Tianjin-Gansu Pairing-off Poverty Alleviation

　　【Overview】 In 2011, Tianjin further improved the leadership mechanism for counterpart support work, increased the members of the leading group of counterpart support from 15 to 21 and increased one division to be responsible for pairing-off cooperation with Gansu in poverty reduction. It actively promoted the exchange visits and cooperation in poverty reduction between the two regions, allocated nearly 30 million Yuan of annual counterpart support funds for Gansu, of which 20 million Yuan was financial funds; arranged exchange visits of 145 people, including five provincial and ministerial leaders; organized trainings for 140 teachers, medical workers and agricultural technicians for Gansu Province, and organized labor transfer for 12,000 people of Gansu. Four collectives and two persons of Tianjin were titled as Advanced Collectives and Advanced Individuals for Poverty Alleviation and Development by the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development. Tianjin participated in the “Exhibition on China’s Poverty Reduction Achievements in the New Decade” and won the “Participation Organization Award”. 75 university student volunteers and 14 postgraduates provided volunteer educational support service for Gansu.

　　【Implementation of the spirit of the central work conference on poverty alleviation and development】 On December 2, 2011, the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee was convened to convey the spirit of the central work conference on poverty alleviation and development and make deployments for a new round of poverty alleviation and development. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee Zhang Gaoli presided over the meeting and delivered a speech, calling cadres to earnestly study the spirit of the important speeches of General Secretary Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, increase efforts on the anti-poverty work and steadily promote the key work for poverty reduction to ensure the implementation of central government’s decisions and deployments. After the meeting, the relevant units and departments of Tianjin consciously studied the spirit of the central work conference on poverty alleviation and the enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee and started the development of relevant measures for a new round of anti-poverty work in order to make a good start.

　　【Improvement of poverty alleviation mechanisms】 To effectively promote the orderly implementation of the counterpart support work, Tianjin further improved the leading group, increased the leading group members from 15 to 21, increased the deputy director of the leading group office from 8 to 13, and held a number of enlarged meetings and standing meetings to make deployments on the counterpart support and pairing-off cooperation in poverty reduction, providing strong organizational guarantee and sound working mechanisms for the counterpart support work. Meanwhile, it approved the establishment of one additional division and set up the “No. 2 Division for Counterpart Support” in the office of cooperation and exchange to take charge of the pairing-off poverty alleviation cooperation with Gansu.

　　【Poverty Alleviation by Education】  Giving full play to its advantages as a demonstration zone for national vocational education reform, Tianjin conducted cooperative vocational education programs with Gansu Province and transferred high-quality vocational teaching resources to the west. Following the implementation of the “Training Program for Ten Thousand Secondary Vocational School Students” and the “Fair on Cooperation and Development of Vocational Education”, in 2011, Tianjin again signed with four provinces and autonomous regions including Gansu the agreements on cooperation in vocational education to accelerate the process for the “Plan for Supporting Western Vocational Education” to be listed among the implementation plans for national vocational education reform demonstration zones. Under the agreement, Tianjin’s vocational schools plan to directly recruit students from the four western provinces and autonomous regions to study in Tianjin for three years, or adopt the cooperation modes of "1 +2", "2 +1", "1 +1 +1" for training in stages. Meanwhile, they will, jointly with the western regions, collect, predict and issue job information for graduates to promote the internship and employment of the graduates in western areas. So far, Tianjin has cultivated more than 30,000 secondary and higher vocational school students for Gansu Province.

　　【Cadre Training】  In accordance with the requirements of the Fifth Tibet Work Forum, Tianjin increased efforts on training of cadres from the Tibetan areas of Gansu and trained 40 project managers and agricultural technicians for Gansu. In order to enhance the training effectiveness, Tianjin made positive innovation, sent teachers to the poor areas for support local education, held training courses in Tianzhu Tibet Autonomous County for the poverty alleviation cadres of Gansu and Tianjin and Tianjin’s cadres for aiding Tibet, Xinjiang and Qinghai; organized trainings and gave field guidance on off-site poverty-relief relocation, construction of industrial zones, highland agricultural technology demonstration, new rural construction and the development of tourism demonstration zones. Meanwhile, to help the grassroots cadres in western regions to study and understand the spirit of the “Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development of Rural China” in the new decade, we invited LGOP to participate in the outline preparation and invited the experts with rich working experience in the west to explain the outline for the new decade. Through training and survey, the participants had a more accurate understanding of the hot issues. The trainings broadened their thinking, upgraded their concepts, further strengthened the notion of a state and promoted national integration and regional integration.

　　【Social poverty alleviation】 We increased efforts on social poverty alleviation and carried out various forms of multi-level East-West pairing-off poverty alleviation cooperation in many fields such as financial aid, industry docking, exchange of personnel and employment training. Tianjin Health Bureau further deepened the counterpart support for Tibet, carried out field research in the Tibetan areas of Gansu and donated 8 electrocardiogram machines worth 236,000 Yuan to the medical agencies in the Tibetan areas of Gansu. Tianjin Women's Federation, Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, Tianjin Municipal Education Commission and Tianjin Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau carried out targeted counterpart support work based on their own advantages and increased efforts on guiding the women of Gansu to work in Tianjin, providing free trainings, sending volunteers to impoverished areas of Gansu, teacher training and raising disaster relief materials. In 2011, Tianjin held 57 trainings on employment guidance for 7100 people; encouraged 75 university student volunteers and 14 post graduate volunteers to provide support for Gansu and devote into the western development and East-West cooperation for poverty reduction, forming a network system and working mechanism for all circles of society to participate in the east-west pairing-off cooperation for poverty reduction in the whole city.