Hanoi studies RI anti-poverty fight

Hanoi studies RI anti-poverty fight

JAKARTA (JP): Vietnam is studying Indonesia's way of fighting
poverty to complement its own program to improve the life of more
than 20 million people living below the poverty line in the
country.

Nguyen Thi Hang, Vietnam's Vice Minister of Labor, Handicap
and Social Affairs, told reporters on Saturday that he was
particularly impressed with Indonesia's newly launched
presidential aid program called Inpres Desa Tertinggal (IDT).

"The IDT program is a good example for us and we plan to use
it as a reference," said Nguyen, who heads the delegation of
eight Vietnamese officials to get a closer look at Indonesia's
poverty eradication program.

Under the IDT program, the government drops packets of Rp 20
million (over US$9,200) assistance intended as an initial capital
fund to poor villages in the country and allows the poor people
to decide for themselves how they want to manage the fund.

The program was launched in April and designed to help the
condition of nearly 26 million people, or 14 percent of the
population, who still live below the poverty line.

The campaign is focused on 20,633 out of 65,554 villages
nationwide classified as poor.

The Vietnamese delegation has visited a number of villages in
Yogyakarta and met with leaders of non-governmental organizations
and universities.

Nguyen said she was particularly impressed by the IDT program
as it encouraged the participation of the people intended to be
helped.

Vietnam, home to 73 million of people, has also been
campaigning to reduce the poverty incidence by between 3 and 4
percent a year.

Nguyen said Vietnam's switch from a centrally planned economy
to a market system had inevitably led to problems such as
unemployment, poverty and a widening gap between the rich and the
poor.

In order to solve the problems, the local government
administration of 28 provinces have allocated $10 million for the
programs to ease poverty while the central government has
prepared $100 million for programs such as employment,
reforestation and manpower relocation, she said.

Nguyen said Vietnam is still considered as one of the least
developed countries in the world despite its success in
overcoming food shortages and keeping inflation at less than 10
percent.

Eighty percent of Vietnam's total population lives in rural
areas where they heavily depend on farming. The country's
unemployment rate is eight percent, compared to the 37 million
strong work force. (par)