STEP Project

Our story

STEP Project Introduction
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- Full name : Strengthening the People's Credit Funds
- Project Donor : Global Affairs Canada
- Project owner : Co-operative Bank of Vietnam
- Project Co-manager: Développment International Desjardins

Long term objective of the project:

Contribute to reducing poverty in rural areas of Vietnam by increasing access to financial services, as well as increasing financial security of male and female clients.

In October 2017, Vietnamese authorities officially approved the Project Document for the Strengthening the People’s Credit Funds network (STEP project). Développement international Desjardins (DID) and the STEP team in cooperation with the Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-op Bank) representatives officially launch the implementation phase of the project in November 2017 with the kickoff ceremonies.

The project aims to improve the efficiency of the Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-opBank) and its People’s Credit Fund (PCF) network to supply a range of financial products and services to rural clientele. Développement international Desjardins (DID) will support the Co-opBank and PCFs to revise and implement their development plans. They will also support them in setting up a process to oversee and supervise their risk management tools and internal auditing process. Project activities include: 1) define strategies to professionalize the PCFs and develop tools to help managers, trainers and staff; 2) provide support to the staff in setting up the process to supervise the PCFs, and define the mechanisms to secure operations; 3) conduct a risk analysis of financial operations and loans portfolio; 4) support staff to define the methodology and the tools to assess and develop sustainable financial products and services to meet the needs of clientele; and 5) support training and coaching activities including the transfer of expertise to staff.

Implementing location of the project

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