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Presenting a house for 4 orphans in Thi Nai ward of Quy Nhon city. Photo M.T |
On the occasion of “the Day for the Poor” (Oct.17) and “the peak Month for the Poor” in 2008 (Oct.17-Nov.18), Binh Dinh Newspaper’s Nguyen Suong spoke with Chairman of Binh Dinh Fatherland Front Committee Truong Dinh Tan about the hunger eradication and poverty reduction in Binh Dinh.
* Why did Binh Dinh focus on the house improvement for the poor when implementing the “Day for the poor” campaign launched by Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee in 2000?
Responding to the campaign, the provincial Fatherland Front, its members, and the people have helped the poor a lot since 2000. In Binh Dinh, the house construction is mainly focused on because there are still many poor people living in makeshift houses.
This is their top difficulty. Only when living stably can they feel secure to earn their living.
* Which achievements have we reaped in the past 8 years?
In late 2000, Binh Dinh had more than 16,500 poor households living in makeshift houses. With the aid of provincial bodies, organizations, and individuals, houses have been newly built for the poor and ethnic minority people from 2001 to 2008.
At present, Fund for the poor-raising Board and localities have launched “the peak month for the poor”. Many activities have been held with the participation of the whole society to further the poverty-alleviation movement, reducing the makeshift houses.
* But the poor also face other difficulties such as land or knowledge. What do you think about this?
Statistics released in late 2005 showed that Binh Dinh had 65,410 poor households, accounting for 19.66%. Well being aware of the importance of the poverty-alleviation movement, provincial authorities have focused on the issue in the past few years.
Many policies supporting the poor were effectively implemented, bringing considerable achievements.
In the past two years, poor households were aided in developing their economy. Health insurance cards were freely granted to the poor. Poor and ethnic minority students don’t have to pay their school fees. Vocational training courses and legal assistance were also held to aid the poor.
Also, many projects have been carried out effectively in 2006-2007. 37 works were built in 13 disadvantaged communes.
Alongside these, Binh Dinh actively implemented many programs and called for foreign sponsorship.
The rate of poor households reduced to 12.63% in late 2007.
* One of reasons causing difficulties for the poverty reduction in Binh Dinh is the capacity of the staff that is in charge of the issue. What do we plan to train them to strengthen the hunger eradication and poverty reduction?
The hunger eradication and poverty reduction are the responsibility of the whole society. The role of those who are in charge of the poverty-alleviation movement is really important.
Most of them must be trained to effectively mobilize the support from the society. The Standing Board of provincial Fatherland Front is to cooperate with relevant bodies to open training courses for the staff, helping them to learn experiences to conduct the hunger eradication and poverty reduction more effectively.
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