With the viewpoint that Front cadres do not “sit in air-conditioned rooms” or work in “salons”, the activities of the Front at all levels in Nghe An have really worked hard, turned to the grassroots, and struggled and created for the core goal of how to help the poor first escape poverty from their consciousness and thinking; from there, there are new, practical and effective support solutions, creating sustainability for hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the province.
In Nghe An, when it comes to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, many highly appreciate the model of “Brave Poor People” that has been implemented by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Quynh Luu district for the past few years. In the coastal area of Quynh Nghia (Quynh Luu district), everyone sympathizes with the persistent poverty of Ho Thi Chau’s family. Out of 5 people in the family, 4 are of working age, but due to illness and many limitations and difficulties, life is precarious and makeshift.
How to escape poverty is not only the question of Ms. Chau's family but also the concern of the Front cadres in the commune and hamlet? Then, in 2020, implementing the program "Brave Poor People", the Fatherland Front Committee of Quynh Nghia commune coordinated with the Village Front Working Committee to hold hands, guide, accompany, encourage both in spirit and with specific actions to help Ms. Chau confidently make up her mind to write an application and commit to escape poverty.
Instead of bags of rice and bottles of cooking oil during the lean season, this time from the Fatherland Front's fund, Ms. Chau's family was supported to buy a cow worth more than ten million VND to create a sustainable livelihood. The Fatherland Front staff also personally connected with a local carpentry workshop to create a job for the family's second son. When the commune implemented new economic models associated with product consumption such as growing hot peppers, potatoes, etc., the Fatherland Front coordinated with the Commune Farmers' Association to create conditions for her family to participate to have more income, along with instructions on renovating the home garden to grow vegetables for sale. Up to now, after nearly 2 years of effort, Ms. Chau confidently confided: Before, I did not dare to think about the situation of my family escaping poverty like today. No more lack of money in the front, lack of money in the back!
Ms. Ho Thi Chau's family is one of more than 500 poor households in Quynh Luu district who "bravely" registered and committed to escape poverty when participating in the "Brave Poor People" program launched by the Fatherland Front of Quynh Luu district from the beginning of 2020 until now.
Head of the District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee, Chairwoman of the Quynh Luu District Fatherland Front Committee Pham Thi Hai Yen said: "The idea of the program was formed from the desire to influence and change the thinking and awareness of the poor and poor households so that they have the awareness and will to rise out of poverty, and the Front will support the "fishing rod". If we only influence one way, it will be very difficult, and they will likely fall back into poverty after the support is no longer available."
With that approach, for the first time in Quynh Luu district, a “Dien Hong” conference with the theme “Sustainable poverty reduction solutions” was held. The poor in the “role” of candidates themselves formed and presented their plans and strategies to escape poverty with the Front officials. On that basis, the Quynh Luu district Fatherland Front Committee and communes and towns sought the most feasible solutions in practice to help them. “We have worked with the communes to provide support in many different ways such as: Introducing vocational training combined with capital support to open production and business establishments after vocational training; supporting interest-free loans for raising livestock, poultry or investing in trading…”, added comrade Pham Thi Hai Yen.
In the process of learning about the livelihood support model chaired by the Fatherland Front Committee at all levels in Nghe An, we (the reporter) directly experienced an interesting story, demonstrating the creativity and concern of the cadres working for the Front in Yen Thanh rice district; that is, if the poor want to be given 8 million VND for free to buy cows, they must go to school and complete a certificate in cattle raising.
Ms. Truong Thi Huong in Hamlet 8, Xuan Thanh Commune, one of the students who graduated from the cattle breeding training course organized by Yen Thanh District Vocational College, excitedly said: “In 2020, my family was considered to receive support of 8 million VND to buy a cow with the condition that I had a “cow breeding certificate”. At first, I was also hesitant because my hometown has a farming tradition, so when I said I was going to study cattle breeding, everyone laughed. But after studying, I realized that I still lacked a lot of knowledge and skills in cattle breeding. With the enthusiastic and detailed guidance of the teachers, I learned many more good things to apply in practice”.
With support for breeding cows, Ms. Huong's family has now escaped poverty. In her conversation with us, she always expressed her gratitude to the district and commune Fatherland Front officials for their regular attention and support so that her family can have the life they have today. In Yen Thanh district, not only Ms. Huong's family, but also hundreds of poor and near-poor households have been supported with money to buy cows through the above method from the fund mobilized annually by the District Fatherland Front Committee among the staff, civil servants, and public employees of district-level agencies and teachers throughout the district.
Head of the District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee, Chairman of the Yen Thanh District Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Cong Chuc said: "Each person supports 1 day's salary, which means that the fund receives about 700 million VND per year. From the above mobilized source, we deploy to all communes, towns and the Front Working Committee in villages and hamlets to evaluate poor and near-poor households to receive financial support to buy breeding cows. After the evaluation is completed, those households will go to the district's Vocational College to learn completely free cow raising techniques. Once the people have the certificate, they can choose the cow they like, and the Front will disburse the support money"... In addition to the Front's support fund that does not need to be refunded, households are responsible for matching the remaining amount to buy cows. If they cannot arrange it, the Front will contact the district's Social Policy Bank to lend them. This approach hits the psychology of "the pain of the child is the pain of the owner", so that each poor and near-poor household is more diligent, hardworking, and makes more efforts in the journey to escape poverty, and also aims to create opportunities for more poor and near-poor people to receive support.
In the whole Nghe An province, associated with the activities of the Fatherland Front at all levels, there have been many creative models and methods to help poor and near-poor households, such as lending capital without interest from 20 - 50 million VND/household to invest in fattening cows, recovering capital within 3 years to continue transferring loans to other poor households in poor Tuong Duong district; or the model "Helping people to be full and self-reliant in their villages" in the remote border district of Ky Son has promptly supported many families in difficult circumstances, illness, and unexpected accidents to overcome the difficult period...
