The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) will receive a
donation worth 76.2 million yuan (US$9.2 million), according to an
agreement it signed with seven charity organizations, companies and
universities in Shanghai Wednesday.
Under the agreement, the United States-based Mercy Corps
International (MCI) will provide CFPA with 10 million yuan (US$1.2
million) in fund and materials of the same value this year.
MCI will continue to offer no less than 10 million yuan of fund
and materials every year in the future, said Diana Tsui, managing
director of MCI's East Asia Pacific region.
According to Tsui, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like
CFPA have played an important role in China's charity and poverty
reduction, and the working transparency and credibility of them
have had much improved in recent years.
Bowen Wang, vice president and China director of World
Children's Fund, said the organization would raise materials worth
8 million yuan (US$966,500) for China's poverty-stricken and
disaster-hit areas.
He said the successful cooperation between Chinese NGOs and
international charity organizations had drawn more heeds of the
world to China's poverty alleviation work.
Ding Xuedong, an official of the Ministry of Finance, said
poverty reduction in China had become a problem the whole society
concerns about.
The Chinese government encouraged NGOs to extend collaboration
with international organizations, not only to enrich resources used
for poverty alleviation, but also to learn some advanced mechanism
and experience in the management of poverty reduction funds, he
said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2004)