Seminar discusses sustainable poverty reduction

A workshop on directions for sustainable poverty reduction in 2011-2020 was held in Hanoi on November 30 by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

In recent years, poverty reduction programmes have made significant progress, which has been acknowledged by the international community, thanks to successful socio-economic development strategy in the 2001-2010 period.

However, according to the Steering Board of the National Targeted Programme for Sustainable Poverty Reduction, the results of poverty reduction are not sustainable and the gap between rich and poor is increasing, especially in areas with many poor families. Many snags remain, such as overlapping programmes, lack of consistent policies and resources and unclear separation between poverty reduction and social welfare policies.

At the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Nguyen Trong Dam, said a draft of the Government’s resolution on directions for sustainable poverty reduction in the 2011-2020 period will review all polices and choose the ones in line with the new situation to achieve the target for sustainable and comprehensive poverty reduction. It will focus on investment in poor and disadvantaged districts.

Ngo Truong Thi, Deputy Head of the MOLISA’s Social Welfare Department, presented the draft. The programme aims to promote economic growth for the poor, enhance basic infrastructure for socio-economic development, and improve people’s livelihoods in poor districts and extremely disadvantaged communes and villages.

The programme will provide better opportunities for poor people and families to stabilise and diversify their jobs and increase their income to accelerate the progress of poverty reduction and sustain its achievements. It will also reduce the number of poor families by 75 percent compared to the previous period, which means a reduction of 7.5 percent per year, in order to achieve a 4-5 percent poverty rate by 2020.