Partnership Summary: Urban Migrant Entrepreneur Capital in Vietnam

This partnership brought together technology start-up JupViec, LienVietPostBank (LVPB), CARE and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to increase the wellbeing of urban migrant women in Vietnam by providing access to jobs and formal financial services.

About the initiative

Rapid urbanization in Vietnam is moving millions of people from rural areas to large cities, with many seeking better employment opportunities. In the cities, many rural migrants can only find work in gig economy roles, such as cleaning and housekeeping services. These jobs are often informal and insecure, leaving workers with no job security or benefits. In addition, most migrant workers are registered as temporary residents or are unregistered, making it difficult for them to access public social services and products. Additionally, women migrant workers are often subjected to unequal treatment in the workplace and at home, making them more vulnerable to exploitation.

The partnership worked to increase urban migrant women’s opportunities for secure, fair and safe employment through the JupViec app – a technology platform linking women to domestic work opportunities. The partnership also increased women’s access to formal financial services with LVPB, including savings accounts and salary advances.

Results

• Increased access to financial services and financial literacy
  The partnership enabled access to and use of e-banking services for 2,296 women workers, through the integration of LVPB’s LienViet24h e-banking app with the JupViec application. Workers were also provided access to financial literacy training through the JupViec app.
• New skills and experience
  All JupViec workers received training in professional skills, soft skills, and digital literacy skills as a requirement of using the platform to earn an income, delivered through a specially developed cloud-based learning system.
• Gender-sensitive business policies and practices
  CARE support JupViec to conduct a gender-lens review of its policies and practices, resulting in a number of steps to improve gender equality in its business operations.
• COVID-19 support
  During COVID-19, the partnership enabled valuable support for women whose status as temporary or unregistered urban migrants made it difficult to access other services and support.
• Improved financial services
  LienVietPostBank has gained deeper knowledge of the market segment of the women workers and the barriers they face in accessing financial services, leading to changes in LVPB’s internal policies.

Partnership highlight: Supporting workers and protecting jobs through COVID-19

While COVID-19 lockdowns represented a serious challenge for the U-ME Capital initiative, the partnership drew on its collective assets to stay relevant – delivering trainings online, developing new services, and providing much needed assistance to JupViec workers.

The partners quickly leveraged their collective networks and technology to provide workers, who had suddenly lost their incomes, much-needed support. Within a week, CARE were able to access JupViec’s database of urban migrant women workers to obtain a clear beneficiary list and an existing payment system, to enable the speedy delivery of cash and vouchers to 1,621 JupViec workers.

JupViec also tapped into new work opportunities created by the pandemic, such as home and office disinfection services and the sale and delivery of cleaning and other daily items items, which created new opportunities for workers to continue to earn an income during challenging times.