UN can help make poverty past tense

With its efforts and achievements, China will have many successful stories to share, taking it one step closer to making poverty history. Between 2013 and last year, a total of 55.64 million people were lifted out of poverty - an average of 13.91 million per year, resulting in a reduction of poverty incidence from 10.2 percent in 2012 to 4.5 percent last year, which is a big achievement in the past five years under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.

As the world has signed up for the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an increasing need for other developing countries to learn from China regarding its poverty reduction experiences. There is a web of interrelated factors that can help explain China's achievement. Yet it all boils down to one fundamental enabling element - effective governance for human development, with strong leadership. There are at least three important lessons in this aspect.

First, China has adopted a phased approach to eradicate poverty. This means, as drivers of poverty evolve over time due to changes in socio-economic and environmental contexts, poverty-fighting governance mechanisms are adjusted accordingly to put development context into perspective. The dynamic nature has been manifested in varied aspects of governance, including for instance how the poor are identified, how programs and instruments are designed, as well as how financial resources are managed and monitored.