According to the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the province now has about 41,000 poor families and over 31,000 near-poor households, accounting for 10.51 percent and 8 percent of the total number, respectively.
Of these households, 33 percent are from ethnic minority groups and 23 percent have at least one welfare beneficiary.
Phu Tho plans to invest more than 1 trillion VND (44 million USD), including 925 billion VND sourced from the state budget and 76 billion VND from the provincial funds, to carry out poverty reduction projects.
The money will be spent on developing local infrastructure, supporting production, diversifying rural livelihoods, and scaling up successful models of poverty reduction in disadvantaged communes.
To effectively implement the national target programme on sustainable poverty alleviation, the department has worked with State agencies and district administrations to update the status of the poor and underprivileged areas in order to better support them, said Director of the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Bui Duc Nhan.
It has worked to raise people’s awareness of poverty reduction and encourage them to be more independent and overcome difficulties, Nhan said, adding that it has also called on local organisations, businesses and individuals to join the efforts
