Vinh Long (VNA) – The Dariu Foundation, a Swiss non-governmental organisation, is sponsoring school construction and tuition fees for students as part of an agreement with the Tra On District People’s Committee in southern Vinh Long province.

Dariu will donate 1.5 billion VND (93,750 USD) to build three kindergartens in the province, and provide around 400 scholarships for poor students in Vung Liem and Tra On districts.

A thousand poor students in Dong Nai and Vinh Long provinces will get scholarships worth a total of 1.6 billion VND (100,000 USD) for the 2008-2009 school year. The foundation wants half of the recipients to be girls.

For the past five years, Dariu has provided direct microfinance services for the poor. It has already given over 13,000 loans to households in Vinh Long and Dong Nai province.