Monitor support for poor households until they escape poverty

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan: "Each organization that receives support from a household must be responsible until they escape poverty."

“Unlike before, poor households still enjoyed the State's policies, but no one supervised how they used them. Now, each organization that receives support must be responsible until they escape poverty,” emphasized Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Politburo member and Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, in an interview with the press on the occasion of the Peak Month for the Poor (October 17 to November 18).

PV:Sir, October 17th is the Day for the Poor. Could you tell us how the Fund for the Poor has contributed to poverty reduction over the years?

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan:We know that after the years of liberation and national reunification, the socio-economic life has encountered many difficulties. With the efforts of the Party, the State and the people, the hunger eradication and poverty reduction have achieved very important results. However, after 25 years of liberation, a significant part of the population, especially in rural and mountainous areas, is still poor. A poor household will lead to 4 or 5 poor people in the family. Therefore, while implementing the State's poverty reduction programs, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations take on their own responsibility to mobilize the society to contribute their efforts, intelligence and determination to support the poor to escape poverty sustainably.

Therefore, on October 17, 2000, 16 years ago, in response to the World Day against Poverty, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, in agreement with the Government, launched the campaign for the Day for the Poor, along with the establishment of the Fund for the Poor at all four levels nationwide. Through the campaign, caring for the poor, we have mobilized a significant amount of social funds.

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Politburo member, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee.

Responding to the call of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the campaign has mobilized great support from society. Specifically, since its launch (October 17, 2000 to September 30, 2016), the "For the Poor" Fund at 4 levels has mobilized and received 11,454 billion VND; mobilized direct support for social security programs in localities with over 31,150 billion VND.

This source of capital has provided meaningful support to the poor. As a result, from the above mobilization, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committees at all levels have coordinated with the government to support, build and repair nearly 1.5 million Great Solidarity houses for poor households; tens of millions of poor households have been supported with capital and production materials; thousands of public works (schools, clinics, public bridges, rural roads, etc.) have been built; millions of people have been supported with funds for medical examination and treatment...

These results have been recognized by the people of the whole country and highly appreciated by the Party and the State. In the first 9 months of this year, activities for the poor have mobilized 945 billion VND through the "For the Poor" Fund at 4 levels and directly supported the social security program with 2,571 billion VND. Thereby, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committees at all levels have coordinated and supported the construction and repair of 34,437 Great Solidarity houses for poor households to have better living conditions; helped more than 149,000 poor households to develop production; more than 1.2 million poor people received medical examination and treatment; over 295,000 students in difficult circumstances received support in their studies.

These results have been recognized by the people of the whole country and highly appreciated by the Party and the State. In 2016, on the basis of summarizing 15 years of the campaign for the poor, the Vietnam Fatherland Front launched a new campaign to continue the campaign for the poor and to demand the construction of new rural areas and civilized urban areas.

Accordingly, on October 3, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Government signed a joint resolution on sustainable poverty reduction, new rural development and civilized urban areas. It clarifies the responsibilities of the government system from the central to local levels and the Front system together with socio-political organizations to mobilize social forces, along with State resources, to implement sustainable poverty reduction, new rural development and civilized urban areas.

PV:Sir, what is new about this campaign compared to the campaign for the poor that we have been implementing for over 15 years?

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan:The difference is that the responsibilities of the 5 socio-political organizations in helping to reduce poverty have been clarified. We not only mobilize funds, but the Vietnam Farmers' Association, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women's Union, and the Vietnam Veterans' Association from communes and wards will receive support for each poor household. With the support of local authorities, we will mobilize the poor to innovate their production and business methods, innovate their lifestyles to be more economical and effective in order to reduce poverty sustainably and enrich legitimately. The achievements of the past 15 years are both achievements in mobilizing social resources to help people escape poverty, and lessons learned to summarize how to do things more effectively in the future.

PV:The Prime Minister has approved the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2016-2020 period. Based on the 15-year experience of organizing the "Day for the Poor" Campaign and mobilizing the Fund for the Poor, to contribute to the successful implementation of the goal of sustainable poverty reduction and limiting re-poverty, what activities and solutions will the Vietnam Fatherland Front have to contribute to the Government in completing the goal of reducing the rate of poor households for the 2016-2020 period according to the Resolution of the National Assembly, sir?

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan:On September 2, the Prime Minister signed the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2016-2020 period. On October 3, the Prime Minister signed with the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front a Joint Resolution on Sustainable Poverty Reduction, New Rural Development, and Civilized Urban Areas. So, compared to the old, there is a new point in the way of doing things.

Previously, the Front mobilized and the government worked in parallel. Now, it is a five-year joint coordination program between the Government and the Front. Through the signed program, the two sides clarify the responsibilities of all levels of government from central to local, of the Front and socio-political organizations from central to local, ensuring that no poor households are left without support from social organizations and Fronts at all levels. Unlike before, poor households still enjoyed the State's policies but no one supervised how they used them. Now, each organization must be responsible for which households receive support until they escape poverty.

PV:Sir, the poverty rate is still high. In addition to state policies, mobilizing social resources to help the poor escape poverty is very important. How will the Front innovate its mobilization methods in the coming time to achieve the highest efficiency?

Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan:According to the new poverty standards, the country currently has more than 2.3 million poor households; 1.2 million near-poor households. Thus, with 3.5 million poor and near-poor households nationwide, there are about 14 million Vietnamese people still affected by poverty and near-poverty, accounting for about 15% of the population. This is a huge challenge.

In the coming time, to implement the campaign for sustainable poverty reduction, building new rural areas and civilized urban areas, the main motto is to combine resources. State resources, resources of households themselves, resources of society through the mobilization of the Front and member organizations, especially the fund for the poor. Currently, the Fund for the Poor operates at all 4 levels: Central, provincial, district, commune, and in the coming time, we will continue to mobilize and clarify the spending targets. We will spend a significant portion of about 50% to spend on very basic human needs: housing; illness; production conditions... The goal is to help the poor have better housing, and then on holidays, when they are sick, when the poor fall into especially difficult circumstances... then we can quickly support from the Fund for the Poor. The Fund also spends a portion to support production conditions for the people.

On October 17, the Front launched the Peak Month for the Poor as an annual tradition to mobilize businesses, banks, and people with conditions and good intentions to contribute to the fund to support the poor. This year, there is a new feature in that in addition to the goal of supporting house construction, production, and holidays, a unit, Vingroup, has committed to supporting charity surgeries for the poor with serious illnesses at medical facilities in the Vingroup system (Vinmec Hospital). For this charity surgery support, Vingroup donated 300 billion VND. This is a very large-scale and groundbreaking contribution of businesses to the Fund for the Poor.

We believe that with the tradition of many years of contributions from organizations, businesses and people nationwide to the Fund for the Poor, there will be new contributions and new innovations so that the movement to reduce poverty sustainably, build new rural areas and civilized urban areas will achieve even better results in 2016 as well as in the next 5 years.

PV:Thank you sir./.

According to Vov.vn