People contributed nearly 300 billion VND to build new rural areas.

(Baonghean) - In 2011, Dien Nguyen commune was selected by the Dien Chau District People's Committee to lead the construction of a New Rural Area, to be completed by 2015. Based on the guidance of the District People's Committee, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Dien Nguyen commune immediately issued resolutions and plans to implement the New Rural Area criteria for the 2011-2015 period...

Headquarters of the People's Committee of Dien Nguyen Commune (Dien Chau District).

Accordingly, the commune provided discussion materials at meetings, community conferences, and village Party branch meetings; diversified propaganda methods to reach each mass organization, residential cluster, and individual household… As a result, people's awareness was raised, and they understood that building a New Rural Area was both their right and their responsibility. They actively participated, demonstrating this through concrete actions such as donating land and crops, contributing money and labor to build irrigation systems and rural roads; and applying scientific and technological advancements to transform the structure of crops and livestock…

Along with communication efforts, training and capacity building are also crucial. With the support of the Provincial Steering Committee and the District People's Committee, over the past four years, the commune has organized five training courses for 160 officials who are members of the steering committee, management board, and village development committees and cooperatives. This has improved the knowledge and skills of commune and village officials and mass organizations in managing, organizing, implementing, and monitoring the New Rural Development program at the community level.

The commune has identified agricultural production development as its central task. Therefore, starting in 2011, the commune began developing a plan to improve people's income through agricultural production development; simultaneously, based on the commune's overall plan, cooperatives have developed their own plans; developing household economies in conjunction with cooperative economies; building and expanding many farm-based livestock models, and producing high-quality rice on 200 hectares, with an average yield of 6 tons/hectare/season…

Over the four years of implementing the National Target Program for New Rural Development, credit institutions have supported over 2,500 households with loans totaling more than 17.5 billion VND. Particularly, using local capital, the people have invested in economic development and increased household income. In vocational training, the commune has provided employment for 600-800 workers annually out of a total of 4,625 workers, including 4,194 with regular employment; 2,900 in agriculture; and 300 in industry and construction. In addition, 182 workers have gone abroad for work, earning an average income of 10 million VND per person per month.

In particular, thanks to the efforts of the people and the strong involvement of the entire political system, as well as the attention of higher authorities, Dien Nguyen commune has actively implemented many solutions to reduce poverty, such as: borrowing capital to create jobs from the Social Policy Bank, with a total outstanding loan balance of over 17.5 billion VND; providing 2.2 billion VND to build 132 houses of compassion and houses for extremely disadvantaged households; establishing a Community Development Fund of the Women's Union, helping people save on expenses and helping each other to do business effectively…

As a result, in 2015, the average per capita income of the people in the commune was 25 million VND/year; it is projected to reach 58 million VND/year by 2020. Consequently, the poverty rate has also decreased to below 4.5%.

Dien Nguyen Primary School (Dien Chau District).

From providing employment, developing the economy, and increasing income, during the four years of building the New Rural Area, the people of Dien Nguyen commune contributed 291.326/337.986 billion VND. This is considered a great effort, demonstrating the spirit of solidarity, leveraging internal resources, and believing in the significance of the National Target Program for building the New Rural Area, primarily in bringing practical benefits to each individual citizen. From the total capital for building the New Rural Area, Dien Nguyen commune has completed 4.4 km of asphalt roads connecting communes and inter-communes, 11 km of hardened village roads, and 7.4 km of internal field roads...; the entire commune currently has 4 pumping stations managed by agricultural cooperatives; 14.3/16.1 km of secondary and tertiary irrigation canals have been reinforced with concrete…; the education, health, culture, security, and national defense systems… meet standards. To date, Dien Nguyen commune has achieved 19 out of 19 criteria for a New Rural Area.

Comrade Dam Van Hien - Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Nguyen commune shared: To achieve the success we have today, the commune has especially prioritized the criteria for improving people's lives. The aim is to create enthusiasm among the people, nurture their strength, and win their hearts. From there, we can awaken and effectively promote the role of the people as the main actors, which is the decisive factor in the success of the new rural development program.

Building new rural areas is a long process, involving a complex web of relationships and unprecedented challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen training and capacity building to create a specialized workforce, and to have dedicated personnel in charge. During implementation, we must avoid complacency and haste, learning from experience and drawing conclusions from practical situations, while closely adhering to the characteristics and sentiments of the local people. We must effectively apply regulations from higher levels, and prioritize effectiveness as the primary objective for evaluating the criteria.

Thu Huong