Poverty Alleviation and Development in Shaanxi Province

　　【Overview】 2011 is the first year for the implementation of the Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas in the new decade and the “12th Five Year Plan”. In accordance with the requirements of the Fourth Session of the Eleventh People's Congress of Shaanxi Province and the provincial rural work conference and the spirit of the outline for a new round of poverty alleviation developed by the central government, Shaanxi Province fully implemented the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee and Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th Shaanxi Provincial Committee, under the guidance of scientific outlook on development, according to the requirements of balanced development in urban and rural areas, based on the “top livelihood projects to enrich the province and people” arranged by the provincial government, the province focused on the income growth of the poor, took contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties as the main battlefield, adhered to the “two wheel drive” – combining poverty alleviation with the rural minimum living security system and, according to the strategy of contiguous development, entire village advancement and household poverty reduction, vigorously promoted the “six major poverty alleviation projects”, namely entire village advancement, relocation, industrial poverty alleviation, capacity building, foreign-funded poverty alleviation and social poverty alleviation, comprehensively completing the targets and tasks of 2011. Based on the poverty line of 1600 Yuan, the province lifted 653,000 people out of poverty.

　　In 2011, the province invested poverty-relief project funds of 6.25 billion Yuan, of which 1.7 billion Yuan was central and provincial financial anti-poverty funds, up 46.6%, 1.69 billion Yuan was city and county matching funds and 1.87 billion Yuan was discount funds. The total mutual funds amounted to 385 million Yuan. The investment to the fifth World Bank poverty alleviation project was 100 million Yuan; and 500 million Yuan was put in the provincial “two linkages and one contract” and the village poverty reduction by enterprises. In addition, the province intensified the integration of poverty alleviation resources. The departments of various industries invested a total of 2.09 billion Yuan of matching funds for relocation and entire village advancement projects, effectively guaranteeing the smooth implementation of the poverty alleviation projects.

　　【Management of anti-poverty funds】In 2011, Shaanxi Province continued to strengthen the supervision on the use of poverty alleviation project funds, implemented the dynamic monitoring and management of financial poverty alleviation fund projects, carried out performance assessment of anti-poverty funds and comprehensively implemented the publicity, announcement and reimbursement system for the management of poverty relief project funds. In cooperation with the Provincial Department of Supervision, Provincial Department of Finance and Provincial Department of Audit, we conducted a special examination on the management and use of 2010’s financial anti-poverty funds in the province. In the national performance assessment of financial anti-poverty funds, Shanxi was again graded A and praised by the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development and won financial incentives of 25 million Yuan.

　　【Relocation for poverty alleviation】 Taking large-scale relocation as a top priority of poverty alleviation and development, Shaanxi Province vigorously organized the relocation of Shaanbei, actively cooperated in the relocation in Shaannan and implemented the relocation project of poverty-stricken people from one thousand villages. In 2011, a total of 53,300 households and 221,000 people were relocated in the province, double that of 2010, of which 18,000 households and 78,000 people were from Shaanbei, 27,500 households and 110,000 people were from Shaannan, and 7,800 households and 33,000 people were from Hanyuan of Weibei and the northern foot of Qinling. The province allocated 920 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds, accounting for 54% of the total, to support the housing construction in relocation and the matching infrastructure construction for 53,300 households and 221,000 people.

　　【Entire village advancement】 Focusing on the development of regional competitive industries and the improvement of infrastructure and public facilities of impoverished villages and communities, in 2011, the province invested 1.879 billion Yuan of special funds, including 399 million Yuan of central and provincial financial anti-poverty funds and 88 million Yuan of city and county matching funds, integrated department funds of 680 million Yuan and put in 712 million Yuan of funds raised by the masses in the anti-poverty work. It newly launched 412 entire village advancement projects; strived for the pilot projects of entire village advancement in old revolutionary base areas with central special lottery welfare funds in 30 poor villages of 3 key counties for national poverty alleviation and development, namely Yang County, Danfeng County and Yichuan; newly built village roads of 1270 km, implemented 89 diversion works, solved the safe drinking water problem of 320,000 people, supported 32,000 poor households to renovate the toilets, pens and kitchens and supported the development of planting area of 17900 mu and breeding of 51,500 heads of livestock, greatly improving the backwardness of the project villages.

　　【Industrial poverty alleviation】  In 2011, Shaanxi Province implemented the direct subsidy project for industrial development of the poor, arranged 50 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds to support the poor households covered by the convergence of the "two systems" (poverty alleviation and development and rural minimum living security system), and provided subsidies for 26,000 poor households to buy equipments, seedlings and breeding stocks to develop industries with local characteristics. It further expanded the coverage of mutual funds and newly arranged 269 project villages. The total number of project villages reached 1,769, the total amount of the mutual funds came to 385 million Yuan and a total of 441 million Yuan of loans was issued to support 100,000 rural households to develop production. It arranged 43.2 million Yuan of discount funds and issued poverty relief loans of 870 million Yuan to support 160,000 rural households to develop featured farming. In addition, it recommended 122 leading enterprise loan projects and issued 1 billion Yuan for the project construction, effectively promoting the income growth of the masses in poor regions.

　　【Rain Plan】  In 2011, in order to enhance the employment and entrepreneurial ability of the poor, Shaanxi Province arranged central and provincial financial anti-poverty funds of 84.9 million Yuan to hold technical trainings for 50,000 poor labors, achieving the goal of “lifting one family out of poverty through organizing training and finding a job for one family member”. In accordance with the deployment of LGOP, the province carried out the pilot work of Rain Plan implementation planning reform in eight counties including Jingbian, Shanyang, etc, launched the pilot projects of subsidizing university students from needy families in rural areas, arranged 27 million Yuan of central and provincial financial anti-poverty funds to subsidize 6552 university students from needy families, effectively addressing the financial problem for children of needy families to go to university, highly praised and fully affirmed by all circles of society.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】 In 2011, Shaanxi Province further promoted the implementation of the activity for one thousand enterprises to support one thousand villages. A total of 2687 enterprises conducted anti-poverty work in 2830 villages and implemented a total of 1570 anti-poverty projects with investment of 294 million Yuan. While doing a good job of fixed-point poverty alleviation by central ministries and commission, it continued to promote the poverty alleviation work of “two linkages and one contract”, invested 206 million Yuan of funds to the counterpart poor areas, including 140 million Yuan of invited funds, and implemented more than 800 poverty relief projects. The province launched the activity for wealthy counties to support impoverished counties, promoted the pairing-off poverty alleviation between counties in Yulin, Yan’an and Xianyang City and achieved good results. It launched the fifth World Bank poverty alleviation project and invested 100 million Yuan in 2011 to implement infrastructure construction and public service projects in 215 villages, community development fund projects in 96 villages and global environmental fund projects in 50 villages. Social funds and foreign investment became important sources of funds for poverty alleviation and development and injected great vitality to the anti-poverty work.

　　【Convergence of two systems】 In 2011, Shaanxi Province comprehensively completed the effective convergence of the “two systems” and the basic information of the poor identified based on the poverty line of 1600 Yuan was a reference for its anti-poverty work. LGOP held in Shangluo City the on-site meeting to sum up and promote the experience of Shaanxi Province.

　　【Foreign-funded poverty alleviation】 In 2011, 100 million Yuan was put in the fifth World Bank poverty alleviation project in Shaanxi Province, CDD (community infrastructure and public services) projects were launched in 215 villages, CDF (community development fund) projects were implemented in 96 villages and GEF (global environment fund) projects were constructed in 50 villages. Smooth progress was made in the project construction and the projects successfully passed the two inspections of the World Bank and were praised. It introduced the aid project of Taiwanese-funded First Sino Bank with 1.19 million Yuan for Xunyi County and established the “Xunyi County Poverty Alleviation and Production Development Fund” to effectively support the poor in the project county to develop industry. The Care Package project it introduced involved two project counties of Shaanxi, namely Jia County and Zhenba County, which received donations of 2.37 million Yuan. The projects involved 105 schools and benefited 21,000 students. It comprehensively completed the construction of the volunteer poverty alleviation projects of Korea International Cooperation Agency in Yaozhou County and Chengwu County.

　　【Pro-poor measures】 Adhere to the administrative driving and pro-poor policy support. Shaanxi provincial government attached great importance to poverty alleviation and development, took the eradication of poverty as one of the ten major livelihood projects to enrich the province and people and took the development of poor regions and the poverty reduction of the poor as an important content of the work of balancing the development of urban and rural areas and building a moderately prosperous society and a powerful western province. It printed the “Implementation Plan of the ‘Outline for Development-oriented Poverty Reduction for China’s Rural Areas (2011-2020)” and the “12th Five-Year Plan for Poverty Alleviation and Development in Shaanxi Province”, made overall strategic deployments on the province’s poverty alleviation and development in the next decade and clarified the objectives, tasks and policy measures for the new stage. It actively promoted the legislation for the poor and its "Rural Poverty Alleviation and Development Ordinance" was reviewed by the provincial government and the provincial people's congress and was unanimously voted through at the third trial of the 27th Session of the 11th Provincial Standing Committee. Shaanxi provincial government strongly promoted the relocation project implementation in Shaanbei. Governor Zhao Zhengyong personally conducted the field research and presided over the seminar on immigration, set up the Leading Group for the Relocation and Resettlement Work of Shaanbei, signed letters of responsibility with Yan’an and Yulin City government and comprehensively implemented the relocation tasks and responsibilities. It successively printed the “Planning for Relocation of the Residents of Baiyu Mountain Areas” and the “Planning for Relocation of the Residents in Rocky Mountain Areas along the Yellow River”, introduced the “Several Policies on Relocation in Shaanbei” and developed the “Funding Plan for Housing Construction of Immigrants in Shaanbei”. Secretary Zhao Leji, governor Zhao Zhengyong and other provincial leaders and LGOP Director-General Fan Xiaojian attached great importance to the poverty alleviation and development in Shaanxi Province and conducted field research in poverty-stricken areas for a few times, enhancing the confidence of departments at all levels for doing a good job of poverty reduction.

　　Strengthen the organization and leadership and intensify the supervision and inspection. Shaanxi Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office made carefully arrangements for the work and clarified the work priorities and responsibilities. First, establish the system for starting with key project construction and sending instructors. It set up the headquarters for the relocation of Shaanbei participated by relevant provincial departments and established the system for divisions to focus on key projects and send instructors. Shangluo City carried out the action of poverty reduction by developing tourism industry, moved out the masses of scenic spots and set up the immigrants’ community for poverty reduction by developing tourism industry. Through the “combination of villages and enterprises and the exchange of resources”, Xi’an City solved not only the financial problem of relocation-based construction, but also the employment and income growth problem, and included the relocated masses into the social security system. Baoji City constructed the safety housing construction projects for the rural residents without dependents, reliable income and housing security and solved the housing problem of these people. Second, conduct supervision and inspection on stage work. In 2011, it conducted an overall inspection on the implementation of the spirit of Shaanxi Poverty Alleviation Conference and the construction of the annual key projects. Third, carry out special investigation and inspection activities. It organized the cross check between project cities of mutual funds in the province and special examination of the provincial “two linkages and one contract” poverty alleviation projects and the pairing-off poverty alleviation between villages and enterprises, conducted inspection on the implementation of Rain Plan, subsidy policy for poor university students and industrial poverty alleviation projects, and conducted two inspections on the ten counties involved in the fifth World Bank project. Fourth, carry out examination and acceptance of the special anti-poverty work. It organized the examination and acceptance of the relocation projects of the poor from one thousand villages arranged in 2009 and issued the acceptance notification.

　　Promote reform and innovation to improve the effectiveness of poverty alleviation. In 2011, Shaanxi Province conducted reform and innovation to actively improve the poverty alleviation and development mechanism and enhance the anti-poverty efficiency. First, greatly improve the investment standards for entire village advancement projects. Increased the investment for each village from 250,000-300,000 Yuan to one million Yuan, used the funds in the income-generating industries, infrastructure construction and public facility projects of the poor according to the ratio of 5:3:2. Second, start to provide direct subsidies for the industrial development of impoverished households. It arranged 50 million Yuan of financial anti-poverty funds for the poor covered by the convergence of the “two systems” to buy facilities, seedlings and breeding stock for the development of featured industries. Third, launch subsidy project for university students from needy families. The province provided tuition subsidy for the students from needy families who were newly enrolled in universities (colleges). Fourth, delimitate the contiguous poor areas with particular difficulties. 43 counties were included in the Qinba Mountain area, the Liupan Mountain area and Luliang Mountain area, and Baiyu Mountain area and the rocky mountain area along the Yellow River were identified as provincial contiguous poor areas (covering 17 counties and districts). Fifth, adjust the key counties for a new round of national poverty reduction. No provincial key counties were identified. Sixth, significantly improve the poverty line. Combined with the needs of building a powerful western province and a moderately well-off society and the actual situation of poverty alleviation and development, the province adjusted the poverty line twice in 2011. It raised the poverty line from 1196 Yuan to 1600 Yuan at the beginning of the year and then enhanced the poverty line to 2500 Yuan after the national poverty line was raised. As a result, more rural low-income residents were covered by the poverty reduction.