Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China will play a more
active role in poverty alleviation as a "partner" of the
government, said a NGO official Sunday.
Yang Rudai, honorary president of the China Foundation for Poverty
Alleviation (CFPA), attributed China's remarkable achievements in
poverty relief in the past 20 years to the joint efforts by the
Chinese government and the whole of society, including NGOs.
About 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in funds has been financed by
domestic and overseas NGOs for poverty reduction in China since
mid-1980s, he said at the International Conference on NGO Poverty
Reduction Policy that opened here Sunday.
The government has the strong capacity to mobilize resources and
implement new systems while carrying out poverty-relief programs,
said Kang Xiaoguang from the National Conditions Research Center
under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
But the government is relatively weak in improving efficiency and
targeting the specific needs of certain poor groups, he said.
"NGOs happen to have some characteristics that the government does
not have," he said. A good cooperation between the government and
NGOs will have a better result in poverty reduction.
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
official Rolf Zelius said NGOs will help develop links between
government administrations and the local people so that the
poverty-alleviation programs will produce better effects.
NGOs are involved in implementing more than half of the ADB
projects, he added.
According to official statistics, about 3.69 billion yuan (US$445
million) was put in poverty alleviation in China through NGOs last
year.
China now has nearly 30 million people living in absolute
poverty.
About 250 experts and delegates from 160 Chinese and overseas NGOs
and international organizations attended the three-day conference
sponsored by the CFPA.
(Xinhua News
Agency October 28, 2001)