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Chairwoman of the HCMC People’s Council Nguyen Thi Le is delivering a means to make a living to poor people (Photo: SGGP) |
Chairwoman Tran Kim Yen of the Vietnam Fatherland Front – HCMC stressed the importance of collaboration in the community when taking care of the poor. Her organization has always considered this task as a key mission. In the ‘Month for the Poor 2023’, the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front – HCMC worked with the HCMC ‘Fund for the Poor’ Committee to raise VND40 billion (US$1.63 million), while the former’s sub-level units themselves could mobilize over VND125 billion ($5.1 million).
They are now helping to repair 500 houses of poor families citywide, a practical action to improve the living standards of the vulnerable. They are also carrying out the sustainable poverty reduction scheme and are trying to effectively run other social security programs in accordance with the 8th Congress of the Central Party Executive Committee.
Secretary of the Thu Duc City Party’s Committee Nguyen Huu Hiep informed that the city has devised both short-term and long-term social security policies to cater for each group of dwellers and formed an urban employment network for laborers.
In particular, the Standing Committee of the Thu Duc City Party’s Committee is conducting a survey on poor and nearly-poor residents about the sustainable poverty reduction scheme in the 2021-2025 period in order to better understand their wishes. Based on that, there will be suitable strategies to ensure multi-dimensional, long-term social security and to timely adjust any inadequacies so that the provided services and care become regular, stable ones. Ultimately, these activities can arouse the determination to escape poverty among households.
Director of the HCMC Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thinh reported that in the 2021-2025, HCMC has over 58,000 poor and nearly-poor families (accounting for 2.29 percent of the total city population). At the end of August 2023, this figure dropped to around 39,000 (1.54 percent of the city population).
Seeing such encouraging data, this department is going to cooperate with related state departments and agencies, localities to adopt more meaningful policies to support the vulnerable so that by 2025, HCMC will have been no poor households according to the national standards and only 0.5 percent according to the city’s standards, one year ahead of the plan in the Resolution of the 11th Congress of the HCMC Party’s Committee. Also, the city aims at having no poor households according to its multi-dimensional standards in the 2021-2025 period.
Following the motto ‘A Fishing Rod is Better than a Fish’, the municipal Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has effectively performed the task of introducing methods or models for households to stay away from poverty and stabilize their income for a better life.
Vice President Le Thi Kim Thuy of the HCMC Labor Confederation shared that at present, there are 148 job associations for the informal labor force with nearly 8,500 members in different occupations of tech-based and conventional motorbike taxi drivers, private waste collectors, manicurists, beauty care-takers, lottery sellers, baby-sitters, automobile repairmen.
The HCMC Labor Confederation has cooperated with the HCMC Social Security and sponsors to gift members of these associations with medical insurance cards, social insurance books. Meanwhile, training sessions have been held to help members in need to improve their professional skills and exchange experience. It is hoped that these useful activities let the informal labor force consider the job associations as a place to come to when encountering difficulties in life.
The Capital Aid for Employment of the Poor (CEP) Microfinance Institution said that it has offered various customer care packages aimed at the informal labor force to help them improve their living standards by upgrading their professional skills.
Tran Buu Tham from District 11 of HCMC gratefully shared that her 5-member household is classified as a poor family in 2021. They have received much care and help from the local authorities as well as the HCMC Ethnic Committee. They are given medical insurance cards, financial support to pay utility bills and food. Her child is eligible for a student loan to continue the learning process along with an annual scholarship.
More importantly, she was approved a loan of VND50 million ($2,000) for poverty reduction, together with a motorbike as a means to earn a living. Thanks to all of those helps, in December 2022, her household was upgraded to the level of nearly-poor. Three months ago, her family got out of the list of poor or nearly-poor households in the district. With a stable income, she can enjoy a brighter future.
