1. The fourth plenary session of China’s State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development chaired by Vice Premier Wang Yang reviewed its work in 2014 and planned priority works in 2015. At the meeting, Wang stressed that the group should implement decisions of the Central Economic Work Conference on poverty alleviation, better understand the importance, urgency and arduousness of poverty alleviation, reform relevant mechanisms, and focus on priorities to lay a solid foundation for completing the task and building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round manner.
Source: gov.cn Dec.16, 2014
2. China’s State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development opened the hotline 12317 for poverty alleviation supervision on Dec. 15, 2014. The hotline mainly deals with the management, distribution and use of the poverty alleviation funds and the management of poverty alleviation projects. It targets illegal acts such as diversion, corruption and embezzlement.
Source: people.com.cn Dec.15, 2014
3. Poverty alleviation must be given top priority to as it pertains to the overall situation, pointed out by the Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing from Dec.9 to 11, 2014. According to the conference, the government should ensure that children from poor families enjoy fair and quality education as other children do; develop local economy in line with regional characteristics, increase support for basic public services and poverty alleviation work, and take targeted measures and prevent averages mask majority.
Source: people.com.cn Dec.11, 2014
4. Chinese central government will provide 9.7 billion yuan to support compulsory education in poverty-stricken areas in Sichuan Province. According to the central budget, in the next 5 years, 9.7 billion yuan will be used to improve the basic school-running conditions there. These conditions are expected to reach national standards by 2018.
Source: sc.xinhuanet.com Dec.11, 2014
5. China set up its first development fund for industries in poverty-stricken areas, with a registered capital of 2.8 billion yuan. Jointly founded by the Ministry of Finance, China National Tobacco Company (CNTC) and the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), the fund takes the form of a limited company. The fund has an initial registered capital of 2.8 billion yuan, including 800 million yuan from the Ministry of Finance, and one billion each from CNTC and SDIC.
Source: xinhuanet.com Dec.11, 2014
6. The Anhui Branch of China’s National Development Bank offered 954 million yuan of locally-granted student loans to 144 thousand poor college students. The loans cover all counties and districts in the province. The number of beneficiaries and the amount of loans both reached a record high and rose respectively by 13% and 25% compared with last year.
Source: anhuinews.com Dec.13, 2014
7. The Gansu Provincial Sports Lottery Center launched the 2014 sports equipment donation program “Sports lottery promoting public welfare, donated equipment enriching playground facilities”. The center will send the donations to primary and secondary schools in poverty-stricken areas in the province. The program illustrates that sports lottery contributes to public welfare.
Source: Lanzhou Evening News Dec.15, 2014
8. The municipal government of Weifang, Shandong Province has completed the precise identification of the impoverished population and villages. According to provincial standards, there are 337 poor villages, 187,000 poor households and 435,000 poor people. Task forces have been deployed to those poor villages and 13.1 million yuan of alleviation funds have been offered by provincial and municipal governments in 2014. In 28 provincial-level and 39 municipal-level poor villages, respective projects are well underway.
Source: wfnews.com.cn Dec.11, 2014
Organizer: Beijing Normal University China Poverty Reduction Research Center