Viet Nam Human Rights
Sustained support needed to sustain poverty reduction
5/1/17
Poverty reduction programs have had positive impacts on the
living standards of ethnic minorities, but the challenge of sustaining the
gains remains, experts say.
Do Van Chien, Minister
and Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said the government’s social
policies upgraded the socio-economic infrastructure in rural, mountainous and
ethnic minority areas, gradually improving the lives of poor people.
A 2015 survey of
nation’s 53 ethnic minority communities showed that the number of household
receiving electricity from the national grid nearly reached 94 percent. All
communes have primary and secondary schools.
The poverty rate among
poor households fell from 35 percent in 2011 to 16.8 percent by the end of
2015.
The Government adjusted
its support for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, shifting its focus from
families to communities and paying more attention to creating livelihoods so as
to reduce reliance on aid, he said.
The provision of grants
was replaced by provision of loans at preferential interest rates.
Ethnic
minority-inhabited areas benefited from two national programs, 135 and 30A, one
on rural development and the other on sustainable poverty reduction.
The Government
promulgated specific policies to support the poor’s access to land, credit,
education, housing, clean water and health insurance. However, despite all
these achievements, limitations persisted in efforts to eradicate hunger and
alleviate poverty, Chien said.
A lack of long-term
support resulted in the fact that many support policies didn’t have the desired
impact, he said.
Trang A Thao, a resident
of Xa Ho commune in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, said his family
had not been able to achieve high productivity even after receiving support to
shift from planting cassava to maize.
Xa Viet Xuan, Chairman
of the People’s Committee of Tan Minh, a disadvantaged commune in the northern
province of Hoa Binh, said such policies like fertilizer and seedling
assistance can only help local residents in the short term. Since they cannot
accumulate enough after each crop, they don’t have the resources to increase or
even maintain production.
Son Phuoc Ngoan, former
Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said insufficient funding led to
ineffective poverty reduction.
"Ethnic minorities
want to buy a cow but they are only able to buy a part of the cow. So they
can’t escape poverty", he said.
This view was confirmed
by Hoang Thi Dung of Yen Bai province’s Van Yen district.
"We want to get rid
of poverty but we don’t have the capital to expand our production," she
said.
It costs between 15-20
million VND (660-880 USD) to buy a buffalo. Of these, 5 million VND (220 USD)
is given by the government but poor people like her couldn’t afford to raise
the remaining funds on their own, Dung said.
Nong Van Tong, who heads
the Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Office in Yen Bai’s Bao Lac district,
said it is difficult to promote sustainable development with policies that
don’t focus on key areas.
Under the 30A program,
farmers received a one-time support. So, if a farmer received a cow or
seedlings this year, he would not get any assistance the following year, he
said.
"Encouraging ethnic
minorities to proactively escape poverty and avoid relying on support from the
State and community is an approach in the right direction, but there is no
alternative to raising capital allocation for extremely disadvantaged areas and
reviewing the way people get support," Chien said.
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All comments [ 10 ]
Hunger eradication and poverty reduction have always been among the key tasks of the Party and State in all periods.
Poverty reduction has engaged the whole political system to comprehensively support the poor, especially those in the poorest regions, and the region of ethnic minorities.
Thinking on poverty reduction has been renewed in line with the process of socio-economic development of the country.
Poor people and families have been supported to develop production. They have had access to health services, education, vocational training, legal assistance, housing and clean water.
Attention has been given to healthcare for the poor, especially policies to support poor people acquiring health insurance cards and free medical care for poor people and people with difficulties.
Policies on assistance to the poor in education, training and vocational training have boost the proportion of poor children go to school at the right age, and increased percentage of poor people receiving vocational training.
Policies on housing, land, agricultural land, water, electricity subsidies, and legal aid have helped stabilize their lives, create jobs and raise incomes for the poor.
With the participation of the whole community, resources mobilized for alleviation of poverty have been increased.
The role of socio-political, and socio- professional organizations and businesses in hunger eradication and poverty reduction has be strengthened; the legal environment for mobilization of the community in supporting the poor has been increasingly improved.
The life of the poor people has been gradually improved; the socio-economic infrastructure in rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas, and especially difficult areas have been enhanced, helping reduce the increasing gap in income and living standards between regions and population groups.
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