Nation holds head high in fighting poverty

Innovative strategies

"To win the poverty alleviation battle, China has launched a basic strategy — targeted poverty alleviation," said Liu Yongfu, former deputy head of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

Liu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, made the remarks last month at an event held by the CPPCC National Committee for its members to deliver speeches to summarize China's achievements made since the 18th National Congress of the CPC.

"The basic requirement of targeted poverty alleviation is to accomplish efforts in six areas — accurately identifying the poor, arranging targeted programs accordingly, using capital efficiently, taking household-based measures, dispatching poverty alleviation officials based on village conditions, and achieving set goals," he said.

The concept of "targeted poverty alleviation" was raised by Xi in 2013 during an inspection tour of Hunan province, when he visited Shibadong, a Miao ethnic village labeled as poor at the time.

The term refers to measures that include a system to keep track of every household and individual in poverty to verify that ways of helping them are having the desired effect.

"We took five poverty eradication measures — boosting the economy to provide more job opportunities, relocating poor people from inhospitable areas, compensating for economic losses associated with reducing ecological damage, improving education in impoverished areas, and providing subsistence allowances for those unable to shake off poverty through their own efforts alone," Liu said.

"We answered questions such as who should help, who should be helped, how to help, and how to evaluate the results," he added.

Liang Xiaomin, an associate research fellow at the Center for International Knowledge on Development, said the targeted poverty alleviation strategy adopted by China since 2013 played a crucial role in solving the "last mile" problem, becoming China's strongest weapon in its battle against poverty.

She added that the government's commitment to eliminating extreme poverty laid a solid foundation for victory in this battle.

"Since 2013, the Chinese government has made more commitments toward eradicating extreme poverty than at any other time in the previous 40 years," Liang said.

"China's experience in conquering poverty primarily included an inclusive development model and government-led poverty alleviation strategies.

"The nation concentrated its efforts to improve inclusiveness on the agricultural sector, the industrial sector and urbanization."

The experiences of Mose Labo, the Sichuan villager, demonstrate the inclusive development model to shake off poverty.

When his village was provided with access to the internet in 2017, he started to record his daily activities, such as herding sheep and climbing the cliff, and posted footage of them on livestreaming platforms.

He quickly became well known on the internet, and in 2018, the village, with its stunning geographical features, made efforts to develop rural tourism, helping local residents earn more.