Poverty Alleviation and Development in Henan Province

　　【Overview】In 2011, Henan Province lifted 1.033 million rural poor residents out of poverty and the growth rate of per capita cash income of the farmers in 44 key counties for poverty alleviation and development was above the national average. After the central work conference on poverty alleviation and development, Henan Province respectively held the provincial government’s executive meeting and provincial party committee’s executive meeting, studied and conveyed the spirit of Central Government’s No.10 Document and the central work conference on poverty alleviation, approved the “Opinions of CPC Henan Provincial Committee and Henan Provincial People’s Government on the Implementation of the ‘Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)’” No. 21 Document of the provincial party committee), made strategic arrangements for the anti-poverty work of Henan Province in the new stage and clarified the basic requirements and main policies for the poverty alleviation and development in the new era.

　　【Investment of anti-poverty funds】In 2011, a total of 4.418 billion Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds was issued for Henan Province, of which 1.029 billion Yuan was from the central government, 181 million Yuan was provincial matching funds, 400 million Yuan was from city and county governments, 1.418 billion Yuan was social poverty alleviation funds and 1.12 billion Yuan was raised by the masses. In 2011, Henan Province’s anti-poverty funds increased by 46.3 million Yuan over the previous year, up 35.2%, and the amount of poverty alleviation funds was the biggest over the years. Henan Province also arranged 32.3 million Yuan of funds for the paid use of increased land in the province, opening up a new source of anti-poverty funds.

　　【Entire village advancement】In 2011, Henan Province planned to launch entire village advancement projects in 1,000 impoverished villages and invested a total of 2.264066 billion Yuan for the project construction, of which: 563 million Yuan was from the central and provincial government, 111.12 million Yuan was from the city and county governments, 1.204636 billion Yuan was integrated department funds, and 385.31 million Yuan was raised by the masses. It actually completed the poverty alleviation by entire village advancement of 1012 poor villages. Through project construction, it built village roads of 3005 km, 52 bridges and 312 culverts, dug 58 wells, built 196 reservoirs, 89 water cellars and canals of 117 km, and set up supermarkets, clinics and cultural activity rooms for all the involved villages. After the entire village advancement, great changes took place to the infrastructure conditions and the appearance of the poor villages, and the living standards of the masses were greatly enhanced. Through the implementation of construction jointly by villages and enterprises, industrial poverty alleviation, technology poverty alleviation, microfinance and mutual funds, the income of farmers was increased significantly.

　　【Pilot work of contiguous development】The province launched the pilot projects of contiguous development in eight national key counties in two batches. The pilot work of "county-based entire village advancement and contiguous development by integrating resources" in four national pilot counties for poverty alleviation namely Song County, Hua County, Lushi County and Sui County covered 44 poverty-stricken villages. The four pilot counties all completed the construction of the contiguous development projects in 2011. The pilot work of "county-based entire village advancement and contiguous development by integrating resources" in Luanchuan County, Xin County, Fan County and Taiqian County involved 40 poverty-stricken villages. In October, the provincial government completed the review and approval of the planning on pilot work and issued the project funds. The pilot projects were implemented orderly in the four pilot counties.

　　【Rain Plan】 In 2011, the Rain Plan was expected to train 200,000 people in Henan Province. Aiming to promote the stable employment and improve the job skills of the poor, the province intensified the training to stabilize the transfer employment rate, organized trainings free of charge and provided direct subsidies for trainees to mobilize the enthusiasm of farmers for receiving trainings, increasing employments and income, promoting industrial transfer and boosting the development of industrial areas. Holding a certain position in the vocational education system of “paying equal attention to six fields” in Henan Province, the training work of the Rain Plan achieved some results and made some progress. In 2011, a total of 100 million Yuan of anti-poverty funds was put in for the province from the central and provincial government. As of the end of December, it had trained a total of 206300 people, accounting for 103% of the annual plan (200,000 people); transferred employments for 189,000 people, accounting for 105% of the scheduled task, and the annual income growth reached 1.8 billion Yuan.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology and industrialization】 In 2011, a total of 42 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds was issued by the central and provincial government and 122 projects of poverty alleviation by science and technology were arranged for the province. The central government issued 2 million Yuan for the implementation of two projects and the provincial government allocated funds for 120 projects. In the poverty alleviation by science and technology, Henan Province continuously improved the long-term project operation mechanism for “turnover operation, rolling development and sustained income growth”, laying a solid foundation for the poverty reduction in impoverished regions. The projects promoted 300 new species and new technologies, dispatched 350 provincial agricultural experts to poor areas, printed 320,000 copies of technical data and made each household master at least 12 income-generating technologies, benefiting nearly 100,000 poor people. We completed the discount fund project screening, approval and confirmation for industrialization-based poverty alleviation and supported 209 agricultural product processing leading enterprises. The allocation of 70 million Yuan of discount funds encouraged the issuance of 2.333 billion Yuan of loans for poor areas, benefited 120,000 poor rural households, directly supported 60,000 poor households to develop income-generating industries and helped 42,000 poor people find jobs. In addition, the leading enterprises donated money and materials worth 51.73 million Yuan for the industrial development of poor areas.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

　　【Relocation for poverty alleviation】On a voluntary basis and under the principle of scientific site selection and differentiated subsidies, in 2011, Henan Province invested a total of 669.37 million Yuan of anti-poverty funds for relocation and moved 5853 households and 24756 poor people out of mountain areas, respectively 17.06% and 12.53% beyond the scheduled task. In the 32 mountainous counties covered by the poverty-relief relocation projects, the government built poverty-relief houses of 810,000 square meters, erected electric circuits of 127 km, built roads of 116 km, laid pipelines of 174 km, leveled land of 1.09 million square meters, constructed slope protection projects of 16,000 square meters, built 56 bridges (culvert bridges) and afforested village area of 162 mu. In October, Henan Provincial People’s Government held in Luanchuan County of Luoyang City the provincial work conference on anti-poverty work.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】In 2011, Henan Province actively conducted social poverty alleviation to further promote the establishment of the large-scale poverty alleviation pattern. First, provide good services for the fixed-point poverty alleviation of central organs in Henan Province. The LGOP held in Henan the work conference on fixed-point poverty alleviation from December 7 to December 9. Second, arrange more provincial organs, enterprises, institutions, collages and research institutes to carry out anti-poverty work in poor villages. Third, promote the construction by villages and enterprises to broaden the area of social poverty alleviation. Jointly with the United Front Work Department and the Association of Industry and Commerce, Henan Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office held the summary and commendation meeting on the project for one thousand enterprises to support one thousand villages and the poverty alleviation jointly by villages and enterprises, and carried out the activities to expand the connotation and enhance the level of poverty alleviation jointly by villages and enterprises, laying a good foundation for the further implementation of the “poverty alleviation project by villages and enterprises”. Fourth, explore channels and means for social groups and non-government organizations to participate in the poverty alleviation. Jointly with the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce and the provincial postal company, Henan Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office made active propaganda and mobilized all circles of society to donate care packages for the students of impoverished regions. The total value of the care packages donated in 2011 reached 3.9 million Yuan and this action was praised by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. Fifth, the Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development of Henan Province was formally established. On September 23, the first representative assembly of the Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development of Henan Province was convened in the province’s Hall of the People, marking the formal establishment of the Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development of Henan Province. As of the date of the founding of the Association, more than 2600 units and entrepreneurs made enthusiastic response and positive expression of the aspirations of donating for the poor. The establishment of the Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development of Henan Province provided useful support to broaden the channels for social assistance for the poor and played an active role in promoting the cause of poverty alleviation and development in Henan.

　　【Microfinance and mutual funds】In 2011, Henan Province invested a total of 40 million Yuan of small loan discount funds and continued to implement poverty alleviation by micro-credit in 44 key counties for poverty alleviation and some other areas as well. As of the end of December, the province had issued a total of 633.5068 million Yuan of small loans to help 21,000 poor households develop income-generating industries, covering 3895 poor villages, and the income growth per household reached 2500 Yuan. A total of 26.1 million Yuan of central and provincial financial anti-poverty funds was allocated and pilot mutual funds projects was launched in 145 poor villages. As of the end of December, the pilot mutual funds had been implemented in 36 counties of the province, involving 500 impoverished villages, and a total of 61.87 million Yuan of loans was issued for the mutual aid societies that had been put into operation in poor villages, supporting 18900 poor households, and the income growth per household reached 1700 Yuan.

　　【Convergence of two systems】In 2011, according to the requirements of the provincial leaders and LGOP, with great support from financial department, statistics department, civil affairs department, investigation teams and disabled federation, Henan Province completed the investigation and registration of the poverty-stricken villages and poor residents of the whole province for the effective convergence of the two systems. Key counties for national poverty alleviation completed the data entry for the work and the other counties completed the provincial data entry. The results of the convergence of two systems were applied to the province’s poverty relief training, entire village advancement, household income growth and relocation, gradually towards the field of standardized and dynamic management.

　　【Foreign-funded poverty alleviation】On January 9, 2011, after the project was officially launched, the province successively completed the project enlending and donation agreement signing, project villages’ project account opening, allocation of matching funds, introduction of withdrawal and reimbursement methods, the first withdrawal and reimbursement of the province and the submitting of 2012 project plan, and successfully passed the two project inspections of the World Bank and the audit of Henan Provincial Audit Office. The World Bank Inspection Group fully affirmed the results of the project construction of Henan Province. Currently, the relevant work was orderly done in 239 of the 251 project villages. As of October 31, the province had put in a total of 36.1174 million Yuan of project funds, accounting for 10% of the total target.

　　【Lottery fund】The entire village advancement projects supported by central lottery public welfare fund in Henan Province were launched in two pilot counties in 2010, namely Queshan County and Fan County, and the total investment was 62.806 million Yuan, of which: 17 million Yuan was central lottery public welfare fund and 45.806 million Yuan was integrated funds. The project was comprehensively implemented. In 2011, the central lottery public welfare fund projects were launched in three pilot counties, namely Fengqiu, Guangshan and Shangcai County, and the planned investment was 141.48 million Yuan, of which 45 million Yuan was central lottery public welfare fund and 96.48 million Yuan was integrated funds. So far, the propaganda and village screening work was completed and the project planning has been submitted to LGOP.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

　　【Poverty alleviation publicity】The website of Henan Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office uploaded nearly 400 pieces of information. Meanwhile, we printed 32 "Reports on Poverty Alleviation and Development" and 39 "Public Opinion of the Internet", and prepared seven flash news reporting programs with good social repercussions after reported by Henan TV. Henan’s program of “Rain Plan – the Baptism from Coolies to Blue-collar” for the “Exhibition on China’s Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century” and the special program of “Poverty Alleviation and Development Boosting the Rise of Central China” on Henan’s anti-poverty achievements played an positive role in promoting the publicity of poverty alleviation and development in Henan Province. Henan participated in the "Exhibition on China's Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Century", prepared for its pavilion and won the "Collaboration Contribution Award" issued by the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development. From June 23 to 26, 2010, the Exhibition on Henan Province’s Anti-poverty Achievements in the First Decade of the New Century was held successfully at the Henan Museum with 16 pavilions, which had a positive effect on the publicity of anti-poverty work, improvement of the social influence of poverty alleviation work and mobilizing more social forces to make contributions to the cause of poverty alleviation.

　　【Organization construction】First, new progress was made in ideological and political construction and working style construction. By building learning type party organizations, the province carried out a series of activities including "excelling in performance" and "two transitions and two improvements" and arranged main leaders to give lectures for party members and cadres, creating a stronger atmosphere for theoretical study, political awareness and excelling in performance, which further strengthened the working style construction. Secondly, civilization construction was further accelerated. The province organized people to learn the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Party Committee and participate in education activities such as "Adding Brilliance for the Party Flag and Contributing to Poverty Reduction", vigorously carried out the activities of "joint construction by party branches" and "poverty reduction by party members" and achieved good results in civilization construction. Thirdly, service capacity was further improved. The province successfully completed the task of meeting relevant leaders of the Phase V poverty-relief project inspection group of the World Bank and the Central Economic Zone Research Group and provided guarantee for the holding of the conference on financial poverty alleviation cooperation, the provincial work conference on poverty alleviation and development, the provincial meeting of directors of poverty alleviation offices, the training courses on the effective convergence of two systems and the provincial on-site conference on poverty alleviation, etc, effectively enhancing the meeting service capacity and guaranteeing the effective operation of relevant institutions. Fourthly, promote the construction of an honest and clean government. The province strictly implemented the responsibility system for construction of an honest and clean government and "two responsibilities for one position", established the anti-corruption mechanism for the construction of an honest and clean government, did a good job of government affairs openness, conducted supervision on the allocation and use of anti-poverty project funds, timely announced the affairs related to the most concerned issues and the vital interests of the public; conducted actively rectification based on the public opinions on the anti-poverty work and received public supervision to meet the demands of the masses.

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Ph�t-family: "Times New Roman";mso-hansi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold'>【Performance evaluation】  The Ministry of Finance and LGOP conducted performance evaluation on the use of the financial anti-poverty funds of various provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) in 2010. Shandong Province was titled as A grade and obtained 17 million Yuan of special poverty relief funds as reward. According to the requirements, in late December, Shandong Province allocated the awarding funds to support the expansion of pilot area of mutual funds of 85 villages in 8 counties (districts), namely Lingang District of Linyi City, Tancheng County, Shanting District of Zaozhuang City, Yiyuan County, Wudi County, Yangxin County, Boxing County and Sishui County.