Project for the Economic Empowerment of Ethnic Minorities in Poor Communes of Dak Nong Province

The Project for Sustainable Economic Empowerment of Ethnic Minorities in Dak Nong Province's goal is to contribute to a sustainable improvement in the livelihoods of poor and ethnic minority households in Dak Nong Province. The purpose of the project is to increase the incomes of poor and near poor ethnic minority households, with a particular focus on women. The primary project beneficiaries are indigenous and migrant ethnic minorities, with a particular emphasis on women, in the poorest communes of Dak Nong Province and poor and low-income Kinh families.

The project will contribute to strengthening provincial institutions to work with ethnic minority groups, particularly women, in a participatory manner and to integrate their priorities into the Government planning process.

The project will also promote empowerment of people to escape poverty through collective action, i.e. by setting up joint liability groups and savings and credit associations.

It will focus on ethnic minority livelihood development and rural financial services. The project will provide agricultural and value chain lending. It will promote the establishment of joint liability groups as the conduit for bank lending to individual members along with group member training. The project will support the mobilization and formation of savings and credit groups among poor ethnic minority women. The groups will mobilize savings and well performing groups will receive matching grants and be eligible for group loans. Institutional capacity will also be supported.

Source: IFAD