such as the Black Thai, Khomu, Hmong, Tay, Dao Ha Nhi (the majority of those names are in Vietnamese but I am not fluent enough to translate them for you).
Action Aid runs a microfinance project in five villages in Dien Bien Phu. Our involvement began when the old coordinator of this project contacted Natalie’s mother suggesting that this program and this region could use more financing and support to improve the efficiency of their program. The current Action Aid project is being run by the Women’s Union. When meeting with the Women’s Union, we were told about several villages that are very poor where there is very little access to loans. We decided that we would like to start working in a village that is very poor where there are currently no other microfinance operators and very little access to credit. As we did not have the necessary approvals with the government to visit these villages during the weekend (more on the Red TAPE later!), we will come back to perform a poverty assessment survey to better understand the villagers' living conditions and needs. The village we are targeting has 1,000 households and 650 members in the women’s union. The project is small scale (potentially 200-500 loans) but if it runs well, there is the chance to expand the model to surrounding villages and provinces. Nat has raised money from US investors and I plan to allocate the first allocation from the money I have raised from the US donors to fund this project. Here are some pictures that Nat took of some villages in this area.
Action Aid runs a microfinance project in five villages in Dien Bien Phu. Our involvement began when the old coordinator of this project contacted Natalie’s mother suggesting that this program and this region could use more financing and support to improve the efficiency of their program. The current Action Aid project is being run by the Women’s Union. When meeting with the Women’s Union, we were told about several villages that are very poor where there is very little access to loans. We decided that we would like to start working in a village that is very poor where there are currently no other microfinance operators and very little access to credit. As we did not have the necessary approvals with the government to visit these villages during the weekend (more on the Red TAPE later!), we will come back to perform a poverty assessment survey to better understand the villagers' living conditions and needs. The village we are targeting has 1,000 households and 650 members in the women’s union. The project is small scale (potentially 200-500 loans) but if it runs well, there is the chance to expand the model to surrounding villages and provinces. Nat has raised money from US investors and I plan to allocate the first allocation from the money I have raised from the US donors to fund this project. Here are some pictures that Nat took of some villages in this area.
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