Coming to the mountainous district of Tan Ky, in the northwest of Nghe An province, on the occasion of the district solemnly celebrating the 60th anniversary of its founding and receiving the Second Class Labor Medal, we witnessed the new rural landscape changing day by day, with more and more spacious houses among the green gardens as far as the eye can see. This "land lacking rain and having too much gravel" is changing its skin as the poor, supported by the Government's social policy credit, have been and are gradually finding the right direction for themselves, which is to escape poverty sustainably and stably to get rich.
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| Poor people in Tan Ky borrow policy capital to grow forestry seedlings |
Success from consciousness
Talking about Tan Huong commune, Tan Ky district, people cannot help but remember the famous molasses product that the commune is aiming for OCOP standards.
The advantage of large hilly garden land, with Ho Chi Minh road running through and only about 6km from the district center not only helps Tan Huong people improve their quality of life with sugarcane but is also suitable for developing forestry tree nursery and farm and family farm economic models. The economic development orientation of Tan Hung is realized with the integration of credit policies for the poor and other policy subjects to borrow capital.
For example, the family of Mr. Tran Van Luan, in Vinh Tan hamlet, Tan Huong commune, used to be a chronically poor household with a difficult family economy. The family has 5 people (2 parents and 3 children) crowded in an old makeshift house. The family has land but it is difficult to raise 3 children to go to school, so where can they save money to renovate the garden? Therefore, in 2014, the Farmers' Association mobilized, the Savings and Loan Group reviewed and proposed that the district's Social Policy Bank lend 30 million VND to poor households to raise breeding cows, from which the door to a new livelihood for his family gradually opened.
In 2017, Mr. Luan paid off all his debts. However, his family was still poor, so in 2019, he boldly applied for a loan of 50 million VND from the poor household program. Thanks to his experience in animal husbandry, the diligence and hard work of his family members, Mr. Luan invested in breeding cows, breeding pigs and building a nursery. After 2 years, his family escaped poverty and became a high-income household in the commune. Currently, Mr. Luan's family regularly raises 3 breeding cows, 14 sows and a nursery, with an income of about 200 million VND in 2021.
The story of Mr. Luan's family escaping poverty shows that social policy credit has been and is helping disadvantaged people have more motivation to develop the economy, improve their quality of life and especially help them integrate into the local economic flow. In 2022, the average income per capita of Tan Huong commune reached 39.7 million VND/person/year. The poverty rate decreased to 4.05%. Tan Huong is completing the next 2 criteria of transportation and cultural institutions to reach the new rural finish line.
Policy funding is also nurturing the tradition of the land of studiousness, helping many students not to have to interrupt their dreams of attending university or college because of lack of tuition fees. This is also a sustainable path to poverty reduction.
The family of Mrs. Phan Thi Mai, in Nghia Hoa hamlet, Nghia Phuc commune is an example. In 2011, her family was considered poor, but her children were studious. Therefore, the loan capital for students with difficult circumstances with a total amount of 128.6 million VND helped her raise 3 children to go to university. In addition, from 16 million VND of the loan capital from the forestry development project program, she boldly borrowed an additional 40 million VND from the loan program for near-poor households. Thanks to that, she worked hard to produce livestock, at the same time taught her children to be good and study well. Up to now, her children have graduated and have high and stable jobs, together with the family paying off bank loans, saving money at the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies.
Such stories are appearing more and more in Tan Ky land. With the mindset of “understanding the people’s hearts and serving wholeheartedly”, the generation of officers of the Social Policy Bank of Tan Ky district over the past 20 years have always been united, close to the people, devoted, and devoted to serving the poor and other policy beneficiaries.
This dedication can be seen from the fact that the district's Social Policy Bank focuses on mobilizing financial resources to better meet the loan needs of the poor and other policy beneficiaries. By December 31, 2022, the total operating capital of the Tan Ky District Social Policy Bank reached more than VND 557 billion, an increase of VND 540 billion (more than 31 times) compared to the beginning of operation (2003). Of which, the district and commune budgets entrusted to the district's Social Policy Bank were VND 3 billion.
The constantly growing loan capital in Tan Ky district is a fulcrum for the unit to increasingly better meet the borrowing needs of the poor and other policy subjects in the locality.
Over 20 years of implementing policy credit under Decree No. 78/2002/ND-CP dated October 4, 2002 of the Government, Tan Ky district has focused credit resources through the Social Policy Bank to lend to 85,700 poor households and other policy beneficiaries with loan turnover reaching 1,674 billion VND, debt collection turnover reaching 1,166 billion VND.
Policy capital has been invested in 100% of communes in the district, creating favorable conditions for the poor and policy beneficiaries in need and eligible to access capital conveniently and promptly, helping 85,700 poor households to borrow capital, contributing to helping 5,631 households escape poverty; attracting and creating jobs for over 3,300 workers; helping 19,124 students in difficult circumstances to borrow capital for their studies, not allowing any student to drop out of school due to financial difficulties; supporting the construction and renovation of 17,572 clean water and environmental sanitation works in rural areas; supporting the construction and repair of 1,899 houses for poor households and low-income people...
Policy capital has contributed to increasing the average income per capita from 3.5 million VND/person in 2002 to 38.5 million VND/person in 2021 (an increase of more than 11 times compared to 2002), reducing the poverty rate in the district from 33.37% in 2002 to 9.74% at the end of 2021, and the lives of people, especially the poor, are increasingly improved.
“The results achieved over the past 20 years have affirmed the role of social policy credit in the socio-economic development of the district, as a fundamental and long-term tool and solution for the District Party Committee, People's Council and People's Committee to successfully implement the goals and plans on poverty reduction, job creation, new rural construction, ensuring social security, economic recovery and development, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee Nguyen Van Thuc.
Together to reduce poverty
However, poverty reduction in Tan Ky is not really sustainable. The number of households that have escaped poverty but have income levels close to the poverty line is still large; there are still households that are falling back into poverty; the lives of people, especially those in rural areas in Region III, are still difficult and backward. The results of the general survey to review poor and near-poor households according to the multidimensional poverty standard applied for the period 2016 - 2020, the number of poor and near-poor households with low incomes also lack many indicators of access to basic social services such as education, health care, housing, information, etc. 25% of working-age workers have unstable jobs.
To solve this problem, Tan Ky District People's Committee has issued a Sustainable Poverty Reduction Project for the period 2022 - 2025 with the goal of reducing the average poverty rate by 1.5 - 2%/year according to the poverty standard for the period 2021 - 2025, (in particular, communes with a poverty rate of 20% or more, the average reduction is 2 - 2.5%/year); reducing the average near-poor household rate by 1 - 1.5%/year. By 2025, ensure that poor and near-poor households have full access to policies on health, education, employment, housing, clean water, environmental sanitation and information services.
As an effective tool to support Tan Ky district in sustainable poverty reduction, in the first quarter of 2023, the Tan Ky District Social Policy Bank continued to diversify capital sources, especially advising the District People's Committee to transfer 300 million VND from the local budget to entrust to the Social Policy Bank, and the Commune People's Committee transferred 320 million VND. The interest of the borrowers of 15 million VND was also integrated with the allocated source, raising the total entrusted local budget capital to 3,620 million VND, basically completing the assignment from the superiors, to focus on lending, solving the problem of sustainable poverty reduction for the people.
Currently, the total capital of the Tan Ky District Social Policy Bank has reached 621 billion VND, an increase of 11.4% compared to the beginning of 2023. This is the basis for the unit to continue to meet the maximum capital needs of poor households and policy beneficiaries. Loan turnover in the quarter was 28,087 million VND, 1,191 million VND higher than the same period last year; with 651 households receiving loans since the beginning of the year, each household received an average loan of 51.8 million VND. As of March 31, 2023, the total outstanding loan balance reached 569 billion VND, an increase of 12 billion VND compared to the beginning of the year, a growth rate of 2.14%, completing 100% of the assigned plan, with 20 lending programs, 10,970 borrowing households. Overdue debt and frozen debt only account for 0.15% of the total outstanding debt. That shows that the capital source continues to be effective in life.
Director of the Tan Ky District Social Policy Bank Phan Thanh Tu - Member of the Steering Committee for National Targets of Tan Ky District said that in the coming time, implementing the Development Strategy of the Tan Ky District Social Policy Bank to 2030, the District Social Policy Bank will continue to effectively operate policy credit activities in the area, ensuring service provision to 100% of the poor and eligible policy beneficiaries who have loan needs, contributing to the successful implementation of the National Target Program on sustainable poverty reduction, agricultural development, new rural construction, ensuring social security, and improving people's lives in the district in the following years.
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