Technical Cooperation for Vietnam Bank for Social Policies

JFC-Micro has provided technical cooperation for Human Resource Development to Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) as an ODA project of Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Ministry of Finance (MOF), Japan.

Outline of VBSP

In the past decade, Vietnam has experienced the rapid transition to the market economy. The Vietnamese government has focused on the promotion of small businesses as one of the top priorities and accelerated to develop the financing system for them, in order to realize the poverty reduction by increasing the employment.

Under these circumstances, VBSP, the successor to the Vietnam Bank for the Poor, has been expanding its lending for the poor and small businesses.

Organization Government financial institution
Objective/purpose Offering funds for the poor and small businesses
Established October 2002, by a decision of the Prime Minister
(VBSP has started its operations since January 2003)
Branch offices 63 Branch Offices and 618 Transaction Offices
Employees 8,800
Outstanding Loans Approximately USD 4,331 million

(As of December 31, 2010)

Background of JFC-Micro's Technical Cooperation

Although VBSP started social policy-based finance for small businesses

, it has faced significant problems of lacking practical credit analysis know-how since established.
Against this background, VBSP requested PRI of MOF and JFC-Micro to convey credit analysis techniques. Therefore, since June 2003, JFC-Micro has provided VBSP with its experience and know-how accumulated for about 60 years. That is quite effective for VBSP that has large portion of inexperience staff.

JFC-Micro's activities for VBSP

<Phase I> Improvement of VBSP staff's ability of credit analysis, etc.
Date Purpose Contents in detail
February 10-19,2003 Preliminary survey NLFC (present JFC-Micro) conducted field survey in order to figure out current situation and needs of VBSP and to discuss the possibility of technical cooperation.
Preliminary survey
June 17-18, 2003 Conference on technical cooperation to VBSP and signing ceremony on Record of Discussion (RD) Mr. Usui, Governor of NLFC (present JFC-Micro) and Mr. Kawai, Executive Director of PRI, MOF (at the time) agreed that NLFC (present JFC-Micro) would provide technical cooperation for next two years as an ODA project of PRI at the conference held in Hanoi.
Conference on technical cooperation to VBSP and signing ceremony on Record of Discussion (RD)
October 13-21, 2003 The first Seminar in Vietnam NLFC (present JFC-Micro) held “Small businesses Finance Seminar” in Hanoi, Da-nang, and Ho Chi Minh City, for branch managers and directors of credit analysis section of VBSP for two days each.
A total of 135 members of VBSP participated in this seminar and learned credit analysis techniques for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) through lectures including case studies.
The first Seminar in Vietnam
The first Seminar in Vietnam
The first Seminar in Vietnam
February 4-20, 2004 The first Seminar in Japan NLFC (present JFC-Micro) accepted 21 members of VBSP including branch managers and executives of the head office, who were selected from the participants on the first seminar held in Vietnam. For three weeks, they attended various lectures on small business finance practices and visited NLFC (present JFC-Micro)'s branch offices and its customers as field surveys.
The first Seminar in Japan
The first Seminar in Japan
May 18-21, 2004 Interim Evaluation NLFC (present JFC-Micro) conducted field surveys in order to evaluate the effects of technical cooperation for VBSP at the end of the first year of this program.
October 05-14, 2004 The second Seminar in Vietnam NLFC (present JFC-Micro) held “Small Business Finance Seminar” in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, for 92 participants from branch managers and middle level staff of credit analysis section for three days each.
NLFC (present JFC-Micro) transferred more practical credit analysis techniques through lectures including case studies and role-playings.
The second Seminar in Vietnam
The second Seminar in Vietnam
February 21-March 04,2005 The second Seminar in Japan NLFC (present JFC-Micro) accepted 17 members of VBSP including 13 branch managers and 4 other members from the head office, who were selected from the participants on the second seminar held in Vietnam. They attended various lectures on small business finance and visited NLFC (present JFC-Micro)'s branch offices and its clients as field surveys.
The second Seminar in Japan
The second Seminar in Japan
The second Seminar in Japan
The second Seminar in Japan
May 23-June 01,2005 Evaluation of technical cooperation NLFC (present JFC-Micro) evaluated the effects of technical cooperation for the past two years. NLFC (present JFC-Micro) members visited three VBSP’s branch offices located in the northern, central and southern area of Vietnam, and confirmed that NLFC (present JFC-Micro)’s know-how has been of use to them to develop credit analysis techniques. As further technical cooperation, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) and PRI will support VBSP to develop “Credit Analysis Materials” consisting of (1) Credit Analysis Sheet, (2) Guide for Credit Analysis with the Job Creation Program, and (3) Collection of Credit Analysis Case Studies with the Job Creation Program.
Evaluation of technical cooperation
<Follow-up> Creation of "Credit Analysis Materials"
Date Purpose Contents in detail
October 3-7, 2005 Guidance for developing "Credit Analysis Materials" in Vietnam Under NLFC (present JFC-Micro)'s guidance, VBSP has actively developed "Credit Analysis Materials" above. In this mission, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) staff had meetings with staff members of Credit Department and International Cooperation Department of VBSP and gave necessary instructions for these materials.
February 21-23, 2006 Follow-up Seminar on Credit Analysis Materials in Vietnam and signing ceremony on RD Taking the occasion that VBSP completed "Credit Analysis Materials" above, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) and PRI held "Follow-up Seminar" for instructing VBSP branch managers on the usage of these materials. Prior to the seminar, NLFC (present JFC-Micro), PRI, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), and VBSP agreed on the further technical cooperation in the next two years as Phrase II.
Outcome of Phase I "Credit Analysis Materials"
â–²Outcome of Phase I "Credit Analysis Materials"
Follow-up Seminar on Credit Analysis Materials in Vietnam and signing ceremony on RD
<Phase II> Dissemination of "Credit Analysis Materials"
Date Purpose Contents in detail
June 5-16, 2006 The First Seminar in Japan NLFC (present JFC-Micro) accepted 16 members of VBSP including 12 branch managers and 4 other members from the head office.
In this seminar, they mainly attended the lectures on Loan management and on Loans to newly established enterprises.In addition, they visited NLFC (present JFC-Micro)'s branch offices and its clients as field surveys and learned how to evaluate MSEs for two weeks.
The First Seminar in Japan
The First Seminar in Japan
The First Seminar in Japan
October 16-28, 2006 The first Seminar in Vietnam NLFC (present JFC-Micro) held “Small Business Finance Seminar” for VBSP in Hanoi, Da-nang, and Ho-Chi-Minh. This local seminar was held for 138 members who represented transaction offices and staff of head office. NLFC (present JFC-Micro) transferred them practical credit analysis techniques using ”Credit Analysis Materials.” Participants actively took part in the case-study discussion on evaluating Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Vietnam.
The first Seminar in Vietnam
The first Seminar in Vietnam
The first Seminar in Vietnam
March 6-9, 2007 Interim Evaluation NLFC (present JFC-Micro) conducted field surveys in order to evaluate the dissemination of technical cooperation to VBSP in the first year. The staff confirmed that it had been widely disseminated to the whole of VBSP by the efforts of the seminar participants, etc.
Interim Evaluation
Interim Evaluation
June 11-22, 2007 The Second Seminar in Japan NLFC (present JFC-Micro) accepted 11 branch managers and 5 other members from the head office of VBSP. In this seminar, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) lectured how to evaluate Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Vietnam in addition to the know-how on Loan management and Loans to newly established enterprises. Moreover, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) presented its important role in the local economy through field surveys on NLFC (present JFC-Micro)'s local branch office and its clients.

The Second Seminar in Japan
The Second Seminar in Japan
October 24- November 2, 2007 The second Seminar in Vietnam NLFC (present JFC-Micro) held “Small Business Finance Seminar” for VBSP in Ho-Chi-Minh, Da-nang, and Hanoi. This local seminar was held for 138 members who represented transaction offices and head office staff. The participants actively took part in the seminar program such as a case study evaluating real Vietnamese enterprise.
In addition, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) visited VBSP’s branch office and transaction office. Through this site survey, NLFC (present JFC-Micro) confirmed that they have effectively utilized ”Credit Analysis Materials”, which VBSP completed in January 2006 under NLFC (present JFC-Micro) and PRI’s support, in the daily operation.
The second Seminar in Vietnam
The second Seminar in Vietnam
The second Seminar in Vietnam
May 13-15, 2008 Final Evaluation NLFC (present JFC-Micro) and PRI staff members conducted field surveys to confirm the achievement of technical cooperation (Phase II) and to evaluate the project as a whole.
Final Evaluation
<Phase III> Establishment of an independent training course on credit analysis
Date Purpose Contents in detail
February17-20, 2009 Preliminary survey JFC-Micro dispatched a mission with PRI in order to investigate the possibility of the next technical cooperation project. The mission team conducted hearings with executives of VBSP, as well as visited VBSP's training center, which was established in 2007, and Hanoi Branch.
Preliminary survey
Preliminary survey
November4-6, 2009 Signing ceremony on RD and the first Seminar in Vietnam JFC-Micro and other three institutions (PRI, VBSP and State Bank of Vietnam) agreed on the further technical cooperation lasting up to next two years. Based on this agreement, JFC-Micro conducted the first seminar in Hanoi. In this seminar, JFC-Micro gave lectures on credit analysis and discussed approaches for the project goal with VBSP.
Signing ceremony on RD and the first Seminar in Vietnam
Signing ceremony on RD and the first Seminar in Vietnam
March 9-12, 2010 The second seminar in Vietnam JFC-Micro held a seminar for the training center (TC) staff who are supposed to conduct a lecture on credit analysis for newly recruited employees. Following TC staff's lectures as a rehearsal, JFC-Micro gave them feedback. In addition,JFC-Micro explained how to make better lecture materials, etc.
The second seminar in Vietnam
The second seminar in Vietnam.
October 26-28, 2010 Interim Evaluation VBSP introduced a lecture on "credit analysis methods for small enterprises" in the training courses for newly recruited staff. JFC-Micro surveyed the past achievements of this project through observing the lecture and interviewing with VBSP staff.
Interim Evaluation
May 24-27, 2011 Seminar in Japan JFC-Micro accepted seven staff from VBSP and conducted a 4-day seminar in Japan. They learned the system of human development and training programs from human resource development department of JFC-Micro in order to improve their training program.
Seminar in Japan
Seminar in Japan
October 19-21, 2011 Final Evaluation JFC-Micro observed a training course on credit analysis and discussed an achievement of this project. All related institutions confirmed that VBSP conducted an independent training course on credit analysis based on JFC-Micro's know-how.
Final Evaluation
Final Evaluation

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