Countries
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar
Local project partner
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German project partner
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Donor
BMZ
Duration
2013
The activities of the Indochina and Myanmar regional project served to create a permanent network of microfinance organisations. In doing so, German Sparkassenstiftung met the desire of all project partners to create an organised exchange of experience in the region and, at the same time, achieved a broad dissemination of project results in Southeast Asia.
The first main phase of the regional project ran until December 2013 and had the following objectives:
- Mutual strengthening of the partner institutions
- Professionalising the organisational structures of the partner institutions
- Strengthening low-income households through long-term and customer-oriented access to financial services
With WFDF, which was founded in mid-2009 as a locally adapted replication of TYM, the Lao Women's Union has begun to professionalise its microfinance business. A pilot branch started operations in autumn 2009. The customers, who are organised in groups, first have the opportunity to open a savings account. They can then apply individually for the first loans to be used for productive purposes. A group guarantee serves as loan collateral.
Almost 3,000 households were provided with microfinance services in three branch offices in various provinces. Management and control is carried out by the branch management and the head office in Vientiane. The repayment rate in the lending business is 99.9 per cent. After just under two years of operation, the WFDF is already able to cover all operating costs with its own income.
In 2012 and 2013, the project will focus in particular on the expansion of branch offices into new regions as well as the expansion of the product range and licensing under the supervision of the central bank. Further training and development of employees and members of the Supervisory Board are also important topics of the project work.
The three project partners EMI in Laos and Seilanithih and SAMIC in Cambodia, which have already been operating as microfinance institutions for several years and have a licence from the local banking supervisory authority, are supported with targeted advisory measures and a credit rotation fund. EMI's support was completed as planned in 2011. Seilanithih and SAMIC will continue to be supported in their expansion process.
