Prime Minister launches movement: 'The whole country joins hands for the poor - No one is left behind'

(Baonghean.vn) – On the morning of October 15, in Hanoi, Politburo members: Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue - Head of the Central Steering Committee for National Target Programs co-chairedNational online conference to deploy the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2016-2020 period. Also attending were leaders of central ministries and branches.

At Nghe An bridge point, there were comrades: Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Minh Thong - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and members of the Steering Committee of the National Target Program for the period 2016 - 2020.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered a speech at the Conference.

According to statistics, the national poverty rate has decreased from 14.2% in 2010 to 4.25% in 2015, according to the poverty standard for the period 2011-2015, an average decrease of 2%/year. The poverty rate in poor districts has decreased from 58.33% at the end of 2010 to 28% in 2015, an average of over 6%/year, achieving the target set by the National Assembly.

The average income per capita of poor households nationwide increased 1.6 times compared to the end of 2011, while that of poor households in poor districts, poor communes, and especially disadvantaged villages and hamlets in ethnic minority and mountainous areas increased 2.5 times, achieving the set target.

In the period 2016 - 2020, through synthesizing the survey results of localities applying the multidimensional poverty approach, the whole country has more than 2.3 million poor households, accounting for 9.88% and more than 1.2 million near-poor households, accounting for 5.22%.

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung presented the plan to implement the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2016-2020 period.

Leaders of Nghe An province attended the conference at Nghe An bridge.

The national target program for sustainable poverty reduction for the 2016-2020 period aims to reduce the national poverty rate by an average of 1-1.5% per year (poor districts and communes by 4% per year; poor ethnic minority households by 3-4% per year) according to the multidimensional poverty standard applied for the 2016-2020 period.

The average income per capita of poor households nationwide at the end of 2020 increased 1.5 times compared to the end of 2015, while that of poor households in poor districts, poor communes, especially disadvantaged villages and hamlets, and poor ethnic minority households doubled...

The total cost of the program is 48,397 billion VND. Of which, the central budget is 41,449 billion VND, the local budget is 4,848 billion VND and other legally mobilized capital is 2,100 billion VND. This program is divided into 5 component projects.

The conference heard opinions sharing experiences in poverty reduction as well as recommendations from a number of localities such as Lao Cai, Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Ho Chi Minh City, Tra Vinh and a number of agencies and units. Among them, many opinions suggested that the Government should integrate national target programs to ensure effective implementation of multidimensional poverty reduction.

Ms. Louise Chamberlain - Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam spoke at the conference.

Speaking at the Conference, Ms. Louise Chamberlain - Country Director of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam acknowledged the poverty reduction results as well as new points in the implementation of the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Vietnam for the period 2016 - 2020 such as: strongly shifting from allocation and giving away to supporting conditions to raise awareness and responsibility of the poor; increasing decentralization to the grassroots, linking capacity building to promote the role of the community...;

The head of UNDP in Vietnam also affirmed that he is ready to support Vietnam in poverty reduction work at both central and local levels in the coming time.

Poverty reduction model for women in Do Luong district. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Newspaper.

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that hunger eradication and poverty reduction is a consistent policy of the Party and State; at the same time, he commended and highly appreciated all levels, sectors, compatriots and soldiers nationwide, international organizations, philanthropists and businesses that have paid attention to the cause of hunger eradication and poverty reduction in recent times.

The Prime Minister also pointed out the limitations and challenges that must be overcome in poverty reduction work, namely: Poverty reduction results are not yet stable, the rate of re-poverty is still high, especially the whole country has up to 41 poor districts with a poverty rate of over 50%; the average income of ethnic minorities is only 1/6 of the general income of the whole country.

In addition, many policies on poverty reduction have not been implemented well and are not creative enough to be effective; infrastructure and education in many remote areas are still difficult; poverty reduction policies are still overlapping, and too many documents lead to dispersion of resources.

“Some poverty reduction policies have not yet aroused the potential of the people and communities to rise up together, especially the identification of poor households is still inaccurate, there is still a situation of alternating poverty confirmation in some localities, there is still a situation of misplaced declaration, meaning that in some localities there is still a certain abuse of poverty reduction policies, there is still a phenomenon of over-collection in rural areas in building new rural areas for the poor,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc pointed out.

With the determination to effectively implement the Party and National Assembly resolutions on poverty reduction and the United Nations' sustainable development goals by 2030, the Prime Minister launched the emulation movement: "The whole country joins hands for the poor - No one is left behind".

To effectively implement this movement, the head of the Government requested: The Steering Committee of national target programs must do a good job of propaganda, political and ideological education on criteria and requirements for sustainable poverty reduction; creating consensus and synergy across society.

Panorama of the conference at Nghe An bridge point.

“Propaganda for the whole society to care for the poor; the spirit of self-reliance and self-improvement to escape poverty; creative and diligent work to reduce poverty, strive to get rich, and carry out the poverty reduction movement is an important political task of localities,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

The Prime Minister also assigned the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to preside over and work with ministries, branches and the Central Emulation and Reward Committee to plan the movement; focus on communication work; improve people's knowledge and capacity to escape poverty sustainably.

In addition, ministries, branches, and Steering Committees of national target programs continue to improve policies, laws, and resources for hunger eradication and poverty reduction; ministries, branches, especially localities, need to set poverty reduction goals in overall socio-economic development, must replicate poverty reduction models; must calculate sustainable development, and avoid environmental pollution.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also noted that localities should strengthen the establishment of new Steering Committees for the implementation of National Target Programs at the provincial level; local Party committees, authorities, elected bodies, the Fatherland Front and mass organizations must urge, inspect and supervise so that steering committees at all levels operate effectively and not in a formal manner.

The Head of Government also requested all levels to allocate sufficient budget for the poverty reduction program and mobilize and integrate all social resources into the program. Ministries, branches and localities must adhere to the criteria to implement poverty reduction according to multidimensional criteria;

The Prime Minister also requested that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam and the World Bank (WB) continue to support Vietnam in poverty reduction work in the coming time.

Thanh Duy