CEP Outreach In 2009 CEP disbursed 184,000 loans to its clients. The average loan size was USD 374. ... » more

ABOUT US

In the early 1990s, the Labour Confederation of Ho Chi Minh City began to align many trade union activities with the social work being undertaken throughout the city in order to reduce poverty. Priority was given to creating employment for unemployed workers and labourers reliant on self-employment to generate income. However, one of the obstacles to the creation of greater self-employment was the lack of available credit to establish small enterprises.

Research was undertaken to identify programs that had successfully created self-employment opportunities on a large scale that offered the potential to significantly improve the well-being of the poor. Eventually, a suitable program was found in the Grameen Bank. Grameen had achieved considerable success in reducing poverty and creating meaningful employment in rural areas of Bangladesh through the provision of credit.

Based on the Grameen model, CEP was provisionally set up in July 1991 and received temporary permission to operate by the Saigon Labourers Company (SLC) under the mandate of the Labour Confederation of HCMC. CEP's activities were based on those of the Grameen Bank, with modifications made to suit the social and cultural context of HCMC.

By August 1991, CEP had designed a number of pilot programs in both urban and rural districts of HCMC (District 1, Go Vap, Cu Chi and Can Gio). These credit programs were targeted at the poor in these areas with an emphasis on sustainability, with a view to becoming a long-term, viable and effective partner of the poor.

On November 2, 1991, the People's Committee of HCMC authorised the Labour Confederation of HCMC to officially establish the "Capital Aid Fund for Employment of the Poor, (CEP)". Its purpose was to build close relationships with the working poor, providing an opportunity to reduce poverty through loans for income generation and employment creation. In 1993, CEP extensively expanded its microfinance services and implemented the Grameen Bank model in all of its branches in order to serve poor labourers.

In 1998, the Government of Vietnam awarded CEP a Third-Rank Labour Decoration for its significant contribution to the poverty reduction in Ho Chi Minh City.

In mid 2001, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Government of Australia signed the "Expansion of CEP's Microfinance Services Agreement". This facilitated the expansion of CEP's branch network and permitted an increase in its organisational capacity to extend its services in all 24 districts of HCMC.

In 2007 CEP opened its first branch outside HCMC, in Binh Duong province. By 2009 CEP had established branches in 5 provinces outside HCMC, as CEP focused to a greater extent on providing financial services to the working poor in rural and less developed areas of Southeastern Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. 

Back to top ˆ