Bulletin

ContentsSocial enterprise..........................................................................................................................................2

Our local partners........................................................................................................................................3

Acknowledgment for our work....................................................................................................................4

Pig bank!......................................................................................................................................................5

Planting vegetables under a net..................................................................................................................6

And in Rumdoul as well...............................................................................................................................7

Inclusive education program.......................................................................................................................8

Pilot program for children with hearing problems......................................................................................9

A bike to go to school................................................................................................................................10

Bridges !....................................................................................................................................................11

Integrated development............................................................................................................................12

Social enterpriseMekong Quilts (www.mekong-plus.com ) has suffered from a significant change in the market: less Western tourists, and more Chinese and Koreans who do not care much about hand made products. Sales of large quilts have gone down, while small items (cheaper too) have increased 300%. For the last 3 years the management has succeeded in drastically reducing the fixed costs by 1/3. The priority today is to boost sales and recreate the level of employment expected in the villages. Several volunteers provide great help: Pascale in Bangkok, with her friend Susan, have sold 45.000$ in 15 months without any shop, but from their house, in school fairs etc. thus at very low cost for Mekong Quilts. Thanh and Sue, who launched the enterprise several years ago, and brought it at a high level of sales, come back to support the management, with great skills in design and marketing. A range of new products are a great success. Valérie has continued to support the design team.

Our local partnersMekong Plus has, since the very beginning, aimed at sustainable development. But in Vietnam there are hardly any local NGOs. So the local teams of Mekong Plus set up their own: Thiện Chí in Bình Thuận province and Anh Dương in Hậu Giang province. Each team has its director and management, and all cadres meet every month to review the programs and look for improvements, further plans etc.

In Cambodia it has not been possible to do the same yet, the pressure on local NGOs being unbearable for the moment.

The top priority today is to provide further training to a dozen cadres so that they could not only run their project –which they do very well, but have a larger vision for their organization as a whole, basically as social entrepreneurs instead of managers.

Acknowledgment for our workWe have been granted several large funding during the last few months namely for the very successful poverty reduction program. The results speak for themselves:

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The cost of the program is small compared to the benefits: just 76 €/year per household and the increase in income resulting directly from our work is on average 228 €/year for each household! Who will tell Wall Street? These averages are based on a sample of 4500 households, thus very reliable. The program succeeds in about 80% cases in getting the people out of poverty within 4-5 years.

The funding we have secured allows us to expand to new communes and to cover a total of close to 1000 villages! To celebrate this achievement, each of the 5 teams organized a happy meal for all staff. They had sacrificed up to 10% of their income to reduce office spending and help their project through the financial crisis last year.

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Pig bank! Instead of a loan, Thiện Chí gives a saw to the selected poor household in a group. Each time the saw gives birth, the household which is raising the saw sets aside 2 piglets for other members of the “bank” (group), till they have given a total of 6 piglets. After that the saw and all other piglets remain theirs. This is a quick way to increase the resources of a group of poor villagers.

Planting vegetables under a netA vegetable garden under a net is protected from diseases, thus no pesticides are necessary. The net also protects from the heavy rains, which allows to grow all year round, thus benefitting from high prices during the off season. The farmers gain on several accounts: income all year round, reduced expenses, and if they sell still at the same price, they sell faster than the other farmers. The people prefer safer products. This technique is expanding to many more farmers.

Ms. Kieu, the pilot farmer shared: “I realized the benefits and the effectiveness of the model, I expanded this activity to one more net house, to plant more vegetables to eat and sell”.

Another villager on just 70m2 has almost doubled her income by growing pumpkins, sweet leaves, chillies, and various vegetables.

And in Rumdoul as wellWe started to promote this activity in 2014. The farmers can grow up to 8 times, and the biggest profit is during May and June. The market prices for cabbages is higher, because farmers not using a net cannot produce, due to the pests and drought. The nets can be used for 3-4 years. On a 300m2 field, they will get a profit of around 150$ per harvest, every 45days.

We have also started to promote compost and bio-cha, made of burned rice husk, to improve the soils. Today we work with 60 pilot

farmers.

Inclusive education programAnh Dương has 2 programs to assist children with disabilities: the « happy rooms » in a few schools, and a learning program at home, with assistance of Anh Dương staff and volunteers. In the few schools with a happy room, the children can learn and play at the same time, together with their friends who also help them. Their skills improve quickly. Vo Thi Luan is one of them. She used to count numbers only up to 10, would not talk to anyone even to the other children, and even less to the teacher. After several sessions in the happy room, she became more active, started to study with her friends on mathematics with dedicated tools and even learned to tell stories. Her mother: « I am very happy about her progress, today she plays with other children. It was so sad to see her staying away from other people, without talking or playing with them. I am so grateful! »

Pilot program for children with hearing problems In 6 kindergartens of Đức Linh, training has been given to teachers which is later passed to the parents. 1,702 children have been screened and further tests have been done for 21 suspected cases. For 2 children from very poor families hearing aids could be provided. The cost of these equipment is of course an issue: it is usually well beyond the capacity of the villagers. On the other hand the proportion of affected children is very small: usually less than 0,6%. This contrasts with the eye sight screening program: about 5% children are affected and the cost of cheap glasses is around 10 €.

Teacher practiced to use the audio phone

A bike to go to schoolWe have already given 140 bikes to the poorest children, living far from school, to encourage them to go to school. The contribution of each household is 10$ and we provide 30$. The demand is high to expand the program. Today many children drop out from school, we estimate only 25% finish high school.

Bridges !We have calculated that every concrete bridge, on average makes the community save up 14,600€ per year, just for the gasoline! Hundreds of motorcycles pass on them every day, avoiding several km of detour. Besides the children can attend school sooner, there are no more accidents. In Vinh Thuan Dong there had been several accidents of people falling in the river. Anh Dương helped to build a small bridge, the local community covered 2/3 of the costs. It has been a fantastic boost to the local economy. The plan is to build another 20 bridges this year.

Integrated developmentMekong Plus and its local partners strongly believe there is no simple recipe to development. Microloans without adequate technical support can aggravate poverty and precipitate people into despair. Every microloan is thus preceded by a training, then by visits on the spot. A contract is signed by the beneficiary that ensures she/he will follow the guidelines. For the first loans Anh Dương provides the vaccines for free, so the farmers get the habit and see the benefits. Trân Văn Tu: “Before, I was not using any vaccine for our pigs, many got sick and died. I spent a lot of money in treatments for pigs. If Anh Duong stops supporting the vaccine for my pigs, I will

definitely buy them myself now, I know how to inject the vaccines, Anh Duong showed me.”