The Impact of an Integrated Microcredit Program on The Empowerment of Women and Gender Equality in Rural Vietnam

In this paper we attempt to analyze the impact of an integrated microcredit program on the empowerment of women in rural Vietnam. We conduct a longitudinal study in 2008 and 2012 on a sample of 50 microcredit recipients. The finding indicates the importance of the empowerment components in the Peace Trees microcredit program, which serves as leverage for higher income generation and greater gender equality. The study emphasizes the role of the Women’s Union in designing and implementing the microcredit program with the objective of empowering women. This study supports the importance of the feminist empowerment paradigm in which empowerment is a best practice when a gender equality approach is embedded in program design, rather than an add-on benefit. The microcredit program has also integrated the poverty alleviation paradigm and the financial self-sustainability paradigm.