Rising out of poverty is the spirit of not relying on or expecting government policies.

On the morning of December 11, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Central Steering Committee of the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction held a national online conference to review poverty reduction work in the 2016-2020 period.

Co-chairing were Mr. Vu Duc Dam - Deputy Prime Minister; members of the Party Central Committee: Nguyen Thuy Anh - Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Affairs; Vu Ngoc Dung - Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Chairing the Nghe An bridge was Mr. Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Many policies for the poor

Implementing Resolution No. 76/2014/QH13 of the National Assembly to promote the implementation of the goal of sustainable poverty reduction by 2020, up to now, the poverty rate nationwide is 3.75%, an average decrease of 1.53%/year in 4 years, exceeding the assigned target. In 4 years, 1,353,805 households out of a total of 2,338,569 poor households have escaped poverty. It is estimated that by the end of 2020, the poverty rate nationwide will decrease to 2.75%, the average poverty rate in poor districts will be about 24%.

Nghe An bridge point chaired by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long. Photo: MH

In the past 5 years, implementing the Poverty Reduction Program, the State has also increased investment sources and implemented many policies,poverty reduction programwith a total amount of more than 42 trillion VND. At the same time, promote the connection of socio-economic development between disadvantaged areas and developed areas, increase preferential credit capital for poor and near-poor households, transfer science and technology, build and replicate poverty reduction models.

At the same time, prioritize resources for infrastructure investment and development, and improve human resources for ethnic minority areas.poor district, particularly difficult areas; linking vocational training with job creation...

To escape poverty sustainably, in recent years, the Government has directed the gradual reduction and abolition of free support policies, and increased support policies with repayment and conditions linked to beneficiaries, locations and duration to increase access to policies and encourage the active and proactive participation of the poor.

Tea trees are the tree that helps to eliminate hunger and sustainably reduce poverty for many households in Thanh Duc commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo courtesy of Mai Hoa

By the end of 2019, the poverty rate of Nghe An province was 4.11%; on average, in the period 2016 - 2019, the poverty rate decreased by 2.0%/year. It is expected that by the end of 2020, the whole province will be about 3.0%, achieving the planned target.

In which, the delta area decreased from 5.4% to less than 1.0%, the mountainous area decreased from 24.04% to 9.5%. Particularly, the 04 poor districts according to Resolution 30a and Decision 275 (Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong and Quy Chau) decreased from 54.26% at the beginning of 2016 to 30.38% at the end of 2019, an average decrease of 5.97% per year (target decrease of 3 - 4%/year).

Need sustainable poverty reduction.

Speaking at the conference, the delegates also shared some experiences and pointed out the difficulties in the implementation process. That is, reviewing and integrating policy documents on poverty reduction as well as changing support methods.poor peopleFrom "free" support to "conditional" and "time-limited" support, implementation is still slow; some poverty reduction policies are still scattered and lack systematicity.

View of the bridge in Nghe An. Photo: MH.

In addition, poverty reduction results are not sustainable, the rate of re-poverty and poverty arising is still high, especially in mountainous areas, ethnic minority areas, areas frequently affected by natural disasters and floods... Investment resources for difficult areas have been prioritized but have not met the requirements...

Nationwide, the rate of re-poverty in the 4 years (2016 - 2019) averaged 4.09%/year compared to the total number of households escaping poverty, the rate of newly emerging poor households was relatively large, the average in the period 2016 - 2019 was 21.8% compared to the total number of households escaping poverty.

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc acknowledged and highly appreciated the efforts of the government and people nationwide in poverty reduction, making Vietnam one of the bright spots in hunger eradication and poverty reduction worldwide. The Prime Minister also highly appreciated the localities that have risen out of poverty on their own, which is a spirit of “not relying on” or expecting nothing from the State’s policies.

However, besides the successes, poverty reduction work is facing challenges and difficulties, especially under the impact of the pandemic, natural disasters, storms and floods... Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on implementing many solutions such as issuing policies and resolutions on poverty reduction and social security goals for a Vietnam without hunger and poverty.

At the same time, continue to improve policies on the poor, develop poverty reduction programs in new conditions, prioritize resources to integrate poverty reduction programs and focus on vulnerable groups, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities.

Model of raising cows in captivity to escape poverty in Lang Khe commune (Con Cuong). Photo: MH

In addition, it is necessary to continue investing in social infrastructure in disadvantaged areas and vocational education. The Prime Minister also requested that all localities continue to be proactive in innovation in poverty reduction by improving people's knowledge, providing vocational training, disseminating experiences, replicating effective poverty reduction models and increasing the application of technology in hunger eradication and poverty reduction. In particular, it is necessary to mobilize each commune, ward, and village to build typical poverty reduction models.

On this occasion, many outstanding collectives and individuals participating in the movement "The whole country joins hands for the poor - leaving no one behind" in the period 2016 - 2020 and implementing the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction were awarded.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Information and Communications also awarded prizes to the Contest for journalistic works on poverty reduction in the period 2016 - 2020. Nghe An province has 1 work that won the First Prize, which is the television work "The leader of the Khmu people in Na Lot village" by the group of authors Hien Chuong - Lang Linh (Nghe An Radio - Television Station).