On October 21, 2021, at Co-opBank’s head office, within the framework of the project “Strengthening the People’s Credit Fund system” (STEP) funded by the Global Affairs Canada (GAC), jointly implemented by Co-opBank and DID, an annual meeting was held for the Project Management Committee to present the annual report 2020-2021 and the annual work plan for 2021-2022 to the Project Steering Committee.
Attending the meeting, GAC representatives include Mr. Brian Allemekinders – Development Cooperation Counselor – Embassy of Canada in Hanoi – Head of Project Steering Committee, Ms. Sandra Le Courtois and Ms. Le Thi Mai Huong – Senior Development Officers. DID’s representatives include Mr. Jean Boisvert – Program Director in Canada and Mr. Claude Lafond – Project Director in Vietnam and staff of the project. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) representatives are Mr. Hoang Viet Dung – Deputy Director – Banking Supervision Bureau No. 3, Banking Supervision Agency, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy – Manager of the Bilateral Cooperation – International Cooperation Department and representatives of the Information Technology Department – which are members of the Project Steering Committee. Representatives of Co-opBank include Mr Nguyen Minh Tuan – Deputy Executive General Director – Co-chair of the Steering Committee, Mr. Nguyen Thac Tam – Deputy General Director – Co-director of the project; Ms. Vu Thanh Hang – Standing member of the Board of Directors – member of the Steering Committee and related departments in Co-opBank’s head office.
Opening the meeting, Mr Brian Allemekinders – Development Co-operation Counselor – Embassy of Canada in Hanoi – Head of Project Steering Committee said: “STEP is one of the largest technical assistance projects of the Canadian government in Vietnam. The project demonstrates the Canadian government’s interest in supporting Vietnam in financial inclusion and sustainability and promoting gender equality especially in rural areas”. Mr. Allemekinders also praised STEP’s determination and efforts in trying to adapt as much as possible to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic to achieve the goals set out for 2020-2021 and wished that STEP would continue to maintain this spirit in the coming year.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan – Deputy Executive General Director – Co-chair of the Project Steering Committee spoke highly of STEP’s achievements in 2020-2021, especially under the Covid-19 situation which has caused enormous impacts across the country, greatly affecting planned field activities and training seminars of the project. Mr. Tuan highly appreciated the SBV’s approval to extend STEP until March 2024 and said this extension would be so important in further improving the effectiveness of the project’s activities.
Mr. Claude Lafond – Field Project Director and project consultants took turn to present activities carried out in 2020-2021 for each component. Accordingly, in the past year, STEP completed and put into operation the PCFs’ Reporting Management System (PRMS) and trained staff at Co-opBank HO and 31 branches on using it. A training seminar on the E-learning system was also organized for 12 Co-opBank branches and 75 pilot PCFs; online training program on Internal Audit Toolkit and Products and Services were developed for the E-learning platform. In addition, loan appraisal forms, agricultural guidelines for cash flow-based lending were further updated.
Reporting to the Project Steering Committee on the work plan in 2021-2022, Mr. Nguyen Thac Tam – Co-opbank’s Deputy General Director and Project Co-Director said “This will be a difficult year for the project due to prolonged epidemic situation which meant social distancing in many cities and provinces across the country. The project office had to be temporarily closed for a long time and at the same time, DID experts have not been able to carry out short term field missions to Vietnam. However, many activities in all components have been planned such as: implementing E-banking solutions, developing IT strategies for Co-opBank and the PCFs system, in-depth training on 22 output reports of the PRMS system for staff at Co-opBank HO and 31 branches; completing part 2 of the Internal Audit toolkit, developing a risk management framework to upgrade and standardize the organizational structure and ranking process for PCFs; updating customer loan appraisal toolkit and implementing the Business Development Services component with financial education videos and smart phone apps to support PCFs’ credit officers when dealing with customers.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Hoang Viet Dung – Deputy Director – Banking Supervision Bureau No. 3, Banking Supervision Agency (SBV) shared the difficulties and challenges in the implementation of the project and emphasized that the SBV would continue to support the project’s products and tools to be deployed and replicated in the coming time.
After the annual report in 2020-2021 and annual work plan 2021-2022 were presented, Mr. Brian Allemekinders – Development Cooperation Counselor – Embassy of Canada in Hanoi – Head of Project Steering Committee emphasized that gender equality activities should be prioritized in the next period and STEP’s communication activities should be further promoted so that more people would be aware of the benefits that STEP has brought to each PCF’s members and to the PCFs system in general.
Closing the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan – Co-opBank Deputy Executive General Director – Co-chair of the Project Steering Committee once again highlighted the important of the extension which is an opportunity for STEP to implement more project activities and complete solutions and tools to support Co-opBank in fulfilling its role as the apex of the PCFs system. Mr. Tuan thanked the GAC and SBV for their continued interest and support to the project and appreciated the efforts of the project staff over the past time. Mr. Tuan confirmed that STEP would continue to be a key project for Co-opBank and it would always devote the best resources to STEP for it to become a great highlight in GAC’s development activities in Vietnam, the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.
Following are some photos of the seminar:
Do Nguyen Thanh Nhung (International Relations and Project Management)
