Children in a remote mountainous province (Photo: VNA) Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanhrevealed problems in the implementation of the National Target Programmefor Sustainable Poverty Reduction in the 2021-25 period to the NationalAssembly’s Committee on Social Affairs at a meeting on July 20 morning in Hanoi.
Thanh also said that many poor districts and communes in coastal areas andislands have yet to escape from poverty.
The localities with rugged terrain have faced socio-economicdifficulties and challenges in infrastructure, leading to a highpercentage of poor households, he said.
Most of the poor and near-poor households still lackstable livelihoods and jobs, he said.
They have low and unstable incomes, while lacking basic social servicessuch as health, education, accommodation, clean water and sanitation, he added.
They also lacked information and professional skills, making itdifficult to find employment, he said.
Thanh said the National Assembly issued Resolution No 24/2021/QH15,approving the investment policy worth at least 75 trillion VND (3.3 billion USD)to implement the programme.
However, the annual ceiling for non-business capital has yet to bedetermined, so ministries, sectors and localities struggleto plan and propose funding, he said.
Moreover, the non-business capital to implement the programme in 2022 is lowerthan expected, he said.
Also at the meeting, participants pointed out that there are still differencesbetween documents of some ministries and sectors in directing theimplementation of the programme, causing confusion.
In addition, data from the implementation of the programme is not unified, theparticipants said.
Thanh said the key tasks in the last six months of this year are that themulti-dimensional poverty rate maintains a decrease of 1.2% per year; the rateof poor ethnic minority households decreases by over 3% each year; and the rateof poor households in poor districts decreases by 4-5% per year.
To do that, the mechanism for the implementation of the programmeneeds to be improved, he said.
Ministries, sectors and localities must be guided to make five-year budgetestimates and estimates for this year to implement the programme, he said.
It has to summarise proposals of ministries, sectors and localities and submitto competent authorities for approval of the plan for capital allocation nextyear to implement the programme, he said.
It is imperative to strengthen the effectiveness of communication and mobiliseall resources to exceed the targets on poverty reduction, he said.
It is also necessary to strengthen the inspection and perfect themonitoring and evaluation of the programme's implementation, he said.
The programme was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh in January 2022.
Its overall goal is to achieve multidimensional, inclusive and sustainablepoverty reduction. It will be carried out nationwide, with a focus on poordistricts and communes in extremely disadvantageous circumstances in lowlandand coastal areas and on islands.
The programme targets to reduce the nationwide poverty rate by 1-1.5%, by over3% among ethnic minority households, and by 4-4.5% in poor districts per year.
The number of poor and near-poor households is expected to decrease by half by2025.
All poor districts and communes in extremely difficult conditions in lowland,coastal areas and islands will receive assistance to invest in upgradingsocio-economic infrastructure, serving livelihoods, and boostingproduction and trade, and providing basic social services.
The rate of children from poor and near-poor households going to school at theright age will reach 90%, according to the programme./.
VNA
