Breaking the Cycle

General Information

Donors: tesa Site Haiphong, Navigos Group Hanoi, IFC, and many other generous and kind donors

Period: Since 2021 – Ongoing

Location: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City

Implementer: Children and Youth Program

The "Breaking the Cycle" project idea was incubated amid COVID-19 while we met thousands of homeless people and poor families severely affected by the pandemic. Among those, children are the most vulnerable and more likely to fall deeper into poverty. They are facing malnutrition, unsafe and unhealthy living conditions, low access to public services, notably in education and healthcare, low self-esteem, and many more challenges to survive and thrive.

Therefore, the project’s overarching goal is that young people in poor families can have decent employment, which is the most effective way to stop poverty for themselves and their families. The project's key component is the improvement of education and learning for the children. Besides, we pay attention to building their resilience - their inner long-term asset, and improving the environment for their safe and healthy development. The three goals and their interventions are the following:

Improved education access and study at school for the children through:

Support to obtain birth certificates and personal documents so that children can enroll in public schools
Financial and in-kind support to aid the study-related expenditures
Tutoring and developing learning skills
Nutrition and healthcare support to ensure physical development
Support for families to improve their physical living conditions such as house rental, health insurance cards, livelihood support for caregivers, etc.

Improved resilience to reduce health, social, and legal risks and to increase their self-esteem and social inclusivity via:

Themed communications sessions
Extra-curricular activities

A supportive eco-system to support children to go to school, including their families, schools, communities, vocational training centres, etc., through multiple communications, partnerships, and social mobilization activities.

Breaking the Cycle project, like others by SCDI, employs the Theory of Change approach, giving the project a clear direction and a strong backbone. Therefore, interventions built from this strong core are coherent and relevant yet flexible enough for localization and personalization, which ensures the project’s effectiveness and efficiency. Until 2025, we will continue to channel resources to support those +300 children and address their urgent development needs. At the same time, we are collecting lessons learned to refine the Breaking the Cycle framework and interventions to build a pragmatic and sustainable model to eradicate poverty in Vietnam.

2023 Key results

In 2023, 320 children in poor families in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city and Hai Phong were supported. Two children started Grade 1 after obtaining their birth certificates. 150 children received nutrition support. The project bought and renewed 220 health insurance cards for 220 children and their caregivers; four children were referred to healthcare services when they were sick, and one child with chronic medical conditions received monthly medication support. In particular, 35 children in Hanoi received health screening. As a result, the school retention rate significantly increased to 99.4% compared to 90% when the project started.