Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi has set a target of reducing the percentage of poor households citywide by 1% to 16,500 families this year. To obtain this target, local authorities have asked agencies and departments to mobilize all available resources in support of the poor and social welfare beneficiaries, especially those living in mountainous and riverbank areas.The city will continue to provide credit support for the needy to expand production and increase the loan limit to VND20 million-VND30 million per household.It will also ensure that poor people are able to attend labor export programs and needy students are able to access preferential loans to cover their tuition and other schooling fees.For rural and remote communes that have a large population of ethnic minority residents, each person will receive from VND150,000 to VND200,000 per year. According to the municipal Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Hanoi now has around 60,000 poor households (over 189,400 people), making up 3.6% of the city’s population.Hanoi will spend VND900 billion ($42.86 million) on a 2013-2015 sustainable poverty reduction program, focusing on building infrastructure projects for ethnic minorities, expanding the poverty reduction model as well as enhancing capacity in poverty reduction, communication and supervision. (vov.vn Jan 30, Quan Doi Nhan Dan Jan 30)
