The nation's social security system willprovide conditional and non-conditional social aid, credit assistance,education and job training for millions of people despite the globaleconomic crisis, Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social AffairsNguyen Thi Kim Ngan said on April 20 in an online Q&A.
Ngan affirmed that never before had the country approved so manysocial security policies and programmes, in which 62 of the poorestdistricts making up 50 per cent of the total poor population - hadreceived pointed focus.
Ngan said that this aimed at shrinking the gap between the rich andpoor among regions in the country because the Cuu Long (Mekong) and theRed (Hong) River deltas had low poverty rates, while the northernmountainous areas and Central Highlands were suffering from highpoverty rates.
More than 2.4 million people received support for their production,employment and income generation via offering them forest lands to growtimber trees, guiding them to restructure their farms and sending themto work overseas.
Many localities have adopted combined measures to help lift the mostneedy families out of poverty. Building new houses to replacedilapidated ones was one of the measures introduced.
Nguyen Minh Thang, a resident in northern Yen Bai province, wonderedhow it could be ensured that the most needy people enjoyed the benefitsof these social security projects.
Ngan said that all poor people nationwide would receive support fromthe Government; however, local authorities responsible for reporting thenumber of poor households had not obeyed the legal procedures, leadingto some miscalculations.
When the new poverty line was introduced next year, local relevantauthorities would get more training to make proper reports on poorpeople to avoid problems. If anyone intentionally put down misleadinginformation, they would be strictly punished, she added.
Ngan said that the existing poverty line 200,000 VND (10.5 USD) perperson per month in the countryside and 260,000 VND (13.6 USD) for thoseliving in urban areas - which had been applied for five years, wasunsuitable with the current situation. Because of this, many people inneed were technically not eligible.
Ngan said that the new poverty line would be approached in amulti-dimensional way so that more people in need of help would be thetargets of the country's social security system.
People should know about this new poverty line to take advantage oftheir rights. Legal support for poor people should also become morefocused, said Ngan.
Nguyen Huy Hoang, a resident in Ha Noi, wondered which people wouldreceive non-conditional social aid.
Nguyen Xuan Lap, deputy head of the ministry's Social WelfareDepartment, said that currently more than 1.3 million people, includingorphans, elderly without family and those over 80 without a pension, thedisabled, HIV-positive people who could not work, families with morethan two disabled members and single-parent families under the povertyline would be eligible for monthly non-conditional social aid.
Ngan said that coupled with this financial aid, these people couldalso get other support, such as free health insurance.
Many expressed worry over the increasing number of unemployed peopleand increases in labour accidents.
Minister Ngan said that there were more than 133,000 unemployed peoplelast year, which was higher than in previous years, but even with thismore than 1.6 million jobs had been created. The unemployment rate wasunderstandable in the global economic crisis.
Ngan said that it was necessary to raise the capabilities of labourersto meet employers' demands and minimise labour accidents, becausecurrently only 30 percent of labourers had proper qualifications andexperience.
Nghiem Trong Tuan, General Deputy Director of the ministry's GeneralVocational Training Department, said that to improve the quality ofvocational training schools, the Government had approved a five-yearproject worth 5.5 trillion VND (289 million USD) that was aimed atapplying modern teaching and studying methods, reforming trainingprogrammes and improving teacher quality.
Tuan said that the vocational training schools that had yet to meetthe criteria for teaching and studying activities would surely be shutdown.
Nguyen Thi Hai Van, deputy head of the ministry's Labour andEmployment Department, said that a fund for creating jobs worth 4trillion VND (210 million USD) had been set up to help create jobs.
The processing and trading units and households who were the targetsof the fund could borrow up to 500 million VND s(26,000 USD) for eachproject. Each year, this fund created up to 300,000 jobs, said Van./.
Ngan affirmed that never before had the country approved so manysocial security policies and programmes, in which 62 of the poorestdistricts making up 50 per cent of the total poor population - hadreceived pointed focus.
Ngan said that this aimed at shrinking the gap between the rich andpoor among regions in the country because the Cuu Long (Mekong) and theRed (Hong) River deltas had low poverty rates, while the northernmountainous areas and Central Highlands were suffering from highpoverty rates.
More than 2.4 million people received support for their production,employment and income generation via offering them forest lands to growtimber trees, guiding them to restructure their farms and sending themto work overseas.
Many localities have adopted combined measures to help lift the mostneedy families out of poverty. Building new houses to replacedilapidated ones was one of the measures introduced.
Nguyen Minh Thang, a resident in northern Yen Bai province, wonderedhow it could be ensured that the most needy people enjoyed the benefitsof these social security projects.
Ngan said that all poor people nationwide would receive support fromthe Government; however, local authorities responsible for reporting thenumber of poor households had not obeyed the legal procedures, leadingto some miscalculations.
When the new poverty line was introduced next year, local relevantauthorities would get more training to make proper reports on poorpeople to avoid problems. If anyone intentionally put down misleadinginformation, they would be strictly punished, she added.
Ngan said that the existing poverty line 200,000 VND (10.5 USD) perperson per month in the countryside and 260,000 VND (13.6 USD) for thoseliving in urban areas - which had been applied for five years, wasunsuitable with the current situation. Because of this, many people inneed were technically not eligible.
Ngan said that the new poverty line would be approached in amulti-dimensional way so that more people in need of help would be thetargets of the country's social security system.
People should know about this new poverty line to take advantage oftheir rights. Legal support for poor people should also become morefocused, said Ngan.
Nguyen Huy Hoang, a resident in Ha Noi, wondered which people wouldreceive non-conditional social aid.
Nguyen Xuan Lap, deputy head of the ministry's Social WelfareDepartment, said that currently more than 1.3 million people, includingorphans, elderly without family and those over 80 without a pension, thedisabled, HIV-positive people who could not work, families with morethan two disabled members and single-parent families under the povertyline would be eligible for monthly non-conditional social aid.
Ngan said that coupled with this financial aid, these people couldalso get other support, such as free health insurance.
Many expressed worry over the increasing number of unemployed peopleand increases in labour accidents.
Minister Ngan said that there were more than 133,000 unemployed peoplelast year, which was higher than in previous years, but even with thismore than 1.6 million jobs had been created. The unemployment rate wasunderstandable in the global economic crisis.
Ngan said that it was necessary to raise the capabilities of labourersto meet employers' demands and minimise labour accidents, becausecurrently only 30 percent of labourers had proper qualifications andexperience.
Nghiem Trong Tuan, General Deputy Director of the ministry's GeneralVocational Training Department, said that to improve the quality ofvocational training schools, the Government had approved a five-yearproject worth 5.5 trillion VND (289 million USD) that was aimed atapplying modern teaching and studying methods, reforming trainingprogrammes and improving teacher quality.
Tuan said that the vocational training schools that had yet to meetthe criteria for teaching and studying activities would surely be shutdown.
Nguyen Thi Hai Van, deputy head of the ministry's Labour andEmployment Department, said that a fund for creating jobs worth 4trillion VND (210 million USD) had been set up to help create jobs.
The processing and trading units and households who were the targetsof the fund could borrow up to 500 million VND s(26,000 USD) for eachproject. Each year, this fund created up to 300,000 jobs, said Van./.
