Directive No. 04/2008/CT-TTg on strengthening guidance for implementing poverty reduction programs

DIRECTIVE

On strengthening guidance for implementing poverty reduction programs

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Eradicating hunger and reducing poverty is a major policy of the Party and State during the process of reform and national construction. With the active participation and response from all levels, sectors, international organizations, and the broad masses of people, significant achievements were made in eradicating hunger and reducing poverty during the period of 2001-2005, recognized and highly evaluated by the international community, contributing to stable and sustainable development. To build on these achievements, the Government has approved the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction for the period of 2006-2010 and the Socio-Economic Development Program for Particularly Difficult Communes in Ethnic Minority Mountainous Areas (Program 135 Phase II). The poverty rate has rapidly decreased from 17% in 2000 to under 7% in 2005; according to new standards, the poverty rate has dropped from 22% at the beginning of 2006 to approximately 14.87% now; there have been notable changes in the appearance of poor communes and particularly difficult communes, with a clear improvement in the living conditions of the people. However, poverty reduction efforts still face many difficulties and challenges, with the results not being truly sustainable, the annual rate of re-poverty remains high, especially when natural disasters such as typhoons and floods occur, local self-rescue and recovery capabilities are very limited; tens of thousands of poor households are still living in dilapidated and unsafe housing; the pace of poverty reduction is uneven across regions and difficult areas, poor areas lacking sufficient conditions to break through in poverty reduction, the household poverty rate varies greatly: by the end of 2006, there were still 58 districts with a poverty rate over 50%, including 27 districts over 60%, 10 districts over 70%, and 01 district over 80%; there were still 3,006 communes with a poverty rate over 25%.

To address these limitations and continue to promote poverty reduction policies and solutions, striving to achieve the poverty reduction target ahead of schedule as set out in the Resolution of the 10th National Party Congress, the Prime Minister issues the following directive:

1. Continue to intensify propaganda and mobilization activities to implement poverty reduction, raising awareness among all levels and sectors from central to grassroots levels, encouraging the determination of all people to overcome poverty; continue to study and create additional policies to encourage households that have escaped poverty to strive for prosperity, especially in poor communes, impoverished areas, and individual poor households and individuals.

2. Strengthen and enhance the capacity of cadres working on poverty reduction at commune and district levels, particularly in poor communes, remote and mountainous communes, and communes with a large number of ethnic minority groups. Link the implementation of the poverty reduction program with the implementation of grassroots democratic regulations, increase decentralization to grassroots levels, allowing them to be proactive in planning and managing poverty reduction activities; do not delay decentralization due to weak commune cadre capacity. Promote legal aid activities for the poor and ethnic minorities, develop human resources and legal aid organization networks at grassroots levels, especially in remote and mountainous communes, particularly difficult communes, ensuring that the poor can access free legal aid when needed, helping to raise their legal awareness, actively participate in poverty reduction work, contributing to economic and social development. Accelerate the construction of essential infrastructure in poor communes, particularly difficult communes in ethnic minority mountainous areas, particularly difficult communes in coastal and island areas; strengthen investment management by gradually shifting from direct assignment to tendering, ensuring transparency, aiming for 100% of projects under Program 135 and particularly difficult communes in coastal and island areas to be tendered by 2010; develop production, adjust economic structures, and labor structures in poor communes, particularly difficult communes in ethnic minority mountainous areas, particularly difficult communes in coastal and island areas, and impoverished areas, especially those with a large number of poor ethnic minorities.

4. Diversify resource mobilization methods and effectively implement the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction and Program 135 Phase II; prioritize resource allocation and capital provision to ensure progress, putting projects into operation according to plan, avoiding dispersion and prolongation for communes and districts with high poverty rates and areas with a large number of poor ethnic minorities to create noticeable changes. Encourage businesses to invest in impoverished areas and hire the poor, encourage vocational training linked to job creation domestically or for labor export. Integrate sustainable poverty reduction goals into socio-economic development programs of each locality.

3. Improve access to basic social services for the poor through health, education, clean water, housing, land, and infrastructure serving residents; gradually narrow the gap in public service benefits and social welfare, income, and living standards between urban and rural areas, mountainous areas, and remote areas.

6. Strengthen inspection, supervision, and periodic reporting on the mid-term and final evaluation of poverty reduction program implementation: provinces and centrally-administered cities need to strengthen inspection and supervision; mechanisms should be created to facilitate the participation of mass organizations in monitoring implementation. Localities where negative phenomena, waste, and mismanagement of Program funds occur, failing to complete assigned plans will bear responsibility before the Prime Minister. The Steering Committee for Implementing Poverty Reduction Programs is responsible for assigning members to monitor, assist, inspect, evaluate, direct, and provide support measures for some key impoverished areas with high poverty rates to implement poverty reduction programs. 7. Enhance international cooperation to mobilize and effectively utilize technical assistance, experience, and resources for poverty reduction objectives.

5. 8. Specific tasks of some ministries and sectors as follows:

a) Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs:

The Steering Committee for Poverty Reduction Programs shall assign its members to monitor, assist, inspect, evaluate, direct, and take measures to support certain areas in key poverty-stricken regions with high poverty rates in implementing poverty reduction programs.

7. Strengthen international cooperation to mobilize and effectively utilize technical assistance, experience, and resources for the implementation of poverty reduction goals.

8. Specific tasks of some ministries and sectors are as follows:

a) Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs:

- To take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and related ministries and sectors to develop supplementary funding plans for poverty reduction programs in 2008 and subsequent years, primarily for investment projects in 58 districts where the poverty rate exceeds 50%, aiming to achieve the target two years ahead of schedule as directed by the Government;

- Study and develop, submit for issuance a new Poverty Standard applicable to poverty reduction programs from 2011 to 2015;

- To take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to amend mechanisms, procedures, and support processes for infrastructure investment in particularly difficult coastal and island areas; urge members of the Steering Committee to implement focused poverty reduction programs, review, and propose amendments and supplements to mechanisms, policies, projects, and targets within their respective ministries and sectors to accelerate progress towards program goals;

b) The National Ethnic Minorities Commission:

- To take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to review and amend the mechanisms and policies currently implemented under Program 135 Phase II to be consistent with accelerating implementation and enhancing effectiveness of the program;

- To take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to review programs, projects, mechanisms, and policies currently being implemented concerning ethnic minority regions; propose to relevant ministries and sectors to amend and supplement mechanisms and policies within their respective jurisdictions to align with Program 135 Phase II;

- Focus on directing localities to accelerate the implementation of tasks under Program 135 Phase II; implement synchronously all programs and projects in ethnic and mountainous regions managed by the National Ethnic Minorities Commission in conjunction with Program 135 Phase II; direct strict management and effective utilization of funds including international support for the program;

c) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the National Ethnic Minorities Commission, and related ministries and sectors to promptly review programs, mechanisms, and policies related to poverty reduction and socio-economic development in particularly difficult ethnic and mountainous communes, on this basis propose amendments and supplements to contents that are no longer appropriate; coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and related ministries, sectors, and localities to develop a proposal for planning and reorganizing residential areas, investing in flood prevention works, especially in the North Central and South Central Coast regions; coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to balance and ensure funding for poverty reduction programs in 2008 and subsequent years to achieve the target as directed by the Government;

d) The Ministry of Finance shall balance and ensure funding for poverty reduction programs in 2008 and subsequent years to achieve the target two years ahead of schedule as directed by the Government; take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and related ministries and sectors to develop and perfect mechanisms transitioning from fee exemptions and contributions for poor students to direct support mechanisms for the poor;

đ) The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall direct and accelerate the implementation of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries promotion projects and production development support under the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction from 2006 to 2010; take the lead and coordinate with the National Ethnic Minorities Commission to guide localities to accelerate the implementation of production development support projects and economic structure transformation projects to enhance the production capacity of ethnic minorities in communes under Program 135 Phase II;

e) The Ministry of Health shall take the lead and amend health examination and treatment mechanisms and policies for the poor in the direction of extending the validity period of health insurance cards to two years or more and establishing mechanisms so that households newly escaping poverty continue to enjoy preferential healthcare benefits for two years after exiting poverty;

g) The Ministry of Education and Training shall study and amend educational support policies for poor students under conditions of educational fee policy reform and other educational support policies beyond fee exemptions and contributions for poor students in difficult regions such as northern mountains, Central Highlands, and Mekong Delta, resolutely preventing children from dropping out of school due to poverty; direct universities, colleges, and vocational schools to effectively implement credit and fee exemption policies for poor students according to the classification of poor households recognized at the commune level;

h) The Ministry of Construction shall take the lead and coordinate with related ministries and sectors to develop housing support policies for poor households (outside Program 134), especially in areas frequently affected by natural disasters; plan and reorganize residential areas in the Central region frequently affected by natural disasters to prevent and minimize damage based on the experience and results of the community building program in the Mekong Delta;

i) The Ministry of Justice shall direct and guide localities in implementing legal aid policies for the poor; strengthen mobile legal aid, develop legal aid club models in poor communes, particularly difficult communes, and localities with a large number of poor ethnic minority people;

k) The Ministry of Home Affairs shall guide the allocation of dedicated staff in communes for labor, invalids, and social affairs work to monitor and manage poverty reduction programs; guide the organization of the Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Office at the district level to have the capacity to fulfill assigned tasks; direct localities to accelerate the implementation of Decision No. 34/2006/QĐ-TTg dated February 8, 2006 of the Prime Minister approving the Training and Capacity Building Plan for Ethnic Minority Cadres and Civil Servants in Communes, Towns, and Urban Areas from 2006 to 2010;.

l) The State Bank of Vietnam shall direct the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to improve loan procedures and processes to facilitate easier access to preferential loans for poor households.

m) The Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, and other mass media organizations shall intensify propaganda to raise public awareness about the importance and significance of poverty reduction work; promote effective, creative, and successful models and methods of poverty reduction.

9. People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities:

- Propose to the Party Committee to build a specialized Resolution on poverty reduction work to focus on leading the implementation of this task in their respective areas;

- Direct a review of the current status of poor households, the feasibility of achieving poverty reduction targets in their respective areas, develop detailed plans, propose specific measures to accelerate the progress of poverty reduction, organize implementation from the beginning of 2008, prevent the disease of formalism and bureaucracy, and accurately reflect the actual situation of poverty in their locality;

- Guide and direct districts, especially those with over 50% of households in poverty, to develop specific projects for focused investment and coordinate the implementation of comprehensive measures to quickly reduce the rate of poor households, aiming to reach the average income level of the province by 2010, and compile the funding requirements for investment to be reported to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance for reporting to the Government;

- Allocate funds for Programs in January each year, ensuring goals and focusing on key priorities; integrate programs and projects within the area; mobilize and create local resources; closely cooperate with social organizations and mass organizations in directing implementation;

- Strengthen the inspection and supervision work of People's Councils at all levels, political and social organizations, and the people's oversight of policies, projects, and all activities of the programs;

- Strictly implement the reporting system on the implementation of poverty reduction programs to the Steering Committee;

10. Request the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and its member organizations such as the Vietnam General Confederation of Trade Unions, the Vietnam Women's Union, the Vietnam Farmers' Association, the Vietnam Veterans' Association, the Communist Youth Union Central Committee, and social organizations to cooperate with Ministries, agencies equivalent to Ministries, agencies under the Government, provincial People's Committees directly under the central government, and enterprises to actively respond to the movement "Building Solidarity Houses for Poor Households," striving to complete the target of repairing and building 400,000 new houses for poor households living in dilapidated and unsafe homes by the end of 2008; develop plans for implementing fundraising activities for the "Day for the Poor" campaign, promote the establishment of savings and credit groups, mutual aid groups, credit funds for the poor and low-income individuals, and expand effective poverty reduction models;

11. Ministers, Heads of agencies equivalent to Ministries, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of provincial People's Committees directly under the central government, and Heads of relevant units and organizations are responsible for implementing the assigned contents.

12. Entrust the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, as the permanent body of the Government's Poverty Reduction Program Steering Committee, with the responsibility to assist the Government and the Prime Minister in monitoring, urging, inspecting, and annually reporting to the Prime Minister on the implementation of this Directive./.