This morning, I spent time learning more about Thien Chi’s employment program, a side of the NGO’s work that is less visible than microloans, but equally important. While financial support helps people keep small businesses, stable jobs provide something even more crucial: steady income and security.
In one of the workshops, workers produce rattan sticks used as diffusers for perfume and essential oils. The process is entirely manual and involves many precise steps: cutting the rattan stems to the right size, burning away mold, tying them into bundles, treating them in a whitening bath, drying them for at least a day, and finally sorting and cleaning each stick until it is perfectly smooth. It’s meticulous work, but it creates steady employment for 16 people, each earning around 100 USD per month.
Before COVID-19, the workshop employed 23 people, with several orders each year. Today, there is only one large order annually, but the program continues thanks to a 20-year partnership with a French company that both buys the products and supports Thien Chi’s scholarship program. This shows how international collaboration can sustain livelihoods in rural Vietnam.
The NGO has experimented with other employment initiatives in the past, such as producing bamboo chairs, bicycles, and loungers. While those projects had to close due to low demand and complicated maintenance for export, the rattan workshop remains.
Thien Chi itself doesn’t sell directly to customers, but works through Mekong Quilts, the social enterprise of Mekong Plus (a partner of Thien Chi), which manages several stores in Vietnam and Cambodia.
You can learn more about it by visiting the actions, then education and health section of the website.
Leticia