The poverty reduction program no longer has a "free" policy but has shifted to conditional support.

At the discussion session on the implementation of the National Assembly's Resolutions on the 3 National Target Programs on new rural construction in the 2021-2025 period, sustainable poverty reduction in the 2021-2025 period, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the 2021-2030 period, on the afternoon of October 30, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung spoke to clarify some contents of interest to National Assembly Deputies.

Agreeing and highly appreciating the results of the National Assembly's supervision delegation on the implementation of the sustainable poverty reduction program for the 2021-2025 period, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that this supervision process has created a fundamental change, especially in the awareness of all levels and sectors.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong chaired the meeting.

The Minister said that this is the second term to implement the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction. However, unlike the previous term, this term requires more demanding work. “It was difficult before, but it is more difficult now. Not only reducing income poverty, reducing poverty simply, but the requirements are multidimensional but higher, more comprehensive, more inclusive and ultimately require sustainability,” Minister Dao Ngoc Dung emphasized.

Analyzing the difficulties in the implementation process, the Minister pointed out a number of obstacles in the past time such as: internal challenges, the impact and heavy influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, floods, storms, landslides... In particular, these problems are mainly concentrated in areas that are already difficult. "Therefore, the difficult ones become even more difficult, the poor ones are affected even more", said Minister Dao Ngoc Dung.

However, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung also said that the entire political system has made great efforts for the common goal of sustainable poverty reduction, especially the efforts from localities and the rise of poor and near-poor households. Up to now, the targets assigned by the National Assembly have been basically achieved. The Minister assessed that this is a very remarkable result. According to the Minister, Vietnam is a bright spot in poverty reduction compared to the international community as the only country in Asia implementing a multidimensional, inclusive and sustainable poverty reduction program.

Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung explained and clarified a number of contents raised by National Assembly deputies at the discussion session.

Providing further information to clarify some issues raised by National Assembly Deputies, the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that currently, in poverty reduction policies, there is no longer a "free" policy, creating dependence.

“I think that no one who is born and grows up wants to be poor and no one wants to not escape poverty. But just because they have not escaped poverty, if they are still on the list of poor households, they will at least enjoy the support policies of the Party and the State. The poverty reduction program no longer has a “free” policy but has completely shifted to conditional support, including support for production, housing, livelihoods or vocational training. Recently, many localities have hundreds of poor households voluntarily writing applications to be removed from the list of poor households, proactively giving their benefits to others. Through contact, it shows that people are also very hesitant to receive this “title” and feel hesitant, wanting to rise up on their own,” the Minister shared.

For poor households that are unable to work and cannot escape poverty, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is coordinating with the Ministry of Finance to advise the Government on criteria so that these people can have a life better than or no worse than that of poor households.

Regarding housing support for the poor in the spirit of relevant decisions and resolutions of the National Assembly, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung stated that we are striving to eliminate about 100,000 dilapidated apartments for disadvantaged and poor households during this term, with a budget of 4,000 billion VND. For this program, in addition to the support of the Central Government, localities will contribute 10-30%, and poor households themselves must be proactive with the support of organizations and philanthropists to rise up, so that each newly built apartment costs about 70 million VND, and each repaired apartment costs about 30 million VND.

Overview of the meeting.

Regarding the program in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, the Minister said that the implementation still has many difficulties. “Our decentralization and delegation of power in the past time has not been clear and thorough. The lower levels wait for the higher levels, the higher levels tell the lower levels to do it, but the lower levels are afraid, leading to the phenomenon that the circulars of the Ministry have given instructions but the lower levels still continue to request instructions,” the Minister stated the reality.

According to the Minister, the allocation of programs into small, fragmented, and scattered projects is too much. The poverty reduction program alone has over 1,000 different small projects. The Central Government allocates detailed capital to each project, making implementation slow and difficult. When detecting inappropriate things, subordinates are not allowed to make adjustments on their own without reporting to competent superiors...

To implement national target programs more quickly and effectively, the Government has proposed to the National Assembly 7 specific mechanisms and policies. However, in the immediate future, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung proposed that in the Resolution on supervision this session, the National Assembly should allow a pilot to grant full authority to the district level to proactively decide to adjust the capital structure from programs and between programs.

“Only then can we proceed quickly. For now, I propose that the National Assembly allow each province to choose 1-2 districts to pilot. The district makes all the decisions. The province only coordinates, inspects, and supervises. The central government checks the goals, inspects, checks, and summarizes and evaluates the program,” Minister Dao Ngoc Dung emphasized.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/chuong-trinh-giam-ngheo-khong-con-chinh-sach-cho-khong-ma-da-chuyen-sang-ho-tro-co-dieu-kien-post270513.html