Result-oriented poverty reduction policies needed: MoLISA

Provinces and cities should categorise poor households accurately to ensure all people living with difficulties will equally benefit from social welfare policies, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Pham Thi Hai Chuyen has said.

Chuyen stated that the MoLISA had circulated a circular guiding the categorization of households living under or near the poverty line to help with the work.

The document requests each locality establish a list of households whose poverty status will be evaluated publicly.

Illustration photo (Photo: Thai Thien)

Any locality that fixes the rate of poor households goes against the regulation, she said, affirming that its list will be rejected.

In the rest of 2014 and the following year, poor people will continuously be provided with assistance in loans, jobs and labour export to improve their lives, the official said.

She went on to say that the MoLISA is studying new criteria for assessing poverty threshold, exploring the aspects of income and access to social welfare as well. If they get the Government’s approval, they will be applied from 2016.

She reiterated Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s directions in the Cabinet’s September meeting that priority will continue to be given to implementing poverty reduction policies in far-flung and mountainous areas in order to narrow the disparity.

The minister also stressed the need to pay attention to people who have just escaped from poverty and those living near the poverty threshold.

(Source: VNA)