Building dreams for the poor in the far North so that 'no one is left behind'

In just 3 years, 6,700 houses for meritorious people, poor veterans, and poor households were supported to be built solidly, entirely from socialized sources. This is a very impressive number, proving the attention and care of the Party Committee, government, and the whole society for people's lives, so that "no one is left behind" on the journey of national development.

Ha Giang is one of the provinces with the highest poverty rate in the country. By the end of 2018, the whole province still had 56,083 poor households according to the multidimensional poverty criteria for the period 2016 - 2020, accounting for 31.17% of the total number of households in the province; of which 10,123 poor households lacked housing criteria.

According to the review results of the functional sector and districts, in phase 1 (from July 2019 to August 2020), there were 4,305 poor households in need of building new houses, including 213 households of meritorious people, 475 poor veteran households, 1,527 poor households in border communes and 2,090 poor households in inland communes. In phase 2 (from September 2020 to December 2021), the whole province had 2,375 poor households eligible and in need of housing support. In phase 3 (from April 2022 to present), 886 households were in urgent need of support to build houses; including 45 poor war veteran households, 141 poor households in border communes, and 700 poor households in inland communes.

Over the years, the Party, the State and Ha Giang province have had many policies and programs to support the construction of houses for people with meritorious services and poor households. However, the budget support is limited, the support level is still low, while the housing demand of poor households is still very high, so the dream of a solid house of many poor households has not been realized. Building houses for the poor, helping them "settle down and have a career" has become more urgent than ever.

Veteran Vang So Giang, Mo Sai village, Thanh Van commune, Quan Ba ​​district shared:"As a veteran who participated in the resistance war against the US to save the country, in 1990, my family built a house to live in, but over time, the house has seriously deteriorated. Due to difficult life and children's studies, I do not have the conditions to build a new house, making life always insecure and worried, especially when the rainy season comes.".

Implementing the movement "The whole country joins hands for the poor - leaving no one behind" launched by the Prime Minister and the Program to support the construction of houses for policy families and poor war veterans in Ha Giang province by former President Truong Tan Sang; on July 25, 2019, the Provincial Party Committee issued Decision 1953 to establish a Steering Committee to support the construction of houses for people with meritorious services, poor war veterans, and poor households in the province with a support level of 60 million VND/household entirely from socialized sources. The goal for the 2019 - 2020 period is to support 2,000 houses, prioritizing families of people with meritorious services, poor war veterans, and poor households in border communes. From 2021 onwards, the number of supported houses depends on socialized funding sources.

The housing construction program is a major policy, a special political task, with profound humanitarian significance, not only demonstrating the attention and care of the Party and State, the respect, gratitude, appreciation, and sharing of cadres, party members, and people of all walks of life for the lives of policy beneficiaries; but also demonstrating the drastic participation and joint efforts of the whole society in sustainable poverty reduction. From there, it helps the poor have more motivation to rise up in life; and feel secure in keeping their borderland.

Mr. Lo Khai Din, Bo Y ethnic group, Lung Chau village, Phong Quang commune, Vi Xuyen district excitedly shared:"I am a veteran, participating in the war to protect the northern border; I am a poor household, often sick, and have a difficult life, so although the old house has deteriorated, my family does not have enough money to build a new house. In 2020, my family received 60 million VND in support from the provincial housing construction program; this is an opportunity that I have dreamed of all my life. With the help of working days from cadres, party members and people, after more than 3 months of construction, my family has a new, solid and spacious house. Once I have a house, I encourage my children and grandchildren to focus on developing buffalo farming and renovating mixed gardens; so far we have escaped poverty. Thank you to the Party, the State, the leaders of the Central and local governments, and the benefactors and people who have promptly given us more motivation to strive to escape poverty.".

Immediately after the Provincial Party Committee's Decision 1953 was issued; the Steering Committee for Housing Construction at all levels was established; the organization launched and sent letters calling on businesses, organizations, individuals, cadres, party members and people to join hands in supporting housing construction. The Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs coordinated with localities to review, verify and approve households eligible for housing construction support. The review, verification and approval process ensured publicity, transparency and correct targets; issued guidelines and housing construction designs that ensured quality and were suitable to the cultural traditions of each ethnic group; assigned agencies and units in charge of, helping and supporting housing construction according to the address; promoted propaganda to raise awareness among cadres, party members and people of all walks of life about the profound humanity of the program; immediately started construction of the households that had been appraised and the allocated funds, and mobilized themselves. Agencies, units, socio-political organizations, armed forces mobilized cadres, party members, soldiers and the entire population to support hundreds of thousands of working days to help households build houses; promptly removing difficulties and obstacles.

Some localities are flexible in implementing at the grassroots level such as: In order to ensure the solidity and sustainability of the project, in addition to ensuring the 3 hard standards "hard foundation, hard frame - wall, hard roof", the districts have mobilized people to build houses associated with the construction of sanitary works, reinforce, brace the roof, cover the roof with foam (cold) corrugated iron to ensure safety in the rainy season and can take advantage of collecting rainwater for daily activities; the implementation of housing construction must be associated with the criteria for building a new countryside, gathering residents. Quan Ba ​​district established a set of documents according to simple and easy-to-understand procedures; mobilized 100% of households to build houses with ceramic tile floors to change their hygienic lifestyle. Meo Vac district posted information on the progress of housing construction on the district's fanpage and the district's Zalo group to grasp information and provide timely direction; the District Youth Union established a Youth Shock Team, a volunteer motorcycle team to help households transport materials. Dong Van district mobilized households to build houses following local models, with tiled or corrugated iron roofs so that they could use water collected from the roof. Quan Ba ​​and Xin Man districts directly worked with local businesses and cooperatives to provide materials to people in advance. Meo Vac, Bac Quang and Vi Xuyen districts actively contacted and mobilized benefactors to support funding to build more houses in addition to the funding provided by the Provincial Steering Committee.

After 3 years of implementing the housing construction program, the total budget has mobilized over 400 billion VND from businesses, agencies, units, organizations and individuals. The whole province has built 6,700 houses for people with meritorious services, poor war veterans, and poor households with housing difficulties. Some typical corporations and businesses have joined hands with Ha Giang to build houses for the poor such as:

The total number of working days of cadres, party members, soldiers of the armed forces and people supporting households to build houses was over 341 thousand days, typically: The Provincial Border Guard Command supported over 14,610 working days to help build 721 houses, directly supporting the construction of houses for 27 households with a budget of over 1.5 billion VND; The Provincial Police supported 3,355 working days to help 343 households, directly supporting the construction of houses for 42 households with a budget of over 2.2 billion VND; The Provincial Military Command supported 18,756 working days to help 711 households, directly supporting the construction of houses for 4 households, mobilizing support for 19 households with a budget of over 1.6 billion VND; The Veterans Association supported 17,026 working days, mobilizing direct support for the construction of 21 members' houses; The Women's Union supported 62,084 working days; The Youth Union supported over 27,000 working days to help build 1,977 houses...

Compared to the original plan, it is expected that in the 2019 - 2020 period, 2,000 houses will be supported, with priority given to families of meritorious people, poor war veterans and poor households in border communes; the following years will depend on socialized funding. The results of the province's housing construction program to date have far exceeded expectations, with 6,700 houses built.

Secretary of Vi Xuyen District Party Committee Do Anh Tuan emphasized:"Vi Xuyen district identified this as a major policy of the province, an important and urgent political task, the entire political system from the district to the grassroots level and the people are involved with the highest determination; making efforts to complete the construction of houses for people on schedule, ensuring quality; at the same time, propagating and mobilizing funds to support the construction of 161 more houses for poor households in addition to the funding provided by the Provincial Steering Committee".

As the northernmost border province of the country, people's lives are still very difficult; especially thousands of families with revolutionary contributions, war veterans who fought for the homeland and the country still have to live in makeshift, dilapidated, and degraded houses. Supporting households to build new, solid houses is the responsibility of the Party Committee, the government and the entire political system of the province; it is a practical action in implementing President Ho Chi Minh's teachings when he visited Ha Giang in 1961: "Cadres, Party members and Youth Union members must unite closely, must wholeheartedly serve the people", at the same time actively responding to the movement "The whole country joins hands for the poor - no one is left behind" launched by the Prime Minister and the idea of ​​building houses for people with meritorious services of former President Truong Tan Sang.

With profound humanitarian meaning, caring for people's lives, the housing construction program has received positive responses from all levels, sectors, businesses, organizations, individuals and the whole population. The program has made an important contribution to sustainable poverty reduction through a multidimensional approach. Poor households supported to build houses have made efforts to match the funding, worked hard, and many households have risen out of poverty.

By the end of 2022, the poverty rate according to the new multidimensional poverty standard accounted for 37.09% of the total number of households in the province, down 8,771 households, down 4.99% compared to 2021; exceeding the target assigned by the province and the Government. Some districts achieved high poverty reduction rates such as: Meo Vac down 8.03%, Vi Xuyen down 8%, Bac Quang down 6.14%, Quang Binh down 5.28%.

The results of housing construction in Ha Giang have been highly appreciated by leaders of the Party, State, ministries and central agencies, and many localities have learned from the experience to replicate it. At the same time, it demonstrates the spirit of solidarity, consensus, joint efforts and unanimity of the whole society; consolidating the people's steadfast belief in the leadership of the Party.

Bien Luan - Minh Chau