“Breaking the Cycle” is an initiative launched by the Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI) in 2021, with the goal of building a comprehensive support ecosystem and strengthening children’s self-reliance. The program was designed to address rising inequality, as children from disadvantaged families are trapped in a cycle of poverty, illness, and trauma that persists and often worsens across generations. Through multi-dimensional, root-level interventions, “Breaking the Cycle” has helped more than 300 children maintain their schooling during the first four years of the program. The initiative’s ultimate goal is to establish a “best practice standard” that can be scaled and sustained by cultivating a safe and healthy ecosystem, where children and families become active agents of change and break the cycle of poverty.

Project Context

While supporting homeless people and low-income families severely affected by COVID-19, SCDI recognized that children in these groups were the most vulnerable. The pandemic not only disrupted education but also highlighted inequalities in access to education, healthcare, and social protection, particularly in major cities such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Many children from poor families face overlapping barriers: lack of identification documents, poor health, challenging family circumstances, exposure to violence, or lack of parental care. These factors make children prone to dropping out of school, losing confidence and motivation, while poor nutrition and limited access to social services have long-term effects on their physical development, cognitive skills, and social abilities.

According to the World Bank, the most effective pathway out of poverty in Vietnam is to help youth access formal labor markets with stable, higher-income employment. This can only be achieved if children are healthy, have full educational opportunities, essential life skills, and the psychological readiness to integrate into society.

Based on this reality, SCDI developed the Breaking the Cycle program as a long-term strategy to interrupt the poverty - illness - trauma cycle. The program aims to build a multidimensional intervention ecosystem that empowers children and families to become key agents of change, while schools and communities provide a safe and supportive environment for comprehensive child development.

Program Design and Approach

With over 15 years of experience working with vulnerable communities, SCDI identified that breaking the poverty cycle requires children from disadvantaged families to simultaneously develop two core capacities: self-capacity (learning ability, independence, adaptability) and adaptive capacity (resilience, flexibility in response to changing circumstances). These are the foundations for children to overcome systemic barriers and achieve sustainable development, rather than merely receiving short-term aid.

Support ecosystem model for school-going children

The program’s interventions are implemented simultaneously at three tightly linked levels:

• Individual level: Comprehensive support to help children start and stay in school.
• Family level: Strengthening family foundations, increasing parental engagement, creating a safe environment, and motivating children to continue learning.
• Community level: Mobilizing social organizations, businesses, volunteers, and local authorities to participate, creating a multi-layered support network.

Standard intervention package and needs-based package

• Standard package: Includes tuition, books, health insurance, nutrition, and tutoring, ensuring children have the necessary conditions to start and continue their education.
• Needs-based package: Tailored for specific cases, addressing difficulties that the standard package does not cover, such as housing support, livelihoods, medical expenses for chronic or emergency conditions, legal document assistance, etc.

The implemented intervention packages ensure that no risk factors are overlooked, while demonstrating flexibility to optimize resources, enabling transferability and scalability.

Addressing administrative barriers

Many families reached by “Breaking the Cycle” are unable to obtain birth certificates due to missing hospital records, insufficient funds for medical fees, or parents lacking identification documents. Therefore, support for documentation and health insurance is not just administrative, but also removes intertwined barriers, moving children from a state of “receiving support” to “actively and sustainably integrated,” thereby ensuring their rights through policy and systemic mechanisms.

Partner collaboration to expand and enhance interventions

“Breaking the Cycle” partners with businesses, agencies, and professional organizations to expand interventions, ensuring access to nutrition, healthcare, skill development, vocational training, and employment connections. This collaboration improves support quality, optimizes costs, and forms a multi-sector cooperative ecosystem. After over four years, the program has established the trust of its partners and donors, reinforcing its sustainability and long-term growth potential.

Mobilizing volunteer networks and local resources

“Breaking the Cycle” has built a network of collaborators, volunteers, social enterprises, and local businesses. Active participation increases support efficiency, optimizes costs, and strengthens community trust. Many local collaborators understand the context and culture, enabling the rapid and appropriate implementation of interventions. Social enterprises and CSR-involved businesses enrich resources and spread the spirit of “community for community.”

Evidence-based intervention design, monitoring, and quantification for refinement and scaling

“Breaking the Cycle” is designed based on the Theory of Change, with specific key indicators reflecting a commitment to quality: 95% of children start the school year, 90% complete it, and 90% of youth aged 18 are connected to vocational training. The program conducts six-month and twelve-month evaluations to monitor progress, learn from practice, and adjust interventions based on data. This prioritizes resources, standardizes intervention packages, and ensures solutions can be replicated in other areas.

Information about the comprehensive support system

During the development of “Breaking the Cycle,” we supported each case based on the needs of children and their families, guided by evidence showing that systematically meeting these needs sustains children’s school attendance. After the pilot and implementation phases, “Breaking the Cycle” developed interventions into a comprehensive “Support System,” including modules described in the table below, which can be applied simultaneously or customized according to the actual needs of program participants.

Supporting children go to school and stay in school

Building children's resilience

Building supportive ecosystem

Project Goals and Vision

Vision

The vision of “Breaking the Cycle” aligns with SCDI’s long-term development strategy through 2030, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to achieve universal lower secondary education and end extreme and multidimensional poverty in vulnerable communities in Vietnam.

The project believes education is the most sustainable path out of poverty, but to create real impact, children need health, skills, confidence, and self-reliance. “Breaking the Cycle” aims to develop a generation of independent, well-adapted youth who become positive change agents in their communities.

In the long term, the project aims to become a “Good Practice Standard” in social development - a reliable framework for state agencies, organizations, and social enterprises to adopt, adjust, and replicate locally, even without direct funding.

Objectives

The overall goal of “Breaking the Cycle” is to improve access to education and labor market competitiveness for disadvantaged children and youth in urban areas.

The program is clearly structured, with two specific objectives that emphasize effectiveness and replicability.

Objective 1: Empower vulnerable children and youth comprehensively, ensuring all children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds:

• Access sustainable education: 95% of supported children start the school year, and at least 90% complete it.
• Develop self-capacity: Through group activities, tutoring, and life skills development, helping children adapt, gain confidence, and strengthen resilience.
• Expand career opportunities: For youth over 18, the program aims for at least 90% to be connected to vocational training or internships at reputable training institutions, targeting stable employment and independence.

Objective 2: Build a comprehensive and scalable intervention model

“Breaking the Cycle” focuses not only on individual outcomes but also on creating a proven intervention model transferable to social organizations and local authorities, aiming to:

• Standardize intervention processes and costs, including the standard package and modular needs-based interventions.
• Establish rigorous monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress, quantify impact, and optimize resource allocation.
• Build a “best practice standard” in social intervention to serve as a foundation for local replication.

Long-term development motivation

The motivation for “Breaking the Cycle” comes not only from social responsibility but also from belief in children’s right to holistic development. This belief is reinforced by the program's practical effectiveness over four years, demonstrating its ability to create long-term change with high-quality commitment indicators. “Breaking the Cycle” demonstrates that a humane, comprehensive, and strategic intervention can create a deeper and more sustainable impact than any short-term support, giving every child and youth, regardless of starting point, a chance to break the cycle of poverty and build a stable future.

For SCDI, the motivation is not only immediate results but also a desire to pioneer adaptive, flexible solutions. SCDI is prepared to adjust interventions in response to community and partner feedback. In the long term, SCDI aims to contribute systemically to social development, not just by implementing interventions but by standardizing processes, tools, and lessons learned to form a “Good Practice Standard,” laying the foundation for sustainable scaling and legacy.

Project Implementation - Scope - Budget

Scope of implementation

“Breaking the Cycle” is implemented in three major cities: Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Ho Chi Minh City, areas that exhibit stark wealth gaps and unequal access to education.

The program targets vulnerable children and youth, including:

• Children living in slums, homeless, or in poor migrant families, lacking ID documents or school access.
• Children from poor families whose parents are unable to provide care, suffer from chronic illnesses, or face legal barriers.

Phase 1 (2021 – 2023): Laying the foundation and shaping the model

The program started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many poor families faced a comprehensive crisis: loss of income, housing, and children’s learning opportunities. In this phase, 245 children received comprehensive support through partners like HSBC, McKinsey & Company, KOTO (Know One Teach One), and British International School Hanoi (BVIS Hanoi). Key activities included:

• Emergency support: Food provision, pandemic guidance, and online learning tools (including phones, tablets, and internet access).
• Administrative barrier removal: IDs, health insurance, and improving family livelihood.
• Family engagement: Organizing group activities for children and parents to strengthen connections.

This phase established a foundation for a comprehensive intervention model, linking education with healthcare, legal, and social support, paving the way for sustainable scale-up.

Phase 2 (2023 – 2025): Scaling up and deepening interventions

After achieving results in Phase 1, the program entered Phase 2, supporting 332 children. It continued receiving trust and cooperation from previous donors and partners, while expanding collaborations with new partners such as the World Bank, Swiss Embassy in Vietnam, tesa Site Hai Phong, social enterprise VietHarvest, Hyundai Jump School volunteer program, VinUniversity, British International School Hanoi (BIS Hanoi), and other social organizations and benefactors.

In addition to maintaining core activities, the program strengthened children’s self-capacity and adaptive capacity through life skills sessions, regular medical check-ups, and the development of health records. Youth over 18 were connected to quality vocational training programs for stable income and career development. The program increasingly gained the trust and collaboration of donors and partners, reinforcing its effectiveness and sustainability.

Project Budget and Disbursement

As of 30/09/2025, “Breaking the Cycle” has disbursed 6,000,000,000 VND (Six billion VND) for program activities.

The program also received in-kind and professional support (books, school supplies, nutrition, health counseling, legal advice, etc.) from organizations, businesses, and philanthropists.

In addition, the invaluable time and effort of volunteers and collaborators represent the largest resource for sustainable program operation and cannot be quantified in disbursement costs.

Impact and Model Sustainability

After over four years, “Breaking the Cycle” has helped hundreds of children improve their health and physical condition, maintain consistent school attendance, nurture a safe and healthy family environment, and enhance social integration. The program also generated a positive ripple effect, with parents actively listening, engaging, and committing to their children’s education, thereby strengthening local community bonds and attracting contributions from numerous businesses.

Results Achieved

Qualitative Results

Children regain learning opportunities and hope for the future

For many children, obtaining legal documents was a turning point, opening access to education and social protection. 32 children received their first birth certificate, formally recognized in the education and social protection system. With support for tuition, school supplies, and health insurance, they attended school, maintaining steady learning in a safe and friendly environment. Many previously at risk of dropping out due to poor health or lack of motivation regained confidence, study spirit, and aspirations. Some passed university entrance exams or enrolled in reputable vocational training institutions, creating sustainable pathways for the future.

Children develop self-capacity and feel protected

Life skills sessions, sharing groups, and extracurricular activities help children develop communication, self-protection, teamwork, and emotional management skills. Many shy children became confident, proactive in expressing opinions, and sharing personal stories. Feeling heard and respected nurtures self-esteem, self-belief, and an awareness of one's own value.

Building a strong support ecosystem

“Breaking the Cycle” has created a multi-layered network including teachers, volunteers, local authorities, businesses, and social organizations. Children in the program are no longer facing difficulties alone; instead, they are surrounded by a responsible, understanding community. The model has contributed to changing social perception: children from disadvantaged backgrounds are no longer pitied but recognized as individuals with potential who need opportunities.

Generating intergenerational change

The program not only ensures children attend school but also enables youth to learn vocational skills, obtain stable jobs, and gain independence. Beneficiaries become role models for the next generation, spreading the belief that “the poverty cycle can be broken.” This change contributes to positive impacts across generations - when one member has sustainable employment, they support their family and inspire the community.

Quantitative Results

• 332 children received comprehensive support
• 936 scholarships awarded
• 1,010 nutrition packages provided
• 275 children received Health Insurance support
• 32 children supported with legal identification documents
• 110 life-skills and extracurricular sessions organized
• 196 parents received medical, livelihood, or counselling support
• 38 group meetings for parents were organized
• 6,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring
• 13 students graduated from high school and moved on to vocational training or university

Model Replication Potential

After four years of implementation, “Breaking the Cycle” is transitioning from a direct support program to a community-based intervention model capable of transfer and scaling, aiming to spread the value of “for children, by the community, with the community as an agent of change.” This is not only scaling up but a strategic step in social development, mobilizing individuals, organizations, businesses, and authorities to build a sustainable support ecosystem.

“Breaking the Cycle” is designed as an open platform, allowing for the flexible integration of local resources and enabling agencies, organizations, businesses, or community groups to apply according to their scale and conditions. The model’s strength lies in its transparency, transferability, and adaptability, thanks to standardization into intervention packages with clear costs, which can be deployed independently or integrated into local social welfare programs.

Standardizing interventions and transferability

“Breaking the Cycle” interventions are designed to overcome barriers when transferred by modeling support packages:

• Standard intervention package (5,780,000 VND/child/year, 2025): Includes tuition, health insurance, personal insurance, books, and school supplies, facilitating partner integration into existing programs.
• Needs-based package: Modular, cost-transparent, customizable, deployable partially without requiring full implementation, ensuring effectiveness and context suitability.

Community capacity building and learning

Model sustainability comes from enhancing self-capacity for children and communities. The program effectively mobilizes local human resources, optimizes operational costs, and creates strong connections between communities and children in need. It also fosters multi-sector cooperation, collaborating with vocational training organizations to promote sustainable employment, healthcare organizations, and local authorities to address health, documentation, and legal barriers.

Diversified resource mobilization and strategic collaboration

Replication potential is strengthened through a strategy that mobilizes diverse financial and non-financial resources, builds a sustainable support network, and reduces reliance on fixed funding. The model facilitates voluntary community participation, enhancing financial sustainability and social trust - key for expansion into new locations.

Additionally, the program established strategic partnerships with the private sector, thereby expanding the scope and quality of its interventions. Links with educational institutions and businesses provide funding, extracurricular activities, soft skills development, and stable career opportunities for youth aged 18 and above. This strategy allows partners replicating the model to leverage existing local resources.

Model standardization - towards national scaling

“Breaking the Cycle” is an effective model for integration into national and local social welfare programs, with standardized processes and lessons summarized through periodic evaluations. Modeling effective interventions with transparent costs enables technology transfer to partners, aiming to become a widely applied Good Practice Standard.

Sustainable cooperation and impact spread

SCDI aims to continue developing and sharing “Breaking the Cycle” as a comprehensive intervention package, which is flexibly applicable to social organizations, local authorities, or businesses concerned with vulnerable children and youth. SCDI is ready to cooperate, share experience, tools, and data with domestic and international partners to expand positive impact, aiming for every child, regardless of circumstances, to have the opportunity to study, develop, and break the cycle of poverty.