Efforts to sustainably reduce poverty in ethnic minority areas

From a poor land, suffering much damage from war and natural disasters, Lao Cai today has risen strongly, becoming a typical model of sustainable poverty reduction, especially in ethnic minority areas.

From a poor land, suffering much damage from war and natural disasters, Lao Cai today has risen strongly, becoming a typical model of sustainable poverty reduction, especially in ethnic minority areas.

The spacious house of Ma Seo Sanh's family stands out in the middle of the border village of Sa Chai, Pha Long commune. The family is poor, to make ends meet, Mr. Sanh and his wife have to leave their children at home to work as factory workers in an industrial park in Hai Phong . They eat frugally, and each month they can only save a little money to send home to pay for their children's education.

Mr. Sanh shared: “Without the government’s temporary housing support program, I don’t know when my family would be able to build this dream house. With a new, sturdy house for my wife and children to live in, I can go to work with peace of mind.”

Pha Long commune has more than 500 households receiving financial support and preferential loans to implement the program of eliminating temporary and dilapidated houses. With the efforts of the entire political system, the cooperation and support of the community, poor and near-poor households in this border commune have been able to live in new houses, feel secure in their villages, and contribute to protecting the border.

Comrade Pham Tat Minh - Chairman of Pha Long Commune People's Committee said: "In the coming time, the local Party Committee and government will continue to integrate and effectively use resources to take care of people's lives, while promoting economic restructuring, creating sustainable livelihoods for the ethnic minorities here".

As a particularly difficult highland commune of the province, in recent years, Y Ty commune has received attention and investment from many support policies of the province such as: Resolution 20-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Committee on poverty reduction for communes with a high poverty rate of 40% or more; Project No. 10-DA/TU of the Provincial Party Committee on sustainable poverty reduction for the period 2021 - 2025; national target programs for the period 2021 - 2025; projects and policies on poverty reduction, support for production development, construction of infrastructure, and rural roads, etc.

The Party Committee and the communal government have focused on mobilizing people to participate in production, developing models of cultivation, animal husbandry, and medicinal herbs to improve their lives and develop the household economy. The work of sustainable poverty reduction in the area has had many significant changes each year. The rate of poor households in the area has decreased by an average of 7.6% per year.

To create strong changes in poverty reduction work, the commune focuses on propaganda and raising awareness so that poor and near-poor households strive to escape poverty, not relying on or waiting for support from the State.

Chairman of Y Ty Commune People's Committee - Nguyen Van Tai.

Lao Cai is home to many ethnic minorities. After the successful August 1945 General Uprising, in order to successfully carry out the struggle to protect the revolutionary government, along with building armed forces, the Provincial Party Committee considered caring for and improving the lives of ethnic minorities an important political task.

By the end of 1947, the province had solved the famine threat in some places, thereby mobilizing a large number of people to participate in mass movements and revolutionary struggles.

During the years of fighting for independence and national unification or during the process of construction and development, Lao Cai province has always paid great attention to poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas. From reducing poverty in terms of food and foodstuffs, ensuring enough food and clothing for the people, the poverty reduction policy has gradually moved towards ensuring basic social services for the poor.

Along with economic development, a series of poverty reduction policies have been implemented synchronously at all levels with funding mobilized from the Central, local, community and social organizations, contributing to improving people's lives. From the poverty rate of over 50% in the early years of the province's re-establishment, by the end of 2024, the multidimensional poverty rate in the area has decreased to 14.3%; of which poor households are 8.18%, near-poor households are 6.12%.

Ethnic minority and mountainous areas are considered the "core of poverty" of the province. Therefore, to help people living in these areas have the conditions to escape poverty, and at the same time implement the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction, the province has taken proactive and creative measures, with the motto "Taking motivation and thinking to guide poverty reduction work".

Poverty reduction policies have been comprehensively and diversely developed in many approaches to address the causes of poverty and the essential needs of the poor and poor regions, including: infrastructure investment policies; policies to support healthcare, education, housing, domestic water, service provision, subsidies, credit, etc. and direct support (production tools, plant varieties, livestock, etc.), specific policies; vocational training associated with job creation has been jointly implemented by the entire political system, with consistent direction from the province to the grassroots level.

Poverty reduction policies have aimed to improve the quality of sustainable poverty reduction, reduce free giving, and implement conditional loans to create positive changes in awareness and arouse the poor's will to be proactive and self-reliant...

After the merger, Lao Cai province has over 60% of its population being ethnic minorities. Recognizing the important role and position of ethnic minority areas in the overall development, the Party, State and local authorities continue to issue many practical policies, focusing on supporting socio-economic development in remote, isolated and extremely disadvantaged areas.

In particular, the Provincial People's Council continues to maintain and implement 135 policies on socio-economic development, sustainable poverty reduction, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of the people, gradually narrowing the gap between regions, ensuring social security, and strengthening the people's trust in the leadership of the Party and authorities at all levels.

Achievements in sustainable poverty reduction in recent years have created conditions for the province to set a target for the 2026-2030 period of striving to reduce multidimensional poverty by an average of 2-3% per year, in which poor communes will reduce at least 4% per year.

The journey of sustainable poverty reduction in Lao Cai is not only reflected through simple statistics, but the most important achievement of poverty reduction policies is the participation of the entire political system, the support of the business community and the positive response of the people.

In particular, the change in awareness of people in the “core poor” areas about their roles and responsibilities in implementing policies. Reality shows that the core goal of these programs is to aim at sustainable poverty reduction, creating momentum for the development of the “core poor” communes of the province, narrowing the regional gap, and improving the lives of ethnic minorities.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/no-luc-giam-ngheo-ben-vung-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-post881240.html