Da Nang: Training on lending for persons with disabilities and enterprises engaged in production or business activity that employs persons with disabilities

Within 2 days, from May 18^th to May 19^th 2023, the ACDC Institute, along with the Vietnam National Committee for Persons with Disabilities and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policy, had organized the training session “Training on lending for persons with disabilities and enterprises engaged in production or business activity that employs persons with disabilities ”. The activity is among a series of activities to promote the effective implementation of policies for persons with disabilities of the Inclusion 1 Project, coordinated by ACDC. The project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the management of National Action Centre for Toxic Chemicals and Environmental Treatment (NACCET) – belong to Ministry of Defense, through the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP)

The activity had the attendance of Mrs. Pham Thi Hai Ha – Vice Director of Department of Social Assistance, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Mrs Dinh Thi Thuy – Vice Division Director of Vietnam National Committee for Persons with Disabilities; Mrs Nguyen Thi Lan Anh – Director of ACDC Institute, Mrs Hoang Thi Chuong – Deputy Manager at Student Loan Credit and other Policies target Division, Bank for Social Policies, with 74 members from different units. They are member of the Labors, Invalids and Social Affairs Department, of the Provincial Bank for Social Policies, of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Women’s Union, of the organization of Persons with Disabilities and other manufacturing units for persons with disabilities.

Mrs. Pham Thi Hai Ha - Vice Director of Department of Social Assistance, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, delivered the opening speech

The training session was to foster persons with disabilities and manufacturing sites, business employing many handicapped workers to have access to support policies, preferential lending to develop the production and create jobs for the persons with disabilities.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh – Director of the ACDC Institute shared her hope that the units will support persons with disabilities to contribute to economic development effectively.

Also during the training session, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh – Director of the ACDC Institute also emphasized:”Persons with disabilities nowadays are no longer just the beneficiaries. They can contribute to economic development and create effective business model. To further expand and harness the ability of persons with disabilities, it is necessary to have the support of various entities, including the Bank for Social Policy.”

A lively discussion on the policies of varying lending sources for persons with disabilities

When speaking about the cooperation experience between The organization of Persons with Disabilities and Bank for Social Policy, Mrs. Dang Huong Giang – a person with disability in Da Nang city shared her thoughts:”Currently, The Da Nang organization of Persons with Disabilities is conveniently having access to the loan source of Bank for Social Policy. Members are guided in detail about lending procedure, and in some cases when the persons with disabilities have troubles in moving, the credit department even bring documents right to the house. Bank for Social Policy officers always accompany with The organization of Persons with Disabilities in every activities. Our organization always cooperate with Bank for Social Policy to train on lending sources for leaders of district/ward organization and members. For some local loan group which haven’t got information about the lending source for persons with disabilities, the Organization for Persons with Disabilities will gather the information and transfer it to the Bank for Social Policy to coordinate the provision of information and handle it.

Therefore, the training session had proviced the participants many useful information and practical experience. The session is one among many activities in promoting efficient implementation of supportive policies for persons with disabilities in the project.