中外减贫信息摘要
Poverty Reduction Briefing
2018. No. 36 (Dec. 21-31, 2018)
State and Ministerial Policy News:
The National Conference on Work of Poverty Alleviation and Development was held in Beijing. Hu Chunhua, head of the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development, stressed that we must make concerted efforts to win the battle against poverty. Next year will be a critical year for us, as we should help another 10 million rural people shake off poverty, basically completing the task of poverty alleviation through relocating the poor as listed in the “13th Five-Year Plan”. We must guarantee the basic needs of those living in poverty and ensure that they have adequate access to education, medical care, and housing, whilst working to raise their incomes above the poverty line, and we need to settle the prominent problems emerged during the process. Besides, we need to offer more assistance for the special groups among the impoverished population and the destitute areas in “three districts and three prefectures” (three districts: Tibet, other four Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan, and four prefectures in southern Xinjiang – Aksu, Kashgar, Hotan, and Kizilsu; three prefectures: Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture), with improved follow-up measures of poverty alleviation through relocating the poor.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, Dec. 29, 2018
The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development: An estimated number of over 10 million people have shaken off poverty across China this year. According to the latest statistics, during this year, an estimated number of 280 impoverished counties have shaken off poverty, 2.8 million impoverished people have been relocated, and more than 10 million poverty-stricken people in rural areas have lifted themselves out of poverty. So far, we have overfulfilled the annual task of lifting 10 million poor people out of poverty for six consecutive years. In 2019, we aim to help another 10 million people in around 300 impoverished rural counties shake off poverty, laying a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty in 2020.
Source: CCTV.com, Dec. 30, 2018
Ministry of Finance: Oversimplified distribution of cash and supplies for poverty alleviation should be reduced to avoid welfare trap. Recently the Ministry of Finance has published Implementation Plan on the Three-Year Guidelines of Winning the Battle Against Poverty, requiring to optimize the expenditure arrangement and overall performance management of poverty alleviation project funds, thereby spending the funds where most needed. Meanwhile, we should innovate the approaches to utilizing poverty alleviation funds and to carrying out poverty alleviation projects. We could adopt awards and subsidies for production and labor benefits, motivating poverty-stricken people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Source: Chinanews.com, Dec. 28, 2018
Ministry of Education: A number of 37 million rural students in all national-level poverty-stricken counties can enjoy free nutritious food now. A press conference was held by the Ministry of Education to debrief the achievements in the battle against poverty in the education field. As stated during the conference, the nutrition improvement plan for rural students engaging in compulsory education has been applied in all national-level poverty-stricken counties. The basic conditions of school operation have been improved for the low-performing rural schools of compulsory education, and construction in 832 impoverished counties has been basically completed. In addition, we have achieved full coverage of subsistence allowance for teachers in contiguous destitute rural areas, making it much less stressful for elderly teachers to retire, for good teachers to stay in poverty-stricken rural areas, and for local teachers to get training.
Source: CNR.cn, Dec. 28, 2018
Local Poverty Alleviation News:
The project of “1,000 Plants in 100 Villages” of Zhejiang Province helps poor farmers work in local plants and earn more, as part of the program of “Assisting Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region through industry”. With the help from the project of “1,000 Plants in 100 Villages”, poverty-stricken farmers lay down their hoes and work in plants, such as textile printing, dyeing and clothing factories, and increase more off-farm income without leaving their hometown. According to the statistics, a number of 129 projects have been launched since 2017 with a total investment of 2.353 billion yuan. A number of 389 plants have been set up and more than 17,000 jobs have been created, greatly accelerating the progress of poverty alleviation for local poor farmers.
Source: Chinanews.com, Dec. 29, 2018
Guizhou Province applied the policy on the linkage between an increase in land use for urban construction with the decrease in land use for rural construction with full vigor, raising 13.642 billion yuan for poverty alleviation. As one of the main poverty alleviation battlefields, Guizhou Province views poverty alleviation through relocation as the top project, proposing to relocate 1.88 million impoverished people by 2020. To further implement the policy on the linkage between an increase in land use for urban construction with the decrease in land use for rural construction, local governments of Guizhou have applied such policy and raised 6 billion yuan for dismantling dangerous and old buildings and land reclamation. Guizhou has also allocated 6.12 billion yuan from other provinces for its surplus quota according to the policy.
Source: Chinanews.com, Dec. 25, 2018
Shaanxi Province issued Opinions on Implementing the “3+X” Project to Accelerate Poverty Alleviation through Industry and Consolidate the Foundation for Thriving Rural Business. To implement the “3+X” project of characteristic agriculture, Shaanxi gives full play to the fruit industry represented by apples, husbandry represented by dairy goats, and facility agriculture represented by greenhouse cultivation. In so doing, Shaanxi aims to, backed by local conditions, boost special local industries including konjac, traditional Chinese medicine, walnut, as well as other organic, and selenium-rich special forestry products, laying a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty and thriving rural business.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, Dec. 24, 2018
Henan Province held a promotion conference to press ahead with the battle against poverty through employment and entrepreneurship. By the end of November, Henan Province has helped 1.6176 million archived poor laborers with employability and desire to get employed, and trained 1.4418 million ones. Attendees of the conference discussed how to precisely help poor rural laborers get employed or start a business through skills training, employment assistance and entrepreneurship support, bringing a higher income to help them shake off poverty. Follow-up measures have also been arranged.
Source: Xinhuanet.com, Dec. 21, 2018
Anhui Province released Three-Year Action Plan of Poverty Alleviation through Healthcare to make new arrangements in the healthcare field. The plan stresses that we must concentrate on five aspects: precise treatment, comprehensive prevention and control, women’s and children’s health, medical insurance preference, and service improvement. In detail, the five aspects are the precise treatment of poverty-stricken people and chronic diseases; comprehensive prevention and control on key infectious and endemic diseases in poor areas; promotion of women’ and children’s health in poor areas; poverty alleviation through medical security; and improvement of medical and health service in poverty-stricken areas.
Source: Xinhuanet.com, Dec. 21, 2018
Shandong Province: More than 850,000 poverty-stricken people have benefited from “Sunshine Passbook”. Shandong Electric Power Company of the State Grid has developed targeted poverty alleviation through the photovoltaic industry in poverty-stricken areas with better lighting resources. Shandong chiefly builds village-level centralized photovoltaic power stations and popularizes household-distributing photovoltaic systems. By installing photovoltaic power generation systems for poor households and villages, as well as connecting them to the power grid, we bring direct income increase from electricity generation for poor people. By doing so, Shandong province offers a “Sunshine Passbook” with long-term stable income for people in financial difficulties.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, Dec. 21, 2018
Gansu Province has deepened the reform in the supply and marketing cooperatives to fight against poverty. Since 2017, Gansu has been promoting a comprehensive reform in the supply and marketing cooperatives. While further expanding the coverage of primary-level service for farmers, we have also carried out pilot projects of “non-profit” poverty alleviation through chemical fertilizers. Besides, we have held matchmaking events on agricultural products and marketing, and established cold chain facilities and “filling stations” in rural areas to support the battle against poverty.
Source: Gansu Daily, Dec. 25, 2018
Heilongjiang Province held “Social Participation in Poverty Alleviation and Development of China” promotion conference to drive social participation in poverty alleviation. The main purpose of the conference was to put “Internet+” into practice and speed up in popularizing and applying “Social Participation in Poverty Alleviation and Development of China” across the province. Heilongjiang will continue to coordinate departments at all levels, mobilizing the officials, staff and good-hearted people from all walks of life to carry out poverty alleviation through social participation. The “Internet +” social poverty alleviation mode will be built into a brand and highlight of the poverty alleviation work in Heilongjiang Province.
Source: Heilongjiang Daily, Dec. 25, 2018
Tibet Autonomous Region has collected over 35.279 billion yuan of financial funds for agriculture and an estimated population of 180,000 people have shaken off poverty this year. By the end of 2015, Tibet had identified 74 poverty-stricken counties and archived 590,000 poor residents. In recent years, Tibet has accelerated the battle against poverty by poverty alleviation through industry, relocation, ecological improvement, education, employment, finance and Tibet-aiding programs. From 2016 to 2018, financial funds for agriculture of over 35.279 billion yuan have been collected, bringing decisive progress in the battle against poverty.
Source: CHINANEWS.com, Dec. 24, 2018
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region strives to develop vocational education to promote targeted poverty alleviation. Since the Ninth Party Congress of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the four prefectures in Southern Xinjiang (Aksu, Kashgar, Hotan, and Kizilsu) have enjoyed preferential policies and funds, with a total investment of 503 million yuan on the construction of 34 vocational schools. In addition, another 400 million yuan has been invested in the construction of 21 vocational schools in the area. At present, the school-running conditions and capacity of vocational colleges in the area have been greatly enhanced, offering basic guarantees on both policies and employment of vocational education and promoting targeted poverty alleviation in the education field.
Source: Xinjiang Daily, Dec. 23, 2018
Public Poverty Alleviation and Charity News：
China’s first report on Legal Assistance for Targeted Poverty Alleviation was released. The Report was published by China Legal Aid Foundation, and the Ministry of Justice and China Legal Aid Foundation conducted central government special legal assistance project on the lottery and public welfare fund. By doing so, we aim to call on lawyers to actively carry out public legal services, and meet the needs of poverty-stricken people, thereby promoting targeted poverty alleviation through legal services.
Source: CNR.cn, Dec. 22, 2018
Sponsor: International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC)
Organize：China Institute for Poverty Reduction, Beijing Normal University
Contact: Xu Liping 84419659
Email:xuliping@iprcc.org.cn