Poverty Alleviation and Development in Heilongjiang Province

　　【Overview】  In 2011, a total of 495 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds was issued for Heilongjiang Province, of which 458 million Yuan was issued by the central government, 37 million Yuan was provincial matching funds and 1.74 billion Yuan was credit loans, including project loans of 1.62 billion Yuan and household loans of 120 million Yuan. Heilongjiang Province implemented 57 projects in five categories, namely agricultural infrastructure construction, public service facilities, social undertakings, poverty-relief trainings and industrial development of poor farmers. Smooth progress was made in the implementation of entire village advancement, construction of old revolutionary base areas, Rain Plan, poverty alleviation by industrialization, pilot work of contiguous development and the development of contiguous poor areas with special difficulties.

　　【Entire village advancement】  In 2011, in accordance with the standard of “four possessions, three accesses and three improvements” (poor households have development projects and family members achieving labor transfer by receiving training, villages have large or medium-sized agricultural machinery, clinics and family planning service office; access to hardened roads, access to tap water and access to wire or wireless CATV; improvement of the production and living conditions of the masses, improvement of rural civilization and improvement of the level of democratic management), taking infrastructure construction as the basic project to lift poor areas out of poverty and taking the growth of poor villages into new socialist countryside as the basic objective, Heilongjiang Province further strengthened the integration of resources and successfully completed the task of entire village advancement of the fifth batch of 750 poor villages. Through building village cement roads of 439.2 kilometers, red-brick roads of 156 kilometers and farm roads of 398.8 kilometers, it solved the highroad problem of the poor. Through digging 153 wells and building 1979 bridges and culverts, canals of 136700 linear meters and dykes of 2440 linear meters for poor villages, the province achieved “stable yields despite drought or excessive rain” in agricultural production. Learning from the use of the anti-poverty funds, it integrated the national and provincial subsidy policies for purchase of agricultural machinery, purchased 70 large agricultural machinery tools and built agricultural machinery warehouses of 1776 square meters, improving the level of standardization of agricultural machinery equipment and farmland machinery operation of poor villages. Through digging 19 drinking water wells for the people and livestock of poor villages and supporting the poor to install tap water pipelines, it solved the drinking water problems of 12,300 impoverished households. Meanwhile, the province installed CATV cables for 2060 households, installed 493 street lamps, built clinics of 2793 square meters, villagers’ cultural activity rooms of 10463 square meters and leisure plaza of 163188 square meters, installed fences of 88804 linear meters and built village ditches of 96870 linear meters, solving the problem of CATV, health care, cultural activity and environmental problems of poor villages. In addition, the province renovated the mud and grass houses of 432 poor households. With the improvement of construction standards and the development of infrastructure, the overall appearance of poverty-stricken areas has been significantly improved and the production and living conditions of the poor have been significantly enhanced.

　　In 2011, the entire village advancement in Heilongjiang Province directly benefited 30,000 poor households. The per capita income of local villagers reached 3000 Yuan or more and 200,000 rural poor in the province were lifted out of poverty

　　【Rain Plan】  In 2011, Heilongjiang Province further promoted the human resources development in impoverished areas. First, highlight the job skills training. It implemented labor transfer training, local employment training of rural labors and encouraged junior and senior middle school graduates to receive secondary vocational education; Second, highlight practical technical training for poor villages. It implemented the whole village training transfer program and made training and employment transfer the important channels for the poor to shake off poverty; Third, innovate the poverty alleviation training management methods. It provided training subsidies directly to specific persons and detailed the management and used the Rain Plan funds for poor households to ensure the rural poor will not lose the opportunity to receive trainings due to poverty. In 2011, it invested Rain Plan funds of 9.49 million Yuan, trained 92400 labors of needy families and subsidized 5075 children from poor families to receive secondary and senior vocational education.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】  In 2011, to highlight the development of the industries enriching people, Heilongjiang Province actively developed industries to enrich people and constantly broadened the channels to increase the income of farmers to provide guarantee for the poor to achieve stable income growth. Through the implementation of poverty alleviation by industrialization, it enhanced the degree of organization of the production of poor farmers and accelerated the process of industrialization of agriculture in impoverished villages. In the fifth batch of 750 poor villages involved in the entire village advancement, the government supported 3555 poor households to purchase 513 cows, 358 heads of cattle, 6342 live pigs, 1142 sheep, 116700 poultries and 80 boxes of bees; supported 13563 poor households to introduce 1447.95 tons of new grain varieties, set up five pasturing stations, 7 milk stations and pasturing communities of 11292 square meters. It invested special funds of 74 million Yuan for industrial poverty alleviation, integrated various founds of 120 million Yuan and implemented the projects of cooperatives for farming of the poor, vegetable greenhouse production cooperatives, featured cash crop planting cooperatives and green organic grain growing cooperatives to directly benefit 62,000 poor households. Based on the poverty alleviation projects, the province established 201 professional farming cooperatives composed of poor households in the impoverished villages involved in entire village advancement, which helped 19,000 poor households. Through entire village training, it set up 136 labor export service teams for poor households. Meanwhile, with 12 million Yuan of anti-poverty loan discount funds, it supported 45 leading enterprises and 169,000 poor households, guided enterprises to build farming bases in impoverished villages and organized poor farmers to conduct large-scale operation by land transfer and participate in the construction of industrial bases relying on enterprises. A total of 470,000 mu of land was transferred and the coverage of industrialization base was expanded. The poverty alleviation by industrialization laid a solid foundation for industrial development, increased the sources of income and enhanced the level of income of farmers.

　　【Development of contiguous areas】  11 counties of Heilongjiang Province were covered by the Greater Khingan Mountain area with special difficulties, namely Lanxi, Gannan, Tailai, Baiquan, Lindian, Kedong, Wangkui, Qinggang, Fuyu, Longjiang and Mingshui County. In 2011, with financial anti-poverty funds of 45.47 million Yuan and integrated department funds of 132 million Yuan, Heilongjiang implemented industrial development, infrastructure construction and transformation of low-yield farmland in contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties. Through integrating the financial funds and department funds as well as the poverty alleviation resources, it combined poverty alleviation and development with the regional development and achieved coordinated economic and social development in impoverished areas and stable income growth of the poor. On this basis, the province identified another two contiguous poor areas, namely east foot of Mayyi Khingan mountain area and eastern border poor regions, covering Huanan, Huachuan, Tangyuan, suburb of Kiamusze, Fuyuan, Raohe, Tongjiang and Suibin. While doing a good job of poverty reduction in the national and provincial contiguous poor areas, Heilongjiang launched the pilot projects of “county-based entire village advancement and contiguous development through integrating funds” in three key counties, namely Lanxi, Baiquan and Huanan. Making use of the financial poverty-relief funds of 15 million Yuan, it integrated various agriculture-related funds of 68.21 million Yuan to implement the featured farming communities, agricultural production cooperatives, rice growing, water-saving irrigation, featured cash crop planting and infrastructure construction projects.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】  In 2011, the social poverty relief funds in Heilongjiang reached 152 million Yuan, of which 65 million Yuan was gratis investment and 87 million Yuan was introduced. 10 central state organs, 90 provincial party and government organs, enterprises and institutions and 4714 city and county organs sent a total of 2180 cadres to support the poverty reduction in designated counties, towns and villages and implemented 2410 projects to support 750 impoverished villages and nearly 1700 poor students. 33 industrialization poverty relief leading enterprises went to develop industrial bases in poor villages, which led 62,000 rural households to participate in industrial development and achieved per household income growth of 5300 Yuan.

　　【Construction of old revolutionary base areas】  In 2011, Heilongjiang issued financial funds of 20 million Yuan for the construction of old revolutionary base areas, of which 10 million Yuan was provided for the construction of 30 high-standard demonstration villages in old revolutionary base areas; 10 million Yuan was issued for the implementation of small infrastructure and public facility construction projects in 89 ole revolutionary base villages of 68 counties (cities, districts) to improve the production and living conditions of the masses. Meanwhile, it used central special lottery welfare fund of 15 million Yuan to implement pilot entire village advancement projects in poor old revolutionary base areas of Yanshou County. Through the construction, the agricultural infrastructure in the old revolutionary base villages has been further improved, the industrial structure has become more reasonable, the living conditions of the masses has been greatly improved and the economic and social development has been constantly accelerated.

　　【Convergence of two systems】 In 2011, in accordance with the poverty line of 1570 Yuan set in 2010, Heilongjiang Province identified 291,000 poor households in the 23 national and provincial key counties and included the poor with the ability to work into the coverage of poverty reduction. Through the implementation of poverty relief projects, social support, industrial development, training and transfer of labors as well as the rural minimum living security system, the province achieved full coverage of objects under the dynamic management.

　　【Opinions on the implementation of the new Outline】  In 2011, in order to thoroughly implement the spirit of the “Notice of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council on the Issuance of ‘Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)’”, Heilongjiang provincial government formulated the “Opinions on the Implementation of the ‘Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)’” (hereinafter referred to as the “Implementation Opinions”). The “Implementation Opinions” has six parts and 19 articles and put forward specific requirements on the guiding ideology, guideline, basic principles, objectives and tasks, coverage, poverty alleviation by joint force, policy guarantee and organizational leadership of the province’s rural poverty alleviation and development in the next decade.

　　【Key counties for poverty alleviation and development】 In 2011, Heilongjiang Province adjusted the key counties for anti-poverty work in accordance with the requirements of the state. After the adjustments, it has a total of 14 key counties for national poverty alleviation and development, namely: Raohe County, Huanan County, Huachuan County, Suibin County, Baiquan County, Lanxi County, Gannan County, Tailai County, Yanshou County, Tongjiang City, Tangyuan County, Fuyuan County, Hailun City and Lindian County; and a total of 14 key counties for provincial poverty alleviation and development, namely: Kedong County, Wangkui County, Qinggang County, Fuyu County, Longjiang, Boli, Bayan, Mingshui, Sunwu County, Dument, Mulan, Keshan, Wuiling and Yi’an County. According to the requirements of the provincial government, when the main economic and social development indicators of the key counties are among the top 50% ranks of the province for two consecutive years, the counties will no longer be listed among the key counties for poverty reduction. The withdrawal mechanism has been set up for the identification of key counties.

　　【Poverty alleviation achievements exhibition】  In 2011, with the theme of mechanism innovation, taking the form of photos, articles, material objects, audio and videos, Heilongjiang Province participated in the “Exhibition on China’s Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century” and displayed its achievements in poverty alleviation and development over the past decade. During the period of preparing for the exhibition, we collected a total of 21 ethnic minority handicrafts and more than 30 written materials on the anti-poverty work, built exhibition wall of 27 square meters, formulated the multimedia brochure - “A New Era for Poverty Alleviation in Heilongjiang After One Decade of Hard Work”, the “Song of Poverty Alleviation and Development” and the special TV program of “Moving Towards Prosperity”. During the exhibition, we distributed 1100 copies of promotional materials and met with 120 visiting groups and individuals. Party and government leaders, principals of relevant ministries and people from all circles of society visited Heilongjiang Pavilion and highly praised it. In the contest organized by the exhibition organizing committee, Heilongjiang Province won the “Special Contribution Award for Poverty Alleviation and Development Achievements in the New Century”.

　　【Pro-poor measures】  In 2011, in order to increase the income of poor farmers and improve the conditions for economic and social development in impoverished regions, Heilongjiang Province continued to strengthen the construction of social security systems, further accelerated the pace of industrial development and poverty alleviation and vigorously promoted infrastructure construction and the development of social welfare undertakings. As a result, the backwardness of the poverty-stricken areas has been significantly improved, the level of public services has been enhanced and the regional development gap is gradually narrowing.

　　Strengthen leadership and cooperate with each other closely. Heilongjiang provincial government and party committees at all levels attached great importance to poverty alleviation and development, continued to strengthen institution construction for poverty alleviation, carried out regular studies on poverty work and conscientiously implemented the pro-poor policies, greatly promoting the further development of poverty alleviation. Various industries and departments also fully played their roles, cooperated in the anti-poverty work and gave priority to impoverished villages in allocation of funds for rural areas in accordance with the planning for the poverty alleviation in rural areas. The units appointed to provide counterpart support for poor areas and various social forces all actively participated in the anti-poverty work, combined with regional development, provided not only materials but also ideas and technologies for the poor, supported poor villages to develop industries and select projects for income growth and long-term development. At the same time, we gave full play to the main role of the masses of poor villages, mobilized the masses to participate in the planning development, project screening, implementation, management and supervision. In 2011, Heilongjiang Province integrated various funds of nearly 1.7 billion Yuan for anti-poverty work and 57,000 people of poor villages provided labor services, forming the large-scale poverty alleviation pattern participated by social forces and the poor integrating special poverty alleviation and industrial poverty alleviation.

　　Highlight priorities for actual effects. In order to boost the industrial development of impoverished regions and increase the income of the poor, Heilongjiang Province formulated its scientific annual development plan for industrial poverty alleviation, introduced relevant policies and measures to support the agricultural industrialization in poverty-stricken areas, and provided support for poor areas to develop industries that help them shake off poverty, aiming to broaden sources of income of the poor. At the same time, the province seriously implemented the system for poverty alleviation to first benefit the poor. With policy support, the scale and coverage of the food production, farming, labor services and featured industries to enrich people in poor areas have been constantly expanded, the degree of organization has been further enhanced and the self-development capacity of the masses of poor areas has been constantly strengthened. We achieved the transition from blood-making poverty relief to hematopoietic poverty alleviation. In 2011, poverty alleviation industry promoted the development of more than 23,000 households, achieving income growth per household of more than 6,100 Yuan.

　　Strengthen the basis and improve people's livelihood. In 2011, Heilongjiang Province strengthened the construction of infrastructure, enhanced the overall quality of impoverished farmers and intensified the social security system to accelerate the pace of poverty reduction and improve the people's livelihood in poor areas. First, through facility development-based poverty alleviation, it further improved the infrastructure of impoverished villages, further strengthened the sustainable agricultural development and further improved rural development environment and the basic production and living conditions of the poor. The fifth batch of 750 poor villages has now 710 large and medium-sized farm machines. All the central villages are equipped with hardened roads and tap water, the infrastructure construction has been significantly strengthened, including the drainage and power supply facilities, cable TV, leisure and recreational activity venues, and the level of public services was obviously enhanced. Second, through vigorous implementation of intellectual poverty alleviation, entire village training, technical training, subsidy policy for junior and senior middle school graduates to receive senior vocational education and the training of leaders helping the poor become rich, the basic quality of the poor has been improved, the consciousness and initiatives of the poor for learning and using science and technology have been significantly enhanced, and a large number of farmer agents and leaders of breeding industry and labor transfer appeared. Third, through the implementation of security policy for poverty alleviation, we gave priority to impoverished regions in issuing social security policies and took the poor as the key targets of the social security to ensure that all elderly people can be supported, all the sick can get medical treatment, assistance will be provided for all the persons with difficulties and people’s basic living can be guaranteed. All the rural households meeting the conditions for receiving subsistence allowance in the poor villages covered by entire village advancement were covered by the minimum living security system. When the poor farmers who participated in the new rural cooperative medical system and the new rural social old-age insurance system could not afford the individual payments of the insurance, we would solve the problem with the anti-poverty funds, achieving full coverage of impoverished regions of the new rural cooperative medical system, the new rural social pension insurance and the rural minimum living security system.

　　Make innovations to mechanisms for standardized development. In 2011, according to changes in the situation of poverty alleviation and development, the province revised the “Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Ordinance of Heilongjiang Province”. Based on changes in the connotations of poverty alleviation and development in the new era, it further improved the planning, fund and project management measures and increased the contents of planning formulation and implementation for contiguous poor areas with special difficulties and the system for withdrawal of key counties for poverty reduction. WE re-enacted the "Procedures for Entire Village Advancement for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Heilongjiang" and the "Methods for Acceptance of Entire Village Advancement for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Heilongjiang", raised the standards for entire village advancement and established the mechanism for poverty reduction of impoverished villages. In addition, we further improved Heilongjiang Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Information Network and announced the village-level poverty alleviation and development planning, fund investment fields, project implementation and the name list of the poor on the website to receive public supervision for “Operations under Sunshine”, enhancing the transparency of our work.

oI�i-
(Cx�#ly: "Times New Roman";mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'>【Pilot area of central special lottery ticket public welfare fund】  In August, Damao Banner of Baotou City got, as the first in Inner Mongolia, the qualification of implementation unit of the entire village advancement project in impoverished old revolutionary base areas with central special lottery ticket public welfare fund. The contiguous development project implemented in the old revolutionary base areas of Wuke Town in Damao Banner with lottery ticket public welfare funds involved 6180 households and 20384 people from ten administrative villages and 108 natural villages, covering the development of irrigable land, planting industry, aquaculture and infrastructure construction. The total project investment was 35.1 million Yuan. After the project implementation, there will be an annual increase of 10.75 million Yuan in the net revenue, including 9.53 million Yuan in the revenue of planting industry and 1.22 million Yuan in aquaculture, and an increase of 530 Yuan in per capita income.

 

　　【Poverty alleviation publicity】  Combined with the Exhibition on China’s Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century, the promulgation and implementation of the “Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)” and the holding of central poverty relief work and Inner Mongolia’s work conference on poverty alleviation and development, making full use of the main media, web portals, poverty relief briefings and bulletin boards, Inner Mongolia vigorously publicized the main achievements and basic experience of the autonomous region in poverty alleviation and development and the state’s major decisions and deployments on the national and Inner Mongolia’s anti-poverty work and timely announced the progress made in anti-poverty work, creating a good atmosphere for the all society to concern about the cause of poverty alleviation and laying a good basis for social forces to participate in the anti-poverty work.

　　【Information monitoring center of poverty-stricken areas】 On April 30, the Organization Committee of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region approved (Nei Ji Bian Fa [2011] No. 70) the Poverty Alleviation and Development Training Center of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was renamed the Information Monitoring Center of Impoverished Areas of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Its main functions: To bear the responsibility of monitoring the region's poverty and anti-poverty work, relevant statistical data survey, acquisition and analysis; support relevant organs of the Poverty Alleviation Office of Inner Mongolia to carry out poverty-relief network and information construction and management in the autonomous region; organize trainings of cadres for poverty alleviation system and poor areas; and provide consulting services for poverty-relief projects, etc.                            

col�Tlc
(Cx�#t-kerning:0pt'>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.