On April 4, 2018, a Miao woman in Jialiang Village of Guizhou Province carries mushrooms for loading onto trucks.

IN China, the fight against poverty in the new era has made decisive progress, fundamentally attributed to Xi Jinping’s idea of poverty reduction, which serves as a guideline and plan of action to overcome poverty. Targeted poverty alleviation is the core of Xi Jinping’s idea of poverty reduction, and it is essential to stick to this core to fight poverty effectively.

Understanding the

Rich Meaning

The essence of the idea is to always adhere to the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation in the practice of poverty reduction. In November 2013, President Xi proposed for the first time the concept of targeted poverty alleviation during his inspection to Shibadong Village, Hunan Province. He stressed that “to fight poverty in a targeted way, we must take into account the real facts and local conditions, rather than chanting slogans and setting goals beyond reach.”

Xi repeatedly gave important instructions regarding targeted assistance to the poor. To name some, “Targeted measures are now the key to fighting poverty. We must not resort to measures that are too general, vague and imprecise.” “The success or failure of our fight against poverty depends entirely on targeting. The root causes of poverty must be identified, the target must be set at all levels, and appropriate measures be taken to enable those truly needy to escape poverty. We seek true poverty reduction, and should prevent both the passive attitude of waiting for outside help and the temptation of getting quick results that do more harm than good in the long run.” “We need to increase funding and the number of projects to help the poor and to eradicate poverty in a targeted way. Measures taking into account the actual living conditions of individual ethnic groups, villages and households should be adopted in order to effectively combat poverty.” “We must raise targeted poverty alleviation into a fundamental strategy.”

Xi Jinping’s idea of targeted poverty alleviation continues to perfect during the process of practice, forming a systematic, comprehensive, logical, and well-defined strategy. This strategy, a major innovation in the design of the fight against poverty, follows the methodology of matching objectives and problems as well as strategies and operations. “Helping those who are really in need and genuinely fighting poverty” is the goal of this strategy.

Farmers harvest black fungi in a poverty relief base in Tongshengguan Village in Hubei Province on June 2, 2018

To recognize the six precisions, (namely precisely define the disadvantaged, the project arrangement, the use of funds, the measures to be implemented for the benefit of poor households, the role of the officials sent to the villages, as well as the results to be achieved in terms of poverty reduction) is the fundamental requirement at the heart of this strategy. To enable the poorest to overcome poverty through five measures, (namely by means of production, resettlement, ecological compensation, education as well as social security) is the way forward to implement this strategy, indicating important tasks in the fight against poverty. To address the four issues (who to help, who to help the poor, how to fight poverty, how to be removed from the poverty category) are the goals and guideline of procedural innovation as well as constructing top-level design and grass-roots implementation. All the three points mentioned above make up a scientific system of policies and measures to deal with poverty.

Practice is the key to manifesting theory into reality. Indeed, Xi Jinping’s idea of fighting poverty stems from a profound practical foundation: his particular experience of “educated youth” for seven years, his various positions in local governments, his concrete actions for the reduction of poverty since taking office as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and head of state.

The fight against poverty has entered a crucial phase in China. In light of Xi Jinping’s thinking in this regard, all the localities and departments follow the principle of being targeted, whatever the task: to register poor people, to intensify the assistance to the poor villages, to adapt assistance to the type of poverty being tackled, to focus on the most disadvantaged areas, to increase investments in the fight against poverty, to manage the related funds, or to strengthen the assessment of the work accomplished. All these targeted measures, used in combination, have led to more effective work in the fight against poverty.

A series of targeted policies and moves, such as accurately identifying the key targets and comprehensively strengthening poverty alleviation fund supervision, have been rolled out in the new era as a continuity at the national level of Xi’s practice of poverty reduction in Fujian. They reflect the high level of governance and have a universal methodological significance for advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

All the localities and departments follow the principle of being targeted, whatever the task.

Key to Overcoming Poverty

Targeted poverty alleviation is the basic strategy for winning the fight against poverty. It is a long-term and meticulous, systematic project. To win the battle against poverty, we must accurately grasp the essence of the “targeted” approach.

The premise: change the old mindset. It is important to understand Xi Jinping’s idea in this area, not to abandon the proposed strategy because of the obstacles encountered in its application and to prevent overly vague measures.

The foundation: precisely identify the poorest. The underprivileged must be given a special card to record their information, provide social security coverage for all these people, and set up a withdrawal mechanism to remove from the list of poor people who manage to get out of misery. The sharing and analysis of big data need to be strengthened to optimize strategic decision-making and overall administration. The people must be given a fundamental role in this campaign, while promoting the degree and the ability of the masses to participate and releasing their endogenous forces.

The key: enhance the role of officials stationed in poor villages. The election and management of officials sent to poor rural areas need to be improved, and targeted assistance and official training will be better combined.

The core: implement a targeted policy. The policy must be strongly promoted in the aforementioned five measures for the benefit of poor villages, households, and inhabitants. Poverty reduction mechanisms in the industrial sector must be established to effectively mobilize poor people relying on the development of industries and employment to increase income and getting rid of poverty. There is also a need to summarize and promote various successful models of targeted poverty alleviation.

The guarantee: ensure a targeted withdrawal of the registered people on the poverty list. Following a strict assessment of the criteria and procedures in place, it is necessary to ensure that the results of poverty reduction are concrete and permanent. To rehabilitate districts, villages, and underprivileged people, relevant policies to combat poverty must be maintained for a period after they rise above poverty in order to establish a long-term mechanism to eradicate poverty. There is an urgent need to jointly promote targeted poverty reduction and socio-economic development, while linking the fight against poverty with the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.  

HUANG CHENGWEI is director and researcher of the National Publicity and Education Center for Poverty Reduction, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Reduction and Development.