Purpose - Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) are critical to Vietnam’s quest for poverty alleviation among the poor in the rural and agrarian communities. The current study attempts to investigate the impact of microfinance outreach programs undertaken by formal and semi-formal MFIs in Vietnam targeting the poor rural and agrarian communities. Research design, data, methodology - An enquiry was made as to whether the poor and rural communities accessed the micro credit offered by Government supported MFIs and NGOs through their microfinance outreach programs. Furthermore, the current study attempted to explore if the current mode of operations adopted by MFIs in Vietnam is sustainable. Results -The findings indicate that significant progress has been made in Vietnam to alleviate poverty among the poor rural communities through micro finance outreach programs. Conclusions - There are also pointers of MFIs sustainability in Vietnam. However, it still remains to be seen if the current sustainability pointers are long lasting without government subsidies or some international organizations financial support to microfinance outreach programs.

• Richard Chinomona(Department of Logistics, Vaal University of Technology) Corresponding author
• Le Thanh Tam(Faculty of Banking and Finance, National Economics University)