Vegetable cultivation in HCM City’s Cu Chi district has helped reduce poverty in the area (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) - Local authoritiesneed to learn more about the multi-dimensional aspects of poverty andoffer solutions to reduce the poverty rate in Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Secretaryof the municipal Party Committee Vo Thi Dung said at a workshop onsustainable poverty reduction held on May 22.
Solutions include vocational training,education, healthcare services and accommodation, all of which make up thedimensions of poverty besides income level, Dung said.
According to the city’s Steering Board for SustainablePoverty Reduction, the city aims to have no poor households and an annualaverage income of at least 28 million VND (1,200 USD) per capita by the end of2020.
As of early January, the city had nearly 103,000poor and near-poor households, accounting for 4.59 percent of all households.
Between 2019 and 2020, the poverty line was 28million VND (1,200 USD) per capita per year. Households with 28-36 million VNDper capita per year are considered near-poor.
The city continues to use multi-dimensionalmeasures of poverty based on annual income and underprivileged people’s accessto healthcare, education, employment, good living conditions and information.
The city began using multi-dimensional povertymeasures in 2016 in an aim to achieve sustainable poverty reduction and accessto basic social services by the poor.
The board said it would continue carrying outassistance policies on education, healthcare, social insurance and others forthe poor and near-poor.
Since 2016, more than 60,620 poor households and58,700 near-poor households in the city have escaped from poverty.
Vo Van Sau in Cu Chi district, who used to bepoor, said that he received preferential loans to buy breeding cows and toexpand vegetable cultivation in 2016.
Local authorities and organisations introducedhis wife to sewing companies that gave her products to sew at home, Sau said,adding that his children’s school tuition was also exempted.
“As of 2018, my family’s income has increased to15 million VND (640 USD) per month,” he said.
Nus Lay La, a Cham ethnic minority whose familywas poor in 2016, is now studying at the Institute for Cadre Development of HCMCity. She received a yearly exemption of 90 per cent for school tuition and aone-year Nguyen Huu Tho Scholarship to attend school.
Her siblings also received assistance from thecity in education and vocational training.
The city now has 10 districts, including 1, 3,5, 6 and Thu Duc, with no poor households, which is defined as having an incomeof less than 21 million VND in the 2016-2020 period.
As of last year, 24 poor and near-poorhouseholds could not afford their children’s education; 141 had poor access toinformation; nearly 5,990 had poor living conditions; 8,430 had pooreducational access; and 11,700 had poor access to employment and socialinsurance.
The city said it would continue to make effortsto improve these multi-dimensional poverty measures, according to the board.
Le Thi Vung of the Association for PromotingEducation in district 6, said that education was the way to help the poor toescape from poverty in a sustainable way.
The association has provided scholarships forchildren of poor families to attend school and vocational trainingprogrammes.-VNA
VNA
