Last updated April 10, 2013

Partner Description:

Thanh Hoa Fund for Poor Women (FPW) provides credit to women and their families in the central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa. Since it began in 1998, the program has provided over US$5 million in loans to more than 90,000 clients, helping thousands of families lift themselves out of poverty.

As a partner of the Thanh Hoa Women’s Union, a socio-political organization dedicated to empower women, the program seeks to alleviate poverty through the sustainable and professional delivery of microfinance.

FPW’s mission is to build economically-viable families and communities through formal microfinance that provides effective and client-friendly financial and non-financial products to poor and low-income households.



Thanh Hoa is one of the poorest provinces in Viet Nam. Poor households account for 37% of its total population of 3.7 million. Lack of capital is the most common challenge standing between these families and improving their economic status. FPW is a response to this critical need in the community.

The institution’s target clients are poor and low-income women who have the ability to work but lack the capital. Accordingly, FPW prioritizes single mothers, low-income women with children who have dropped out of primary school, and Viet Nam’s poorest women who cannot access any formal financial services.

Status Update - September 11, 2011

As part of an ongoing effort to fully migrate risk ratings to our new and enhanced risk rating system, Kiva has conducted a re-assessment of the level of risk posed by this institution.

During this re-assessment, our analysts were able to gather updated operational and financial information about the institution, as well as speak with key members of the staff.

The information gathered during this process, together with the Kiva's new risk rating system and half-star support, has led us to revise FPW’s risk rating from 2 to 3 stars

We have prepared a blog post with more information on Kiva's new and enhanced risk rating system, along with a chart showing the relative magnitude of the overall changes for Kiva's portfolio. FPW has been informed of our analysts’ findings and their corresponding change in rating.

Images courtesy of FPW.