This article explores the application of the Mutual Aid model in group work to support disadvantaged women in accessing formal microcredit services in Ward X, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The integration of the Mutual Aid, Feminist Relational Model, and the Life Model of Social Work Practice addresses multi-layered challenges facing women in near-poor households. A short group-based intervention program fostered a sense of peer support, empowerment, and collective problem-solving. Eventually, participants were enabled to build confidence and expand their access to formal credit policies. Positive feedback from participants included strengthened capacity to mutually learn and navigate complex credit systems, and women were able to see themselves as active agents of change and mutual support, rather than as passive recipients of development. This case study affirms the practical relevance of Mutual Aid in the Vietnamese context and implies scaling for broader policy interventions to promote community-based empowerment for vulnerable populations.
This paper explores the implementation of a group work intervention for students with disabilities currently enrolled at a Vietnamese university. Within the evolving landscape of Vietnamese social work, the intervention serves as an experimental antidote to the cultural and historical context that hinders the students' abilities to claim their agency and prosper further at the university. The cultural and historical ground revealed the perception of disability and highlighted how recent developments and international collaboration of Vietnamese social work can offer new possibilities and perspectives to approach disability. By integrating Dr Charles Garvin's (2014) group developmental stages with trauma-informed principles, the Well-being Circle brought a sense of safety, belonging, and empowerment to the space with active participation among students. The paper vividly illustrated the progression of the Circle, named "Tr & abreve;ng Khuyet" (Crescent Moon) as the symbol for their resilience, from hesitant and passive engagement to group potency. Significantly, the current results have shown great potential to maintain the Well-being Circle as the space for future generations of students and students with different cohorts. Therefore, the discussion of the model's strengths and limitations leads to detailed implications for inclusive social work in Vietnam and potential field education opportunities for social work students. The paper achieved its goal of leaving a practical insight into resourced-limited settings and highlighting the potential of group work to empower and advocate in Vietnam.
