Hanoi has set a target of reducing the number of poor households by 30 percent this year compared to 2022, according to the recently issued Decision No. 337.
According to the decision, the city’s Labor, War Invalids and Social Security Service has been tasked with coordinating with relevant departments and district people’s committees to provide assistance to poor and near-poor households, especially during the New Year (Tet) holidays, which are the most important and biggest festival for Vietnamese.
The decision stressed that priority should be given to poor households, particularly those from ethnic minorities and families on welfare.
The district people’s committees are requested to regularly monitor the local poverty situation in order to provide timely assistance to those most in need.
Local authorities suggested that the Hanoi Fatherland Front Committee oversee the classification of poor, near-poor and average-living households to ensure aid reaches the right recipients.
According to the committee, the Fund for the Poor received donations worth more than 83.5 billion dong ($3.5 million) in the month of “For the Unfortunate” in 2022.
The fund has provided a total of $20.7 billion ($883,105) in housing construction, business and manufacturing resources to poor, near-poor, and disadvantaged households.
County-level Fatherland Front committees helped build 306 houses at a cost of more than 12 billion dongs (nearly US$512), repaired 94 houses, and provided production tools and supplies to nearly 1,600 households. They also distributed gifts worth 13.8 billion dong (US$588,736) to families in need.
In addition, Hanoi has set a goal of keeping the poverty reduction rate at 25-30% per year, which will ultimately lead to zero household poverty by the end of 2025.
The target was set in the city’s Sustainable Poverty Reduction Plan 2022-2025. That’s planned Hanoi Implement a range of poverty reduction solutions, particularly in areas with high poverty rates, while providing incentives for households with scarce economic resources to move out of poverty early.
According to the plan, the total budget allocated for the program is estimated at 1.58 trillion dong (US$68.7 million).
The focus would be to support poor households on welfare, people from ethnic minorities, people with serious illnesses, people with disabilities or people who are not of working age. Poor households are expected to have cheap access to basic social services such as health care, education, housing, drinking water, hygiene and job placement.
According to Hanoi authorities, at the end of 2022, the city had 2,134 poor households, representing 0.095% of the population, and 22,263 near-poor households, or 0.99%.
In five years, the poverty rate in Vietnam has fallen dramatically from 9.88% in 2015 to 2.75% in 2020, with more than eight million people living at or near poverty.
Taken by Vietnam News Agency (AVN).