Poverty Alleviation and Development in Shanxi Province

　　【Overview】 In 2011, according to the province’s strategic plan for leaps and bounds in transition, aiming to increase the income of the poor, lift them out of poverty and boost the development of impoverished areas, Shanxi Province increased efforts on poverty reduction, improve the pro-poor policies, innovated the mechanism and strengthened relevant measures. A total of 2.070495 billion Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds was invested this year, of which 1.1011625 billion Yuan was from the central government, 431.172 million Yuan was from the provincial government and 538.1605 million Yuan was county matching funds. Shanxi Province successfully completed the anti-poverty task for 2011 and reduced the rural poor by 200,000. The per capita net income of 57 poor counties reached 3874.5 Yuan, 749.1 Yuan more than that of the previous year, up 24%; per capita net income of the 35 key counties for national poverty alleviation and development reached 3129 Yuan, 599.6 Yuan more than that of the previous year, up 23.7%; and the two growth rates were respectively 5.7 and 5.4 percentage points above the provincial average.      

　　【Contiguous development for poverty reduction】 Vigorously implement the block advancement strategy of “one industry for one count”. In accordance with the principle of geographical adjacency, similar local characteristics and similar conditions for industrial development, through combining the county-based contiguous area development and advancement of key blocks, in 2011, Shanxi Province launched 17 contiguous development projects for poverty reduction. As of the end of 2011, 56.4% of the project had been completed. Plus the 15 contiguous development projects launched in 2010 and the nine national pilot contiguous development projects being constructed, the number of contiguous development projects of the province reached 41.  

　　【Cadres' village living and income-generating activities】 Focusing on the key task of “one product for one village”, Shanxi further promoted cadres' village living and income-generating activities, organized 6426 cadres to support the poor villages, one for each. 121,000 cadres went to live in 20,500 poor villages. In 2011, various departments at all levels invested a total of 2.66 billion Yuan of anti-poverty funds for the implementation of 19,000 new village projects, solving 66,000 practical problems.

　　【Ex-situ anti-poverty relocation】  The coverage of the ex-situ anti-poverty relocation was expanded to impoverished villages in remote mountainous areas with less than 300 residents, leaving more than 50% of the land unoccupied. The per capita subsidy standard was raised from 4200 Yuan to 5000 Yuan. In 2011, it issued special funds of 262 million Yuan to support the ex-situ anti-poverty relocation of 15,000 households and 50,000 people from 590 villages of 44 counties. Meanwhile, Shanxi allocated special funds of 30 million Yuan to support the poor masses left in the ex-situ anti-poverty relocation during the 10th Five-Year Plan period, solving the problem of 3583 people and 1154 households in 259 impoverished villages involved in the relocation.

　　【Entire village advancement】 To achieve the objective of one million Yuan of provincial anti-poverty funds per village and total investment of 3 million Yuan per village plus city and county matching funds, department funds and the funds raised by the masses, through “one planning, concentrated investment and two-year implementation”, Shanxi Province supported 660 impoverished villages to implement the entire village advancement project focusing on “one product for one village”, with the development of competitive featured industries, the improvement of production and living conditions and the enhancement of self-development capacity as the main contents. In 2011, all the entire village advancement projects were launched. The 200 villages among the list for annual target assessment that received the funds in advance have completed 94% of the project construction.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】  Shanxi Province explored the mechanism innovation for industrial poverty alleviation and took a variety of measures to promote the development of production and income growth of the farmers. In 2011, it identified 145 provincial poverty alleviation leading enterprises and provided support for them, basically achieving the full coverage of 57 poor counties. Meanwhile, the province adjusted and improved the loan discount subsidy policy, provided discount capital of 11.965 million Yuan for 407 million Yuan of loans of 19 national poverty alleviation leading enterprises and discount capital of 29.2 million Yuan for 1.045 billion Yuan of loans of 81 provincial poverty alleviation leading enterprises, established the mechanism for poverty alleviation leading enterprises to support the poor and put forward clear requirements for labor service, base construction and the purchase of raw materials, achieving the win-win situation of enterprise development of income growth of farmers.

　　【Rain Plan】  Targeting at the junior and senior middle school graduates from rural needy families and the labors who want to be transferred, the province mainly organized medium-and long-term vocational skills trainings. In 2011, it transferred and trained 50,700 people.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology】  To improve the quality of agricultural science and technology and the production and management capacity, targeting at poverty alleviation cadres at all levels and rural labors working at home in poor areas, the province carried out targeted theoretical trainings on pro-poor policies, practical skills trainings for industrial development and agricultural technology demonstration and promotion activities, etc. In 2011, it organized technological trainings for 77,400 person-times.

　　【Poverty alleviation by education】  It launched the education-based poverty alleviation project for “ten thousand people to provide subsidies for impoverished students”. In 2011, the province allocated special funds of 20 million Yuan for this program, 10 million Yuan more than that in 2010; subsidized 1000 poor college students, 3105 poor vocational school students and 4000 poor high school students. The education-based poverty alleviation program covered a total of 12520 people this year.

　　【Fixed-point poverty alleviation by relevant institutions】 Through contracted poverty reduction of the towns and contiguous areas, it implemented the target responsibility quantify management to shift the focus of fixed-point poverty alleviation to industrial development. In 2011, the provincial, city and county governments jointly dispatched 21471 cadres to carry out anti-poverty activities in 10591 administrative villages of 92 counties. The provincial organs arranged 730 cadres to form 170 work teams to conduct fixed-point poverty reduction among 1.772 million people in 2983 administrative villages of 39 impoverished counties. The rural work teams at all levels put in a total of 1.893 billion Yuan of anti-poverty funds for the implementation of 5663 new anti-poverty projects. The provincial rural work teams invested 1.142 billion Yuan for the construction of 378 poverty-relief projects.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】  It strived for 30 million Yuan of start-up capital provided by China Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development, organized 330 college student village cadres of poor areas to attend trainings in Beijing, launched the growth project of college student village cadres; carried out the Maternal and Infant Health Project and the care package donation activities in cooperation with China Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development, and provided childbirth subsidies of 500,000 Yuan and care packages worth 1 million Yuan respectively for one thousand women and ten thousand students from Huguan County of Shanxi Province.

　　【Foreign-funded poverty alleviation】  2011 is the second year for the implementation of the comprehensive agricultural development project in Hechuan Basin of Shanxi with ADB loans. In accordance with the requirements of “five advancements” – project progress, project quality, acceptance and reimbursement, capacity building and project management, Shanxi Province completed the project construction with a total investment of 332 million Yuan, carried out project management and project implementation technical trainings for 82900 person-times, organized the examination and acceptance activities for provincial projects worth 280 million Yuan, completed 104 million Yuan of project withdrawals reimbursement, and used the funds of 550,000 Yuan provided by Mercy Relief Singapore to implement the drinking water and irrigation projects in Taogou Village of Wenxi County.

　　【Pilot poverty alleviation projects】  First, launch the pilot work of supporting professional poverty alleviation cooperatives. In order to develop new forces to boost the development of impoverished areas, the province issued 4.15 million Yuan of anti-poverty funds to 18 poverty-relief cooperatives in six national pilot counties for contiguous development. Second, launch the pilot project of supporting the agricultural enterprises (cooperatives) of impoverished regions to carry out pilot work of certification of pollution-free, green and organic agricultural products. In order to cultivate competitive agricultural brand with local characteristics and increased industrial development benefits, it allocated anti-poverty funds of 1 million Yuan for 32 products of 16 enterprises (cooperatives) for pilot projects of product certification.

　　【Management of anti-poverty funds】   Adhering to the overriding principle of targeting at the objects for classification support, the province introduced and improved the fund management methods for the key projects such as contiguous development and entire village advancement, strictly implemented the project publicity, funding reimbursement, project acceptance and performance bond system, increased the inspection, supervision and follow-up evaluation of the use of anti-poverty funds and the implementation of poverty alleviation projects to guarantee the safety of anti-poverty funds and the effectiveness of poverty alleviation projects. Shanxi Province reached Class B in the performance assessment of national anti-poverty funds and received 13 million Yuan of financial funds as reward.

　　【Poverty alleviation research】  In 2011, to implement the spirit of the central poverty alleviation and development work conference and the major decision of doubling farmers’ income and boosting the development in transition during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, combined with cadres’ living in village and income-generating activities for poor villages, under the leadership of relevant cadres, participated by backbone forces, Shanxi Province organized a large-scale poverty alleviation and development research activity and completed more than 30 research reports. Among them, the "Doing A Good Job of Poverty Alleviation and Development to Meet the New Requirements for Leaps and Bounds in Transition" and the "Research Report on the Poverty Alleviation in Contiguous Poor Areas with Particular Difficulties of Shanxi Province" won the Excellence Award in the contest organized by LGOP.

　　【Poverty alleviation publicity】  Based on the remarkable achievements made in anti-poverty work in the new century and the situations facing the poverty alleviation and development in the new stage, according to the deployments of the central and provincial government for a new round of anti-poverty work, we organized a series of special reporting activities, participated in the “Exhibition on China's Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century” and won the Outstanding Organization Award, printed the album of the "Remarkable Achievements of Shanxi in One Decade of Poverty Alleviation" and introduced its experience in poverty reduction publicity in the National Poverty Alleviation Research Advocacy Conference.

　　【Construction of poverty alleviation institutions】  We strived for the support of Party committees and governments at all levels, strengthened the construction of poverty alleviation agencies and teams, appointed relevant agencies and personnel for the anti-poverty work in 58 non-poor counties and set up specialized anti-poverty institutions in some non-poor counties.

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(Cx�#ctively and efficiently plan villages, and will launch more pilot renovation projects to address the issue of dilapidated houses in rural areas so as to ensure basic housing security for rural needy. Meanwhile, employment, social security and household registration reform policies will be improved for rural migrant workers.

 

26. Attaching importance to energy and ecological environment protection

　　The state will accelerate development and utilization of renewable energy in poverty-stricken areas, developing small hydropower works, solar power, wind energy and biomass energy. Additional efforts will popularize utilization of methane, energy-efficient stoves, solid fuel, straw gasification station and other ecologically-friendly energy options. The state will improve the decontamination rate of urban domestic sewage and garbage and will redouble environmental improvement efforts in rural areas. To increase vegetation coverage and recover ecological functions, the state will adopt measures to enhance protection and development of grasslands and natural reserves, and support pastureland-to-grassland projects by banning grazing (permanently or temporarily) and conducting rotational grazing. The state will also intensify prevention of debris flow, landslides and collapse with priority given to monitoring, alerting, relocation and project management.

　　VI. Social Involvement in Poverty Reduction

27. Enhancing targeted poverty reduction efforts

　　All departments and units of the Party Central Committee and state organs, people’s organizations, institutions managed in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Civil Servants, key large-sized state-owned enterprises, state-holding financial institutions, state key research institutions and universities, military forces and armed forces should be actively engaged in poverty reduction and shoulder corresponding tasks. Central Committees of non-Communist parties and All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce are supported to be involved in this effort. Non-public enterprises and social organizations will be urged, guided, supported and aided in taking such responsibilities. The targeted help will aim to cover all key counties. All forces involved should formulate respective poverty reduction plans, actively raise funds and select and send outstanding young and middle-aged officials to work temporarily in poor areas. Local Party and political organs at all levels and relevant departments must ensure effectiveness of targeted poverty reduction work and give full play to the demonstration effect of targeted poverty reduction efforts.

28. Promoting coordination between Eastern and Western areas in poverty alleviation

　　Eastern and Western areas should devise plans and coordinate closely in fund support activities, industrial development, official exchanges, personnel training and transfer employment of labor forces, and exploitation of natural resource and human resource advantages of the poor areas. This will enable them to effectively target assistance. The state-designated Project of Assistance by Industries should go hand in hand with the East-Helps-West program. The state will encourage Eastern and Central China to support the economic and social progress of Tibet and Xinjiang by improving the targeted assistance system and relevant measures. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) should carry out pairing-up assistance programs locally in line with their actual conditions.

29. Engaging the military and armed police forces in poverty elimination

　　Taking into consideration of local needs, the military and armed police forces should act according to their ability and prioritize their help for poor people who live in localities where they are stationed. They should play an active part in eliminating local poverty and complement local strengths by giving full play to their advantages in strict organization, rapid response as well as outstanding talents, science and technology resources and equipment.

30. Mobilizing enterprises and all social sectors to alleviate poverty

　　The state advocates corporate social responsibility and encourages enterprises to adopt diverse measures to promote collective economic progress and increase farmer’s incomes. It will intensify planning and guidance, and urge social organizations and individuals to be involved in different ways. Volunteering will be advocated and volunteer network will be formed. Trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the Women’s Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology and the Overseas Chinese Federation as well as overseas Chinese will be mobilized and encouraged to participate in this endeavor.

　　VII. International Cooperation

31. Conducting international exchange and cooperation

　　Through the implementation of the “bringing in and going out” policy, the state will renovate mechanisms and expand channels to enhance international anti-poverty communication. It will also learn international anti-poverty theory and practices, conduct cooperation on anti-poverty projects and share experience with other counties in a common effort to promote poverty reduction.

　　VIII. Policy Guarantee

32. Policy system

　　The state will improve its anti-poverty strategy and policy system, making it more effective in poor areas and for poor populations. The policy system will give play to the comprehensive benefits of special, industrial and social poverty alleviation efforts; integrate development-oriented poverty reduction projects with the social security system, and carry out impact assessment before initiating important policies and projects that might affect poverty reduction work.

33. Fiscal support

　　The central and local governments will increase their financial inputs to help impoverished people. The lion’s share of additional poverty reduction funding from the central budget will be used in contiguous areas with special difficulties. General transfer payments of central and provincial budget toward the poverty-stricken areas will be increased, as will the use of lottery proceeds for the purpose of poverty reduction. No tariff will be levied for state-approved domestic and foreign investment projects; foreign-funded competitive industry projects in Eastern and Central China; self-use equipment unable to be produced domestically; or technologies, accessories and spare parts imported alongside such equipment. If eligible, corporate donations to poor people can be deducted according to relevant tax regulations.

34. Favorable investment policies

　　The government will intensify input in terms of infrastructure construction, ecological environment improvement and welfare project development. It will build more village-level roads and develop agriculture comprehensively. It will also protect land resources and small river basins, control water and soil erosion, and develop hydropower in rural areas. The state-arranged projects for the consolidation of dangerous reservoirs, ecological construction, drinking water safety, supporting transformation in large irrigated areas and other public benefits projects will not receive supporting funds from government at or below county level nor government of contiguous areas with special difficulties in Western China. Governments at all levels should intensify investment support for contiguous areas with special difficulties.

35. Financial services

　　The state will continue to improve national anti-poverty discounted-interest loan policies in the following ways: actively promoting innovation of financial products and service modes in poverty-stricken areas, encouraging development of small-sum credit loans, and satisfying poor peoples’ need for funds to develop production. It will carry out anti-poverty loan projects for rehabilitation of the handicapped, enable coverage of poor areas by financial institutions and financial services, and guide civil loans to develop normally. It will also widen financing channels of poor areas and encourage financial institutions incorporated at county level in poor areas to make over 70% of their additional loans locally. The state will energetically develop insurance services in rural areas by urging insurance institutions to establish grass-roots service networks in poverty-stricken areas. It will also improve existing agriculture premium subsidy policies, inspire local communities to develop specialty agriculture insurance targeting specialty and leading industries of poor areas and strengthen the rural credit system.

36. Industrial support

　　The government will implement various industrial policies under the Western Development Project. Large-scale national projects, key projects and emerging industries should be arranged in favor of qualified poverty-stricken areas. Labor-intensive industries should be guided toward poor areas as well. Market development in poor areas should be reinforced. The state supports reasonable development and utilization of resources in poverty-stricken areas and will improve policies to support the development of specialty and competitive industries.

37. Land use

　　According to farmland protection and rural land utilization regulations, new land for construction should first be used to satisfy house-building requirements for those who are relocated from poor areas. The state will reasonably arrange land for construction in small towns and concentrated industrial parks, reclaim more land, favor eligible key counties in terms of project arrangement, and support poverty-stricken areas to exploit and utilize mineral resources in an eco-friendly and orderly way.

38. Ecological preservation

　　The state will continue to launch grain-to-green, pastureland-to-grassland, water and soil conservation, natural forest protection, and shelter forest construction projects as well as controlling desertification in Karst areas and other areas. An ecological compensation mechanism favoring poverty-stricken areas will be created and ecological compensation for key ecological function areas will be intensified. Protection of biodiversity in poor areas will be put high on the agenda.

39. Guarantee of talents

　　The government will organize personnel from the education, science, culture and health sectors and volunteers to work in poverty-stricken areas. It will also formulate policy encouraging institutions of higher learning, research institutions and medical institutions to nurture talents for poor areas. Government will guide college students to work or start business in poor areas, design incentive policies for officials who hold long-term posts in poor areas, and favor technicians of all sectors in terms of posts and job titles. It will show more care to officials who hold temporary posts in poor areas under targeted poverty reduction programs or the East-Help-West Program, making proper arrangements for their work and life so as to give full play to their advantages, engage with talents who start their own business in poverty reduction effort and give more training to officials and practical talents in poor areas.

40. Key groups on the development-oriented poverty reduction list

　　Having incorporated development-oriented poverty reduction program schemes for ethic minorities, women, children and the handicapped into its planning, the state will make unified arrangements for their implementation, give priority to their implementation when all conditions are equal and strengthen support for these groups. It will organize the implementation of a special program to revitalize border areas and enrich the local people and help smaller ethnic groups shake off poverty. It will promote women of poor households to participate in the activity of learning culture and technology, comparing performance and contribution, and will pay attention to those women and children who are left home in the countryside. The state will formulate and implement the Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Program for Disabled People in Rural Areas (2011-2020) to enhance their subsistence and development ability.

　　IX. Organizational Leadership

41. Reinforcing development-oriented poverty reduction responsibility

　　Adhering to the management system whereby the central government plans the project as a whole, provinces take overall responsibility and counties shoulder responsibility of implementation, the state will attach great importance to communities, villages and households in poverty alleviation and hold the leading officials of Party and government responsible for development-oriented poverty reduction endeavors. Party committees and governments at all levels should enhance awareness, intensify coordination functions of development-oriented leading groups, strengthen leadership and make unified arrangements. They should increase integration of province-county projects and resource arrangements to promote the accomplishment of various tasks. The government will further improve evaluation incentive mechanisms for Party and government officials as well as departments and key counties. Organizational departments at all levels should actively coordinate work in this regard. Provinces (municipalities directly under the central government) in Eastern areas will give intensified support to their poverty-stricken areas and poverty reduction project beneficiaries. The government will also encourage and support eligible areas to explore ways to settle poverty-related problems emerging during urbanization.

42. Strengthening construction of rural grass-roots organizations

　　The government will give full play to the impregnable role played by grass-roots Party organizations in poor areas and integrate development-oriented poverty reduction programing with grass-roots level organizational development. It will appoint strong leaders to villages and actively explore effective channels to develop collective economy and collective capital accumulation and find more ways to enrich rural residents. The state will encourage and select ideologically and morally advanced young officials, ex-servicemen, university graduates who are extremely capable and are willing to serve the people, to build leader teams, guide work groups and foster development in poor villages. Village officials who have done a great job in lifting poor villagers out of poverty will be given preference when applying for the civil service in accordance with relevant regulations and conditions.

43. Enhancing team building of poverty reduction institutions

　　Development-oriented leading groups at all levels should improve guidance for poverty reduction activities, study and design policy measures and coordinate the implementation of all tasks. Leading groups in provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) should report their work to the development-oriented poverty reduction program leading group of the State Council. The state will further strengthen anti-poverty institutions at all levels and their respective functions, enhance team building, improve working conditions and the quality of management. Deeply impoverished townships should have a special official responsible for development-oriented poverty alleviation. The training of county-level officials and above-county-level officials who work in anti-poverty departments should be included in the overall training plan of Party and government officials at all levels. Poverty reduction departments should enhance their ideological and moral standards, fight against corruption and improve efficiency and ability to execute.

44. Improving management of poverty reduction fund

　　Fiscal funds will be mainly earmarked to contiguous areas with special difficulties, key counties and poverty-stricken villages, to foster specialty and competitive industries, improve development capacity of poor people and their basic production and living condition, and to increase direct funding for households. Mechanism of direct funding for households will be innovated and multiple ways will be used to ensure effective support for the needy. Infrastructure construction projects that use poverty reduction funding should make sure that poor people benefit first. Anti-poverty projects by industries should be directed to lift poor households out of poverty. A public announcement system for poverty reduction funding will be promulgated, audit and monitoring functions will be strengthened, and monitoring channels will be widened to crack down embezzlement and corruption.

45. Enhancing anti-poverty research and publicity

　　The state will earnestly improve theory and policy research on anti-poverty issues, summarize anti-poverty practices systematically, and gradually develop increasingly sophisticated theory and policy with Chinese characteristics. It will conduct surveys to improve decision-making and implementation ability, include poverty reduction in basic education for civilians about national conditions, in official training and civil servants education and in school education. The government will continue publicizing poverty alleviation projects and informing people of policies, achievements, experiences and typical examples in this regard so as to create a favorable environment for anti-poverty activities. Meanwhile, it will also showcase to the international community our efforts and accomplishments in guaranteeing people’s right to live and develop.

46. Reinforcing statistics collection and monitoring of poverty reduction work

　　The state will establish a development-oriented poverty reduction program information system and monitor contiguous areas with special difficulties. It will improve its statistics and monitoring system; regularize data collection, collation, feedback and announcement; and make information on the current poverty  situation and trends known in a timely and objective way, so as to provide basis for scientific decision-making.

47. Enhancing building of the legal system

　　The government will accelerate lawmaking processes in order to provide a legal basis for poverty reduction.

48. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities that directly under the central government) shall design their respective implementation approaches in accordance with this outline.

49. The Leading Group Office of Poverty Reduction and Development of the State Council is responsible for coordinating and organizing implementation of this outline.