China renews war on poverty(2)

Thousands of villages are still without electricity and about 100,000 villages still have no access to modern roads, according to Liu Yongfu, head of the State Council's leading group office of poverty alleviation and development (CPAD).

The decision to set up a national poverty relief day marks China's renewed campaign to allocate more manpower and resources to help those in need. This year alone, they aim to lift over 10 million people out of poverty, Liu said.

The office leading the charge called for the whole society to pay more attention and offer more help to the poor. On National poverty relief day this Friday, a range of activities to raise awareness has been initiated, including a mobile app that allows individuals to donate money to the poverty alleviation foundation.

Meanwhile, a nationwide campaign to gather detailed information on the poor has been launched, urging them to register information on causes and level of poverty so the government can offer specific support, Liu said.

A TOUGH BATTLE

Discerning areas in dire need from those who could simply use extra funding has proven a rigorous challenge for poverty alleviation officials.

Currently, a total of 832 Chinese counties are now receiving national poverty relief, with supportive policies and special funds.

The desire for increased funding has lured some counties to rush for the qualification, increasing incidents of inefficient or illegal use of poverty relief funds.

Fake information, embezzlement, misuse of the funds for other purposes such as entertaining officials and investing on image projects were common problems found in 19 counties from 2010 to 2012, according to the country's top audit agency.

Meanwhile, many counties took a short-sighted approach, using the fund by simply giving money to the poor instead of more diverse and efficient supportive measures, said Liu Zhongcheng, head of the poverty relief office of Inner Mongolia.

Eliminating poverty is not simply about giving money to the poor. The more sustainable approach is to work with them to help lift themselves out of poverty and thrive through technological, policy support and other measures, said Wang Binbin, project manager of the climate change and poverty project with Oxfam, a worldwide development organization focusing on poverty alleviation.

China is now working on improving the evaluation method for impoverished counties, applying more restraints on the use of fund and checking the county's qualification regularly, said Su Guoxia, head of the policy and regulation department of CPAD.

"We will encourage qualified counties to rid themselves of the label by getting rich through government support and hard work. It's not shameful to be poor, but indeed creditable to shake off poverty," Su said.