Poverty Alleviation and Development in Guangdong Province

　　【Overview】In 2011, the whole province resolutely implemented the decisions and deployments of the provincial government on the “Shuangdao” work of poverty alleviation and development. In accordance with the requirements of “increasing income, housing construction and work team building” of Wang Yang, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of CPC and the Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, the province continued to innovate thinking, strengthen accountability measures, supervision and inspection and seriously carried out the anti-poverty work. In 2011, Guangdong Province achieved remarkable results in the “Shuangdao” work (planning to households and responsibility to individuals) for poverty reduction of 370,000 poor households and 1.598 million poverty-stricken people in 3407 impoverished villages of the province. A total of 14.8 billion Yuan of anti-poverty funds was invested that year, averagely 4.33 million Yuan for each village, increasing the income of poor households. Based on the poverty line of 2500 Yuan, 96.6% of the poor households with the ability to work shook off poverty, covering nearly 320,000 households and 1.37 million people. The per capita net income of poor households reached 6,111 Yuan, up to 65% of the provincial average. The village collective economy was strengthened. The collective economic income of impoverished villages reached 86,000 Yuan, with an increase of 56,000 Yuan over the previous year. Great changes took place to the appearance of poor villages. 94.98% of the roads in poor villages were hardened, 98.28% of the residents had access to safe drinking water and 95.22% of the residents had access to public facilities. In the 15 cities above prefecture level with impoverished villages, 100% of the village roads were hardened, and this proportion was over 94% in 11 cities; 100% of the drinking water was safe in three of the cities and the lowest proportion was 92.24%; the highest proportion of the residents with access to village public facilities reached 99.59% and this proportion was above 93% in 13 cities.

　　【Government leadership】On March 1, the Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development of Guangdong Province held a meeting of all the members to make deployment on rural poverty alleviation and development work and talk about the work plan on the "Day of Helping the Poor and the assessment results of the “Shuangdao” work in 2010. On June 7, the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department and the Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office held the television and telephone conference on the cross-check of the province's “Shuangdao” work. From June 8 to 15, 10 provincial units including the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Provincial Department of Agriculture took the lead to set up 10 inspection groups, selected 2157 capable comrades of the poverty alleviation leading group member units and the cadres in poor villages to form 719 research groups to conduct inspection on the anti-poverty work in 3407 poor villages of 14 cities in the east, west and north part of Guangdong Province. On June 30, the provincial government held a provincial poverty alleviation and development conference on the “Shuangdao” work. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Guangdong Provincial Party Secretary Wang Yang attended the meeting and delivered an important speech, and Governor of Guangdong Huang Huahua presided over the conference. Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress Ou Guangyuan and the Provincial CPPCC Chairman Huang Longyun attended the event. In the afternoon, the provincial party committee held a cadre seminar on the “Shuangdao” work and Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Guangdong Provincial Party Secretary Wang Yang attended the event and delivered an important speech. In August, in the east and northwest and the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, the provincial government held four meetings on implementing the spirit of the provincial work conference on “Shuangdao” program to exchange experience and promote the implementation of the anti-poverty work. In September, the provincial people's congress deputies inspected the “Shuangdao” poverty alleviation and development work. On November 9, the Provincial Poverty Alleviation and Development Leading Group held a membership meeting. Zhu Xiaodan, Deputy Secretary of Guangdong Party Committee, Governor of Guangdong Province and the head of the provincial leading group of poverty alleviation and development attended the meeting and delivered an important speech. The conference approved in principle the “Opinions on the Implementation of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of Guangdong Province” (draft for comment) and the “Measures on the Assessment of ‘Shuangdao’ Work in the Poverty Alleviation and Development of Guangdong Province” (draft for approval). On November 30, the Provincial People's Congress reviewed and adopted the "Ordinance on the Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of Guangdong Province", marking the anti-poverty work of Guangdong embarked on a path of legislation. On December 9, the provincial government held a provincial conference on the “Shuagndao” work in Shanwei. In 2011, a total of 255,000 principals of poverty alleviation system of the province were sent to the impoverished villages and a total of 1.791 million of cadres and staffs provided support for and sent condolences to the poor villages.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】 In 2011, based on the local situations, in accordance with the pattern of standardization and intensification, through a series of industrialization poverty reduction models such as “company + farming base + farmers”, “company + economic cooperation + farmers” and “major breeding households + farmers”, various regions of the province actively guided the impoverished villages to develop competitive industries and do a good job in the links of agricultural industrial chain, aiming to constantly improve the level of modern and market-oriented agricultural operations and create conditions for the poor to steadily shake off poverty. In 2011, in the 3407 poor villages of the province, 12834 collective economic projects were implemented, of which 7751 were agricultural projects, 1195 were industrial projects, 651 were commercial and tourism projects and 3237 were other projects, and a total of 100 industrial demonstration parks (villages) were set up.

　　【Pilot project of village-level mutual funds】In accordance with the "Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting the Pilot Mutual Fund Projects in Impoverished Villages" (Guo Kai Ban Fa [2009] No. 103) issued by LGOP and the Ministry of Finance and the deployments on the “Shuagndao” work, based on the actual situation of the province, adhering to the development-oriented poverty alleviation, targeting at 3407 poverty-stricken villages, focusing on industrial poverty alleviation and making use of the leverage role of financial anti-poverty funds, the province selected 100 poor villages as the provincial pilot villages and issued 150,000 Yuan of pilot project funds for each poor village to effectively address the financial difficulty for the poor to develop production and enhance the self-development capacity of poverty-stricken households.

　　【Leading enterprises】Based on the actual situation of the “Shuangdao” work, according to the “Implementation Plan for the Development of 100 Poverty Alleviation Leading Enterprises in Guangdong Province” (Yue Pin [2003] No. 9), various regions and department at all levels of Guangdong Province mainly provided support for the development of 100 poverty alleviation leading agricultural enterprises with certain scale and economic strength to boost the economic development in impoverished regions.

　　【Poverty alleviation training】The province organized practical technical trainings for one million poor farmers. Based on local situations, to promote local industrial poverty alleviation, under the principle of support for the fields in need, various regions and helping units carried out the training work to enable each rural household to master at least one or two practical techniques and improve their agricultural technical level and job skills. In 2011, various regions and helping units in the province held trainings in various forms for a total of 993,000 person-times, including free agricultural technical trainings for 586,000 person-times and non-agricultural technical trainings for 407,000 person-times.

　　【"Dayu Cup" competition】Guangdong Province organized the "Dayu Cup" competition focusing on flood prevention by water control. The main contents of the activity included the integrated management of mountains, waters, fields, forests and roads and the purpose was to improve the agricultural production conditions. In 2011, the province allocated 46.4 million Yuan of financial funds for the contest, involving 130 projects and 130 impoverished villages, aiming to improve the infrastructure in underdeveloped regions, guide and promote local governments to increase investment and mobilize the enthusiasm of farmers for labor services to jointly improve the backwardness of the poor villages.

　　【Comfortable Housing Project】On January 27, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Provincial Party Secretary Wang Yang visited Liannan Yao Autonomous County of Qingyuan City to send condolences to the immigrants in high and cold mountain areas and presided over the on-the-spot meeting on the relocation of people in high and cold mountain areas. Wang Yang stressed that we must be determined to solve the resettlement problem of the immigrants of high and cold mountain areas in about five years and completely change the situation of “the poorest place in Guangdong". From May 30 to 31, the provincial government held in Qingyuan City the province's work conference on housing project construction for low-income rural residents of the province and the relocation of residents in high and cold mountain areas without production and living conditions, summed up the implementation of rural housing projects in the province, and learned and promoted the work experience of Liannan County and Yingde City to comprehensively promote the housing construction for the poor and the immigration of the residents in the areas without production and living conditions. In mid-December, Guangdong provincial government sent the steering groups to carry out inspection work in 12 counties  (cities, districts) of Heyuan, Qingyuan and Jieyang in the east, west and north part of the province where were assigned a heavy task of poverty reduction. As for funding, in order to ensure that the two projects are successfully completed, the provincial government allocated 1.4 billion Yuan to support the province's rural housing innovation and construction for low-income households with housing difficulty. The Provincial Department of Finance issued the “Circular on the Issuance of Provincial Government Subsidies for the Poor Villages without Production and Living Conditions” (Yue Cai Nong [2011] No. 537), allocated special funds for the relocation and resettlement of 384 villages and 7751 households. Moreover, it took some of the funds raised on June 30, the Day of Helping the Poor in 2011 to support the relocation and resettlement of poor villages in the regions without production and living conditions. At the same time, in accordance with the requirements of building a number of livable towns and villages put forward by the eighth plenary session of the Tenth Provincial Committee, we combined entire village advancement with the new rural construction and set up 300 model villages for comfortable housing project construction in the 3407 poor villages of the province.

　　【Social participation】On May 5, 2011, the provincial government held a work conference on the activities on the Day of Helping the Poor in Guangdong Province and made deployments for the activities to be carried out on the Day of Helping the Poor in the province. On May 27, the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee and the General Office of the Provincial Government printed the "Circular Concerning This Year’s Activity of Day of Helping the Poor in Guangdong This Year" and clarified the requirements, themes, tasks and contents of the activity. From May to June, the provincial government held a private entrepreneur forum, a seminar of the provincial state-owned enterprises, a seminar of central enterprises in Guangdong, a seminar of foreign-funded enterprises and a seminar for the representatives of business circle in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and the principals of private enterprises. From June 16 to 23, Standing Member of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Deputy Governor Zhu Xiaodan headed a delegation composed of representatives of relevant departments and the business circle of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as the principals of 11 private enterprises to conduct field research on the relocation work of the poor villages without production and living conditions in Liannan County and Yingde City and held relevant seminars. On the morning of June 30, the provincial government held in Guangzhou the grand launching ceremony of the 2011 Guangdong Day of Helping the Poor. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang announced the launching of the activity for Guangdong Day of Helping the Poor, and Deputy Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Governor Huang Huahua, on behalf of the provincial government, called on the people of the province and people from all walks of life at home and abroad to "jointly build a happy home with their love". On the evening of June 30, an evening party themed “Happy Counterpart” for Guangdong Day of Helping the Poor was convened. During the period of Guangdong Day of Helping the Poor, the province raised a total of 6.218 billion Yuan in kind and cash for the poor.

　　【Construction of old revolutionary base areas】Various regions of the province conscientiously implemented the policy measures such as the “Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of Old Revolutionary Base Areas” and the important instruction of giving priority to old revolutionary base areas of Provincial Party Committee Secretary Wang Yang. Through the implementation of the “Double Transfer” and “Shuangdao” program, the economy of the old revolutionary base areas witnessed rapid development and the income of the masses increased significantly. From May to June, 2011, Guangdong Center for Promotion of Construction in the Old Revolutionary Base Areas carried out field research on the construction of old revolutionary base areas and wrote the “Research Report on the Basic Situation of the Old Revolutionary Base Areas in Guangdong”. From mid-November to mid-December, the provincial government organized a special inspection on the construction of old revolutionary base areas in the province. According to statistics, the province provided support for 2445 poor villages and 250,800 impoverished rural households in the old revolutionary base areas of the province, supported the development of 7961 village collective projects, improved the farmland of 1.03 million mu and the relevant water conservancy facilities, solved the housing problem of 43,000 people, relocated the residents of 213 impoverished villages in old revolutionary base areas without production and living conditions and organized skills trainings for 668,700 person-times, accelerating the pace of poverty reduction of the masses and significantly improved the appearance of the poor villages in old revolutionary base areas.

　　【Poverty alleviation publicity】The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development has forwarded the experience of Guangdong Province for four times. People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and CCTV have successively reported the “Shuangdao” work of Guangdong Province for 300 times. On January 18, "China Economic Weekly" sponsored by the People's Daily printed the special article of “Poverty Alleviation in Guangdong” on the “Shuangdao” work, focusing on publicizing the ant-poverty achievements in Liannan County of Guangdong Province. On May 22, the "People's Daily" printed the article entitled "Poverty Reduction in Wealthy Guangdong", which conducted a profound analysis of the poverty reduction situation of Guangdong Province and comprehensively introduced the “Shuangdao” poverty alleviation model of the province. In June, in cooperation with China News Agency, we launched the special issue of poverty alleviation in the “China News”, marking the beginning of the poverty reduction campaign, laying a good foundation for the “Shuangdao” work. On November 21, the Xinhua News Agency broadcast a news report titled “Personnel, Fund and Responsibility System Implementation for Great Changes to Poor Villages” to promote the poverty alleviation and development by implementing the "Shuangdao" Strategy in Guangdong. On November 26, the People's Daily published a long newsletter of "Guangdong: Large-scale Poverty Alleviation and Great Changes" as the headlines. In December, Guangdong TV prepared a "people's livelihood hotline" program entitled “Conducting Field Research in Rural Areas to Understand the Needs of the People – ‘Shuangdao’ Program for Poverty Alleviation and Development”, causing widespread concern in society. During the period for the activity of Guangdong Day of Helping the Poor, the "Nanfang Daily" developed the special program of “Make Joint Efforts to Help the Poor and Build a Happy Home” and printed a report on the interview of Fan Xiaojian, Director-General of LGOP. At the same time, it publicly praised 100 excellent secretaries of village party committee, 100 poverty alleviation messengers, 100 stars of poverty reduction, one hundred warmhearted people and one hundred warmhearted enterprises for poverty alleviation that made outstanding contributions to the anti-poverty work of Guangdong Province. From May to June, the Nanfang Daily printed seven research reports on the Shuangdao program for poverty alleviation, covering both the positive effects and existing problems, and printed a series of reports to praise the advanced units and individuals and criticize the backward ones. In 2011, it reported the “Shuangdao” program for 95 times and printed a total of 3,000 copies of the report, which was distributed to provincial government and the impoverished villages as well, playing a positive role of publicity. At the same time, the provincial party committee’s “Supervision Newspaper” printed four special reports on the “Shuangdao” program for poverty alleviation and development.

　　【Institution building】On November 30, 2011, the thirtieth session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh People's Congress of Guangdong Province reviewed and adopted the "Ordinance on Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of Guangdong" and the Ordinance came into force on January 1, 2012. Meanwhile, the province revised the “Methods for Assessment of ‘Shuangdao’ Work in Guangdong Province”, introduced the “Circular Concerning the Individual Drilling for ‘Shuangdao’ Work in Guangdong Province”, the “Opinions on the Implementation of Pilot Project of Microfinance for Poverty Alleviation” and the “Implementation Plan for Pilot Mutual Funds in Impoverished Villages of Guangdong Province”, etc.

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Ph�s, 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.