POVERTY REDUCTION BRIEFING 2013-XVII

1. Liu Yandong: Sever the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty. LiuYandong, Vice Premier of the State Council, joined the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the opening ceremony of the U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue on
Early Childhood Development on November 20. In her opening remarks, Liu made it clear that the Chinese government would explore a path for child development by borrowing insights from other countries’ experiences and taking into account China’s circumstances, and strive to sever the intergenerational transmission of poverty so as to secure a rich pool of talents and human capital for the future. Currently, there are nearly 310 million children under the age of 18 in China. Given the pure size, the country will release the Child Development Program in Poor Areas, aiming at
strengthening the safety net at the bottom line.According to her, the idea of improving the awareness of child development of the whole society and creating a favorable environment for child development has increasingly become widely recognized by the international community. Despite the differences in national conditions, China and the United States share common ideas and goals in ensuring child priority and promoting social equity. Child development is invariantly an integral part of further cooperation, whether in the perspective of the China dream or the American dream.
Source: China News Service 21-11-2013
2. NHFPC and CDPF Jointly Launch Newborn Screening Program in Poor Areas. The General Office of NHFPC (National Health and Family Planning Commission) and CDPF (China Disabled Persons’ Federation) jointly issued the
“Program Planning for Newborn Screening in Poor Areas 2013” on November 19, 2013. The program will be carried out in 200 counties in 14 contiguous areas with particular difficulties, covering 21 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities).It aims at screening 490,000 newborns with rural household registration who suffer from PKU (phenylketonuria), CH (congenital hypothyroidism) and hearing disorder,and assisting those diagnosed with PKU and CH to recover. By breaking the boundary between the two departments, the program has been able to give full play to the
advantages of the NHFPC and CDPF so as to provide all-round service including screening, diagnose and recovery to newborns suffering from hearing disorder.
Source: cdpf.org.cn 22-11-2013
3. Gansu Branch of China Development Bank Grants the First Strategic Cooperation Loan of RMB 200 Million for Poverty Relief and Development.Gansu branch of CDB recently made a loan of RMB 200 million to seven pilot counties including Wushan and Lintan to support local projects of providing clear drinking water and building road in poor villages – 152 million for drinking water safety and 48 million for road construction. With financial poverty alleviation funds
as the base as well as the repayment guarantee and source, the bank leveraged credit funds for rural infrastructure construction in poor areas so as to support local poverty relief and development.
Source: Gansu Daily 20-11-2013
4. Six Elite Universities Launch Self-Improvement Plan to Recruit Able Students from Impoverished Families. A joint announcement was released on November 21 by Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University and University of Science and Technology of China to launch “Self-Improvement Plan” for independent recruitment. The plan is open to senior highs in 832 key counties in the national development-oriented poverty reduction program and counties in contiguous areas with particular difficulties, as well as other rural senior high in villages and towns in China. It recruits able candidates who have long lived and studied in rural areas, outlying poverty-stricken areas or ethnic minority areas. Online application for the Plan starts from November
21 to December 15 and is free of charge. Candidates can choose any three out of the six universities to register for the examination.
Source: Jiefang Daily 22-11-2013
5. Shaanxi Helps One Million Low-income Households in Three Years since the Industrial Poverty Relief Project. Since 2011, Shaanxi has been strengthening its industrial poverty relief project by granting discount loans and mutual funds. As a result, nearly one million low-income households there have been able to engage in characteristic planting and breeding industries with greater productivity, and their income increase has been accelerated. So far, the province has set aside RMB 896 million of financial poverty alleviation funds and released RMB 6450 million of discount loans to support the construction of 29 modern agricultural parks and 286 specialized cooperative organizations (leading enterprises) and to help over 0.8 million low-income households to engage in characteristic planting and breeding. A total of 1702 poverty relief mutual fund associations have been set up to release a loan of RMB 792 million to support 140,000 peasant households in production development.
Source: Shaanxi Daily 24-11-2013
6. Fujian Province Allocates RMB 100 Million Each Year for Industrial and Trade Development in 23 Key Counties in the Provincial Poverty Reduction Program. FJETC (Fujian Provincial Economic and Trade Commission) issued the “Implementation Plan on Accelerating the Development of Key Counties in the Provincial Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Program” on November 20.According to the Plan, 100 million yuan will be allocated from the provincial industry
and commerce development fund each year to support industrial and trade development in 23 key counties in the program, starting from the year 2014. Based on each county’s economic development level, industrial strengths and characteristics, the fund will be used to subsidize enterprises in these areas to support their technical transformation, technological innovation, integration of IT application with industrialization, e-commerce, energy conservation, logistics, closing down of backward production facilities, industrial project matching and market development.
Source: fjsen.com 22-11-2013
7. Anti-poverty Investment Will Reach RMB 7.5 Billion in Inner Mongolia by the End of 2013. This year, Inner Mongolia increases its special financial fund for poverty relief by RMB 200 million or 20% from last year. By the end of 2013, its
anti-poverty investment will reach RMB 7.5 million. It is learned that compared to previous special programs for poverty relief, this year’s program is designed not only to fulfill the target of income increase and poverty reduction, but also to attain goals in such areas as infrastructure, social undertaking, industrial development, quality of peasants and herdsmen, ecological construction and environmental protection, village image improvement and primary-level organization construction. Clearly, it is in every sense a comprehensive plan aimed at promoting the development of both poor areas and poor people.
Source: nmgnews.com 19-11-2013
8. World Bank Group Provides $500 Million for the Philippines’ Post-typhoon Reconstruction. At the request of the government of the Philippines, the World Bank Group has decided to provide an emergency loan of $500 million to support the country’s post-disaster reconstruction. The Group also plans to give its support in other forms, including setting up a conditional cash transfer payment plan to provide funds for low-income families. The fund can also be used for building makeshift houses, cleaning ruins, and providing short-term job opportunities for those families.
Source: World Bank 18-11-2013
9. Vietnam Invested $36 Billion in Poverty Reduction Over the Past Seven Years. The Vietnamese government has invested more than 700 trillion Vietnamese dong (3.6 billion US dollars) from 2005 to 2012 in poverty alleviation, averaging 90 trillion dong ($4.2 billion) a year. The money has been used to provide vocational training and legal support, create jobs, as well as improve health care, education and housing conditions in poor communities across the country. Besides, poverty-reduction measures and models have found effective application in all parts of the country, and reduced the average poverty rate and the number of poverty-stricken areas.
Source: bernama.com 26-11-2013
Organizer: Beijing Normal University China Poverty Reduction Research Center

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