We must unlock people’s potential

One of the greatest obstacles to achieving zero poverty by 2020 is the significant dissimilarities and disparities that characterize the remaining poor areas in China. Apart from similarities such as poor infrastructure, low productivity and lack of information, there are huge differences between these regions in terms of their demographic features, economic structure and social composition. For example, some villages might have a higher proportion of elderly people, resulting in poverty caused by lack of labor. Some villages may have an unbalanced agricultural structure and depend too much on one kind of product, which makes them more vulnerable to poverty in the case of changing climates and markets.

China has contributed significantly to world poverty alleviation targets in the Millennium Development Goals era (2000-15). According to the MDG progress report, China’s extreme poverty rate fell to 4 percent last year, from 61 percent in 1990, which is the sharpest decline in the extreme poverty rate worldwide. China also contributed nearly two-thirds of the reduction of the population with malnutrition in developing countries.

Return to poverty, or re-poverty, is a serious concern for all poverty-alleviation activities. In order to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (201530), overcoming re-poverty must be front and center of our poverty-alleviation strategy.

According to the national poverty-alleviation report, the re-poverty rate in China was around 12 percent in 2014. On average, in China poverty reduction practices take two to three years to be completed. However, this process is significantly delayed by instances of re-poverty.

Communities must have ownership of their own development. Passively receiving external help will not be sustainable. UNDP has long been a proponent of bottom-up and participatory approaches for poverty alleviation. Members of the community should be the architects of poverty alleviation in their community, from project design, to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

China’s extreme povery rate last year, which fell from 61 percent in 1990 — the sharpest decline in the extreme poverty rate worldwide

In China, we espouse this approach whenever we initiate a project. Projects are designed based on villagers’ needs and desires, and implemented with their consent. This greatly reduces obstacles in project implementation and ensures projects respond to local needs, paving the way for success.

It is also extremely important that we continue to work to unlock the potential of non-State actors, especially the private sector. The private sector not only brings financial resources to poverty-alleviation projects, it can also bring professional skills and insights to programs on the ground. Partnership with the media is also crucial to ensure that development successes are shared and emulated and that all stakeholders are reached.

Gu Qing spoke with Zhang Yuchen