Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update — January 8, 2021

Managing foreign borrowing and transferring funds out of Vietnam can be complex, and Thanh Hoa MFI’s risk rating has been decreased from 3.5 stars to 2.5 stars to reflect this complicated regulatory environment. While we feel it is unlikely, sudden regulatory changes may affect Kiva’s partnership with Thanh Hoa MFI.

Partner Description:

Thanh Hoa Microfinance Institution Limited Liability (Thanh Hoa MFI) 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 lift thousands of families out of poverty. Thanh Hoa MFI grants loans to 17,000 borrowers on average each year with loans that vary in size from $200 to $2000.

To learn more about Thanh Hoa MFI, please watch this video highlighting their history and achievements. Also you can learn about the positive impact Kiva loans have had on two Thanh Hoa MFI borrowers Hue and Tien in these short videos.

Thanh Hoa MFI partners with the local Women’s Union, a socio-political organization dedicated to empower women, and together they seek to alleviate poverty through the sustainable and professional delivery of microfinance.

Thanh Hoa MFI’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. Thanh Hoa MFI fulfills 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. Through their credit program Thanh Hoa is helping to improve the role and position of women in family and society. Thanh Hoa MFI supports poor and low-income households to build clean water and biodigester systems, construct hygienic household sanitation, and participate in many additional projects to improve the quality of local people's lives.

Thanh Hoa MFI has received awards from Citibank, State Bank of Vietnam and Microfinance Working Group for six years in a row. In 2014, they were recognized as the best microfinance institution in Vietnam.

Thanh Hoa MFI was previously known as Thanh Hoa Fund for Poor Women or FPW for short. They changed their name in 2014 when they converted from a Social Fund to a MFI.

Click here to view or contribute to Thanh Hoa MFI’s current Kiva loans.

Images courtesy of Thanh Hoa MFI.