VisionFund Cambodia, a World Vision microfinance institution supported by VisionFund, recently celebrated its growth in 2007 with the announcement of impacting more than 200,000 children during its fourth year of operation.

VisionFund International, the microfinance subsidiary of World Vision, consists of a network of microfinance institutions operating in 47 nations. One of these microfinance institution, VisionFund Cambodia, has experienced significant growth since its commercial inception in 2003.

VisionFund Cambodia served roughly 54,000 families with a loan portfolio of nearly US$11 million in 2007, positively impacting more than 200,000 children. This is a remarkable increase from roughly 34,000 families it served with a loan portfolio of about US$5.2 million in 2006.

The organization works in a synergistic partnership with World Vision Cambodia to help the poor liberate themselves from poverty.  This explosive growth was built upon initially 17,400 clients in 2003 when it transformed from a credit program of World Vision Cambodia into a commercial organization.

“The achievement VisionFund Cambodia has made has not happened by chance. VisionFund Cambodia employs management and staff who have a strong passion and commitment to helping Cambodia’s poor,” the organization’s Executive Director, Bora Omseng, said during the celebration of VisionFund’s 2007 achievement in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

“Thanks to the loans I first received in 2004, my family is living a better life—more food and revenues. I used the credit to buy pigs, then sold them to get money to run a mobile shop,” client Pe Chea says. “With current daily income, my children can attend school. I’m very happy.”

Throughout obtaining financial sustainability, VisionFund Cambodia has not forgotten its social focus. It is always strengthening socially oriented strategies including the provision of scholarships for the children of exceptional clients, training on basic financial management and business skills, as well as the promotion of social issues such as curbing domestic violence, HIV/AIDS reduction and gender equity.

Scholarship child Maony has become happier at school due to school materials provided by Vision Fund Cambodia’s Children Scholarship Program.

“I’m extremely delighted. I have proper uniforms and school materials—these things I didn’t have before,” Maony said with a smile. Recalling the past, she said she felt ashamed, and classmates once suggested her uniform should be used as a cleaning rag because it was so torn and old.

“Now I feel more confident in class. I will study harder to stand out in class,” stressed Maony, one of five children who receive an annual scholarship from VisionFund Cambodia.

Her Excellency Tal Nay Im, Director General of the National Bank of Cambodia, has appreciated VisionFund Cambodia’s success, saying: “(It) reflects the essence of a model for other microfinance institutions to learn from…and I hope that VisionFund Cambodia will continue to accomplish future good work.”

In 2007 VisionFund Cambodia had total assets of more than US$13 million with a financial self-sufficiency ratio of 113 percent. In 2010, VisionFund Cambodia plans to loan roughly US$45 million to 150,000 clients, of which at least 70 percent will be women.

Realizing that financial services are not the only tool for economic development and poverty alleviation, VisionFund Cambodia works in partnership with various developmental NGOs in addition to World Vision Cambodia. They include Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA), Plan International Cambodia and International Labour Organisation Cambodia. Such integration contributes to enabling outreach and social impact, shaping VisionFund Cambodia’s strategic approach, uniqueness, and competitiveness.

“Khana is very proud to be a partner of VisionFund Cambodia in providing credit to the poor, especially families affected by HIV/AIDS,” Khana Program Director, Tith Khimuy said. “Such a partnership is the first of its kind in Cambodia to incorporate microfinance into home-based care services.”

“The small credit is a crucial means of improving my living conditions,” client Mao Sothea, who is HIV-positive, says of VisionFund’s financial services in partnership with Khana. “I have many pigs. They are growing well thanks to the knowledge I have gained from Kasekor Thmey (or New Farmer, a local partner of Khana).”

For more information about World Vision’s work in microfinance through its subsidiary, VisionFund International, please visit: www.visionfundinternational.org

To learn more about VisionFund’s microfinance institution in Cambodia, VisionFund Cambodia, please visit: http://www.visionfund.com.kh