Poverty Alleviation of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce

　　【Overview】 In September 2010, the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council jointly issued the “Opinions on Strengthening and Improving the Work of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) under the New Situation”, which marked that the ACFIC and non-public economy will create a new situation for scientific development at a new starting point.

　　Poverty alleviation is an important part of ACFIC’s work and has distinct characteristics of ACFIC. ACFIC’s anti-poverty work, mainly participated by the majority of non-public economies and businesses, targets at the masses in old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas and impoverished regions. Focusing on the main task and serving the overall situation, taking it as an important carrier for practicing the socialist core value system to organize and guide non-public economies to participate in poverty reduction, ACFIC guided private economies to support the CPC politically and ideologically, cooperate with the CPC to achieve the ultimate goal of common prosperity and socialism and insist on going on the socialist road with Chinese characteristics. Always adhering to the basic guiding line of development-oriented poverty alleviation, it gave full play to the role of federations of industry and commerce and trade unions in social and economic life and guided private economies to embark on the way of healthy development to boost the sound development of non-public economy.

　　In its years’ anti-poverty work, ACFIC gradually formed five series of poverty relief work, namely development-oriented poverty reduction (Glorious Cause), poverty relief in designated and key regions, poverty relief by recruitment, new rural construction (village-enterprise cooperation in construction) and poverty alleviation by social public welfare. Based on its own characteristics, following the principle of "highlighting key points, paying attention to practical effect, insisting on within ability based on local conditions", ACFIC actively guided local federations of industry and commerce to carry out poverty relief activity such as "village-enterprise cooperation in construction" and help the farmers in impoverished areas to develop featured industries suited to local conditions so as to improve their quality and development capacity.  Under the guidance of ACFIC, the federations of industry and commerce at all levels cooperated with local party committee and government to help poor farmers shake off poverty and become rich, making a positive role in poverty reduction.

　　【Poverty relief in designated and key regions】 Adhering to the basic guideline of “combining production with life, linking survival with development and combining blood transfusion with blood making” in poverty alleviation, ACFIC pays special attention to the improvement the livelihood and self-development capacity of poor people. It has changed the poverty alleviation model from project implementation and entire village advancement to paying equal attention to boosting county economic development and public services of impoverished areas. ACFIC has done a series of anti-poverty work based on “entire village advancement – support for key towns – county economic development”.

1. Fixed-point poverty alleviation and relevant measures. It adheres to the leader responsibility system in fixed-point poverty alleviation. Vice chairman of CPPCC and Chairman of ACFIC Huang Mengfu personally acts as the Head of the ACFIC Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development. The vice chairman is responsible for fixed-point poverty alleviation. In April 2009, Chairman Huang Mengfu and Vice Chairman Sun Anmin headed a delegation composed of 40 entrepreneurs to carry out field research on anti-poverty work in Zhijin County, donated productbility anti-poverty funds of 10 million Yuan to Zhijin County and signed a number of enterprise poverty relief projects. As for the use of funds and project implementation, ACFIC Party Organization Secretary Quan Zhezhu and Vice Secretary Song Beishan, Vice Chairman Xie Jingrong, etc carried out field research in Zhijin County and gave important instructions on poverty relief.

　　First, sending cadres: ACFIC sent five cadres to Zhijin County and three comrades to act as cadres in Yilong County and Bazhong City of Sichuan Province to implement the fixed-point poverty alleviation projects of ACFIC.

　　Second, poverty alleviation by education: Donation, construction of primary schools, poor student subsidizing and teacher training are the main poverty relief activities of ACFIC and trade unions. Their purpose was to foster a new generation of high-quality farmers.

　　Third, poverty relief by labor export: ACFIC actively organized private economies to carry out “poverty relief activates by recruitment”. In Zhijin County, nearly 6,000 rural labors were transferred in recent years. ACFIC cooperated with LGOP to found labor transfer training center in Zhijin County to strengthen professional training before labor export so that migrant workers can live a stable life and finally shake off poverty.

　　Fourth, poverty alleviation by science and technology: ACFIC implemented science and technology demonstration projects for planting, breeding and processing industry, invited experts to give lectures and teach technologies and invested 200,000 Yuan to construct science and technology project for cow breeding. The experts of animal husbandry from Bijie expert advisory group gave technical guidance and good results were achieved in pilot projects. Then the projects were launched in a wide range of area. Meanwhile, it coordinated member enterprise Guangxi Penshibao Group Co., Ltd to donate agricultural chemical fertilizer worth 2.9 million Yuan and actively carry out technology extension, which played a positive role in increasing both production and income of crops, especially the bamboo gungus project, per mu yield increased by 20%. In addition, trainings were organized for township technicians and five township 10,000-mu crop bases (Xiongjiachang, Babu, Sanjia, Longchang and Jichang) were set up to support flue-cured tobacco planting in Zhijin and certain results were achieved.

　　Fifth, help to solve urgent production and living problems of farmers. ACFIC organized entrepreneurs to donate 2.5 million Yuan for the construction of 2,600 small water cellars in Zhijin County, which solved the drinking water problem of some poor farmers in the mountain areas. It introduced investment to build 20 township clinics and 10 electricity and road projects, which solved the anti-fluoride renovation problem of 1,000 rural households. Member enterprise JAG Group invested 500,000 Yuan in the construction of 10 village-level Glorious Clinics in Zhijin County, which greatly improved the medical service conditions of local farmers and effectively solved the medical service problem of farmers of remote villages.

　　Sixth, help to train township cadres. Over the years, with support from Central United Front Work Department, LGOP and China Minsheng Bank, ACFIC has held 8 township cadre trainings for Zhijin County and nearly 600 cadres attended the trainings.

　　Seventh, implement poverty relief productbility pilot projects. In order to implement the important instructions given by central leaders on the construction of Bijie Experimental Area by the United Front, in accordance with the development requirements of “three themes” in Bijie Experimental Area, ACFIC strengthened the implementation of Bacon Industrial Park, vegetable base, meat processing base and tea base in Xiongjiachang where locates key anti-poverty projects and the grape growing projects of Sanjia Town, developed the “Regulations on the Management of Key Anti-poverty Project Funds of ACFIC in Zhijin County”, organized farmers to set up relevant cooperatives. Sanjia Town Grape Growing Cooperative was officially set up and issued 2.6 million Yuan for the purchase of seedlings to support grape growing in Sanjia Town.

2. Mainly support Yilong County of Sichuan Province. ACFIC allocated more than 10 million Yuan of rolling funds to support pig breeding, vegetable and Chinese medicinal crop growing, featured farming and village-level highroad construction in Yilong County. The projects covered 13 villages in Wupeng Town, forming an industrial development structure featured “one Park (Xinghui Agricultural Science Park), two lines (along the new highroads, village-level ring roads) and three bases (live pig, fruit and vegetable, Chinese herbal medicine base)”, and benefited 9836 people to different extents. The per capita net income of the town reached 4,520 Yuan, 200 Yuan more than the county average.

　　Mainly support Bazhong City of Sichuan Province. In accordance with the guideline of “unified planning, implementation step by step, foundation and industrial development priority, contiguous development and multi-sector growth”, it determined the establishment of national ecological agricultural industrial park as anti-poverty priority in Zengkou Town, set up the leading group and the agency to take charge of the daily work, guidance, coordination, service and supervision in park construction, sent backbone technicians to give on-site technical instructions in villages for specific households, and established the “government + federations of industry and commerce + rural households” market risk compensation foundation to compensate rural households in case of declining prices of agricultural products to resist possible market risks. Meanwhile, practicing the ecological agricultural production mode of "pig – biogas – vegetable", "pheasant" and "wild boar - earthworms - pheasant - biogas - vegetable", it focused on developing modern agriculture, covering livestock breeding and fruit and vegetable growing, which effectively boosted the park industry development, infrastructure construction and social development. ACFIC donated 3 million Yuan of productbility rolling anti-poverty funds to construct projects in five villages, namely Shouxing, Shutai, Yanqiao, Jigong and Feima Village of Zengkou Town, issued 139 loans of 2.797 million Yuan, and 65 loans were repaid.

　　Support the construction of Nanjing Hospital project in Bazhong City. Chairman Huang Mengfu organized entrepreneurs to donate 10 million Yuan to support the construction of grassroots township hospitals in Nanjiang County when he conducted field research on poverty alleviation in Nanjiang County in May 2010. The donations were used to construct four township hospitals of 5,650 square meters, including Guangwushan Hospital, Dahe Hospital, Xialiang Hospital and Guanba Hospital, and purchase relevant medical equipment, including four ambulances, defibrillators, monitors, ventilators and other medical equipment.

3. Conduct careful research to explore the path for development and poverty alleviation in less developed areas and county economic development. In 2010, ACFIC, the Department of Social Services and China Society of Private Economy Research jointly conducted research on "how to give play to the role of private enterprises in county economic development in economically underdeveloped areas", successively carried out field research in the impoverished counties of Bazhong in Sichuan Province, Xianyang and Hanzhong of Shaanxi Province and Dingxi and Linxia of Gansu Province, etc, held special seminars for discussions and wrote the report titled "Development Path of Private Enterprises in County Economy of Less Developed Areas and the Policy Research", which clarified the significance and role of private enterprises in poverty reduction and county economic development and put forward the development path for private enterprises of underdeveloped areas and relevant policy suggestions.

　　【Poverty alleviation by Glorious Cause】 It is not only a good opportunity for private economy to seek new development, but also a good choice for private enterprises to fulfill their social responsibility and promote the spirit of the Glorious Cause to devote into new rural construction and highlight the theme of poverty reduction. In recent years, ACFIC continued to organize and guide private enterprises to carry out the glorious action of “new rural construction with care for three rural issues”. A large number of private enterprises provided counterpart support for villages, which had a positive radiation effect and became a brand project of Glorious Cause. According to incomplete statistics, since 2009, a total of 4,896 private enterprises have provided counterpart support for 6181 poor villages and 11,201,335 people and implemented 7240 poverty relief projects, which benefited more than ten million people and brought economic benefits of 15.981 billion Yuan, highlighting the new characteristics of "business support, project leading, village-enterprise cooperation, entire village advancement and win-win situation" of Glorious Cause in the field of poverty alleviation and development.

　　【Village-enterprise cooperation in anti-poverty project】 In December 2007, LGOP and ACFIC jointly issued the "Guidance of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce on ‘Village-enterprise Cooperation in Anti-poverty Project Construction’" (Guo Kai Ban Fa  [2007] No. 81), and select Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu and Ningxia as the first batch of pilot areas. The poverty alleviation offices in the pilot provinces (autonomous regions) were responsible for identification of impoverished villages and the implementation of entire village advancement and project funds, and the federations of industry and commerce selected enterprises for counterpart support. The pilot project of "village-enterprise cooperation in poverty reduction" aimed to explore models for the effective combination of government poverty alleviation and private poverty reduction; government anti-poverty funds and enterprises’ poverty relief funds; and government policy actions and behavior of the market economy.

　　Over the past three years, more than 80 pilot villages were identified for the pilot projects of "village-enterprise cooperation in poverty reduction" and the provinces (autonomous regions) explored some good cooperation models and experience for "village-enterprise cooperation in poverty reduction". Henan’s experience in pilot project construction was affirmed by ACFIC Chairman Huang Mengfu and LGOP Director-General Fan Xiaojian. In 2010, LGOP and ACFIC jointly carried out field research on the pilot poverty relief projects of "village-enterprise cooperation in poverty reduction", held work conferences and jointly organized the cadre trainings for "village-enterprise cooperation in poverty reduction".

　　【Poverty relief by employment and reemployment】 ACFIC set up in 2004 the tripartite coordination mechanism and signed the "Agreement on Cooperation in Promoting Employment and Reemployment" with Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (former Ministry of Labor and Social Security) and National Federation of Trade Unions, and set up a coordination group.

　　Jointly carry out the activity of “National Private Enterprise Recruitment Week”. In 2010, ACFIC, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and National Federation of Trade Unions held the “National Private Enterprise Recruitment Week” in more than 100 medium and big cities of 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, targeting at university students and migrant workers. A total of 170,000 private enterprises attended the event and provided 2.95 million working posts. Nearly 1.1 million people came to agreement with the employing units. Member of the Political Bureau of Central Committee and Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang gave important instructions on the event.

　　Jointly carry out field research. Since 2009, ACFIC carried out a series of activities to reduce the impact of international financial crisis on enterprises and meet private enterprises’ needs for university graduates and migrant workers, formed two research reports: "Development of Private Enterprises and Employment: Crisis, Regulations and Policy" and "Research Report on How Private Enterprises Attract University Graduates", and put forward two proposals to CPPCC, namely "Suggestions on Adjustment of Existing Job Skills Training Funds" and "On Establishment of Practice Bases by Private Enterprises in Colleges and Universities".

　　【Poverty alleviation by trade associations】ACFIC has now 28 subordinated trade associations and various provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions also founded trade associations and trade councils, which play a significant role in ACFIC’s poverty alleviation and social welfare undertakings. After the earthquake in Wenchuan, Jewelry Trade Association organized the member enterprises to donate more than 145 million Yuan for disaster relief and China Agriculture Industry Chamber of Commerce donated 40.51 million Yuan of funds and materials. After the snow and ice disaster occurred in South China, Pharmaceutical Trade Association organized the members to donate more than 10 million Yuan of cash and medicines, and nearly 80% of the members of Petroleum Industry Association participated in the road and bridge building, forest planting, cultural and education development, etc. In April 2010, after the Yushu earthquake in Qinghai Province, Petroleum Industry Association organized Ningxia Baota Petrochemical Group, Zhanjiang Dapeng Petrochemical Co., Ltd, China Tongyuan Co., Ltd and other member enterprises to donate 3.088 million Yuan in the large-scale fund-raising activity organized by CCTV. In order to support the poverty alleviation and development in less developed western regions, the Chamber of Beauty Culture & Cosmetics raised 2.22 million Yuan of donations from member units to set up the "Special Fund of Beauty" to lift women of poor areas out of poverty; Tourism Trade Association of China held trainings of tourism professionals for free for more than 2000 people from western minority areas; Book and Magazine Trade Association implemented the “Glorious Library” Project for the schools of impoverished areas and donated various books worth nearly 30 million Yuan to support the education industry of impoverished areas; Women Entrepreneurs Association donated more than 700 million Yuan of anti-poverty funds and public welfare funds in recent years, of which more than 100 million Yuan was donated for post-disaster reconstruction of Wenchuan.

　　【Social welfare charity】  1. China Red Ribbon Foundation. China Red Ribbon Foundation is a non-profit voluntary organization founded by more than 20 private enterprises under the leadership of ACFIC. In 2010, it mainly supported and promoted the AIDS prevention and control in remote and impoverished regions to protect people’s health and improve the quality of the whole nation.

　　Longchuan No. 2 Primary School Project of Yunnan: The Foundation invested 3.5676 million Yuan to construct Longchuan No. 2 Primary School Project of Yunnan and the project was completed in September 2009. In 2010, it accepted 125 AIDS-affected children to study in the school.

　　AIDS prevention and control project in Liangshan Prefecture of Sichuan: As smooth progress was made in the Red Ribbon Pillar Class, PMTCT nutrition assistance and village-level clinic construction project which were launched at the end of 2009, 41 children who became orphans due to AIDS in Zhaojue County of Liangshan received living allowances; 1,212 pregnant and lying-in women with maternal feeding difficulties in 17 counties (cities) of Liangshan Prefecture (23 affected by AIDS) received nutritional support; four village-level clinics were set up in Zhaojue County and Meigu County; and the "China Red Ribbon Foundation Zhaojue County AIDS Antiretroviral Care Treatment Center" was set up in Zhaojue County Hospital.  

　　"Nutritional Support Program for Antiretroviral Therapy of Child AIDS Patients": 960,000 Yuan was donated to support the "Nutritional Support Program for Antiretroviral Therapy of Child AIDS Patients". The program issued one-year nutrition funds for each of the 800 AIDS-affected children who are receiving antiviral therapy in 12 key provinces, accounting for nearly 60% of the child patients, which improved the nutrition status, extended the lives and enhanced the quality of life of the child patients, and actively promoted the antiviral therapy work for child patients.

　　Subsidize the children with HIV from Linfen Red Ribbon Primary School. In 2010, 38,400 Yuan was donated to 16 children with HIV from the Red Ribbon Primary School of Linfen, Shanxi - the Green Harbour of Infectious Diseases to improve their learning and living environment.

　　"Red Ribbon Healthy Package" Project: On September 27, 2010, ACFIC and the State Council AIDS Working Committee Office jointly launched the "Red Ribbon Healthy Package" Project. As of December 31, 2010, with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong as the center, the project was expanded to North, East and South China with a large floating population, covering 26 cities (counties) of 20 provinces. Nearly 100 activities were organized to issue the "Red Ribbon Healthy Packages" and 15,080 migrant workers received the "Red Ribbon Healthy Packages".

　　Organize summer camp for 100 orphans. In August 2010, ACFIC organized 100 children who became orphans due to AIDS from Shangcai China Red Ribbon Home of Henan Province and Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Red Ribbon Pillar Class of Sichuan Province to participate in the summer camp themed "Visiting Beijing and Expo". The children attended the flag-raising ceremony on the Tian’anmen Square of Beijing, visited the Forbidden City, Tsinghua University and New China Science and Technology Museum, held the initiation ceremony of the Young Pioneers under the Great Wall and went to Shanghai to visit World Expo China Pavilion, Dutch Pavilion and Italy Pavilion.

2. Organize and mobilize the member companies to donate money and materials for the people affected by Yushu Earthquake in Qinghai and participate in the post-disaster reconstruction. On the evening of April 20, 2010, on the "Great Love for Yushu - A Large-scale Earthquake Relief Fund-raising Activity" jointly sponsored by Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Ministry of Civil Affairs, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Red Cross Society of China and China Charity Federation, ACFIC’s member units and many private enterprises all donated for disaster-hit areas. A total of 163 private enterprises and entrepreneurs donated 1.01 billion Yuan on the event, accounting for 50% of the total.

3. Donate for the construction of "glorious libraries". To help improve the reading conditions of the primary and secondary school students in impoverished regions, since the implementation of the large-scale public welfare project – donating 20,000 Yuan to establish a “glorious library” for the schools in impoverished areas in 2001, as of the end of 2010, ACFIC had set up nearly 400 "glorious libraries" for the primary and secondary schools in impoverished and remote areas.