In Viet Nam, UNICEF has supported programmes that link credit with literacy and life-skills messages. In total these programmes reach about 60,000 borrowers. Evaluations of some of the project areas suggest a significant improvement in social indicators. For example, 97 per cent of the daughters of borrowers attend school compared with 73 per cent of daughters of non-borrowers. Food shortages in the borrowers' households have also gone down significantly. In Egypt, credit has been used as a mechanism to combat child labour and promote school attendance. Credit is provided within a group-based system of lending in which two of five women have working children. The credit is conditional on the children of all borrowers attending school.

Source: Peter Puckland, Evaluation, Policy and Planning Division UNICEF, May 1999.