The National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 Period (referred to as Program 1719) was approved by the Prime Minister on October 4, 2021.

After 4 years of implementation, Program 1719 has contributed to changing the appearance of highland hamlets and villages in Thanh Son, Tan Son, Yen Lap districts and some highland areas of Thanh Thuy and Doan Hung districts by focusing on investing in building rural infrastructure. The program has also solved the urgent needs for residential land, housing, production land, and domestic water; created livelihoods for ethnic minorities; supported vocational training and job creation; preserved intangible cultural values, built cultural designs for villages and hamlets...

The appearance of Minh Dai mountainous commune, Tan Son district is becoming more and more prosperous. Photo: Truong Quan

Right target

We visited the family of Mr. Ha Van Nhung in Chieng 1 area, Kim Thuong commune, Tan Son district, one of the typical households in the commune in terms of efforts to escape poverty. Next to the 2-storey house in the finishing stage, still full of bricks and mortar, Mr. Nhung told us about the past days of poverty and hardship. Like many people in the area, lacking capital and having no side jobs, the family's life was poor all year round.

Encouraged and advised by the commune officials, Mr. Nhung discussed and borrowed 40 million VND from the Tan Son District Social Policy Bank under the poverty reduction program to plant production forests. After several years of care, the raw material trees have grown well and are ready for exploitation. During the off-season, he follows the workers in the area to work on construction projects in Hanoi for a few months before returning. Taking care of the children and housework, despite her poor health, Ms. Giang, Nhung's wife, also works as a tailor and repairer of ethnic minority costumes and funeral items. Thanks to that, the family's economy is increasingly stable.

Mr. Nhung shared: “Thanks to the attention of the Party and the Government, our people have benefited from many policies such as housing, land, water, loans, and vocational training. For example, my family here received 44 million VND from the 1719 Program. With the help of relatives, friends, and a loan from the Social Policy Bank, we have built this sturdy and spacious house to settle down and make a living.”

Tan Son district has 17 communes, 172 villages, ethnic minorities account for 82.5% of the district's population; mainly Muong ethnic group and a part of Dao ethnic group, Mong ethnic group, the rest are other ethnic groups. Implementing Program 1719, Tan Son district has focused on mobilizing resources to shift economic structure, support livestock farming, production, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, building and developing ethnic minority cadres... Up to now, 100% of roads have been invested in upgrading, renovating, and newly building, contributing to creating favorable conditions for people's travel and trade of goods. The poverty rate of the district has decreased by an average of 1.7%/year, the average income has reached 36.16 million VND/person/year. The life of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas of the district is increasingly improving. Vocational training, job creation and labor export for ethnic minorities have many positive changes.

Many poor ethnic minority families are supported to repair and rebuild temporary houses; thousands of hectares of natural forests are protected. Many typical ethnic minority products are produced as commodities...

The fields of education, health, culture and society in ethnic minority areas are given attention for investment and development. Every year, tens of thousands of ethnic minorities in disadvantaged communes are granted free health insurance cards and enjoy medical services in medical examination and treatment. The preservation and promotion of the cultural identity of the Muong ethnic group and other ethnic minorities in the area are maintained...

Comrade Tran Khac Thang - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee said: "The district continues to fully and promptly implement the policies of the Party and the State, and programs and projects for ethnic minority areas, promoting economic development, especially agriculture in the direction of commodity production. Along with that, focusing on synchronously building socio-economic infrastructure in ethnic minority areas; developing and improving the quality of human resources in ethnic minority areas; promoting the preservation of national cultural identity; increasing the quantity and improving the quality of ethnic minority cadres; firmly consolidating the great national unity bloc, ensuring national defense and security, building the Party and the political system to be increasingly clean and strong".

With support of 44 million VND from Program 1719, a loan from the Social Policy Bank and the help of relatives and friends, Mr. Ha Van Nhung's family in Chieng 1 area, Kim Thuong commune, Tan Son district was able to build a solid house.

Focus on resource mobilization

According to comrade Hau A Lenh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee, Program 1719 is a historic policy program, the first time the National Assembly and the Government decided to invest specifically for ethnic minority areas with the largest resources ever.

The program is built on the basis of integrating policies for ethnic minorities over the past years with new policies but with fundamental changes in the approach to socio-economic development for this special area, that is, gradually shifting from support policies to development investment.

The program will allocate significant investment resources to development policies through prioritizing infrastructure investment, livelihood creation, human resource development combined with social security policies. The program's contents are expected to provide timely support for ethnic minorities to access basic services, gradually narrowing the development gap compared to developed regions of the country.

Implementing Program 1719, Phu Tho province has deployed 10 projects and components with support contents covering all areas of social life, which have had a great impact in promoting socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. The contents have gradually exploited the potential and advantages of localities in the region; innovated, promoted economic development, ensured social security; reduced poverty rapidly and sustainably, gradually narrowed the gap in living standards and average income of the region compared to the national average; gradually reduced the number of communes and villages with special difficulties...

According to the plan, the development investment capital from Program 1719 for the 2021-2025 period in Phu Tho province is over 1,177 billion VND, of which the central budget is over 962 billion VND and the local budget is over 215 billion VND to implement 357 projects.

Thereby, people's lives have been significantly improved; the appearance of rural areas, especially mountainous rural areas and ethnic minority areas, has changed significantly. The income of rural people has been increasingly improved, the poverty rate has decreased rapidly. By the end of 2023, the poverty rate of the province will be 4.49% (down 0.7%), near-poor households will be 3.65% (down 0.53%); the poverty rate of ethnic minority households will decrease by 2%...

Despite achieving important results, according to the latest report of the Ethnic Committee submitted to the People's Council of Phu Tho province, after nearly 4 years of implementing Program 1719, the target of reducing the poverty rate has not been achieved compared to the set plan. The disbursement rate for public capital sources is still low. Some projects and sub-projects are still limited in the implementation stage, some regulations on support levels are still low, and the prescribed subjects are still limited...

To complete the goals of Program 1719 in 2024 and the entire period of 2021-2025, Comrade Cam Ha Chung - Head of the Provincial Ethnic Committee said: "First of all, it is necessary to have the drastic participation of Party committees at all levels, the government and the consensus of the people. In particular, the Provincial Ethnic Committee is the agency that presides over, advises and assists the Steering Committee in implementing a number of specific mechanisms and policies to implement Program 1719.

Accordingly, the Board proactively coordinates closely with departments, branches, and local authorities to review beneficiaries of projects and sub-projects, determine funding, propose plans, advise the Provincial People's Council to decide on adjustments; strengthen inspection and supervision work; submit to the Government for permission for Phu Tho province to adjust the target of reducing the poverty rate of ethnic minority households from 2% to 1.2% to suit the reality of the province when applying the multidimensional poverty standard for the period 2022 - 2025".

In 2024, implementing Program 1719, Phu Tho sets the following goals: 100% of households will have access to the national grid; over 96% of people will have access to clean water; 100% of 5-year-old kindergarten students will go to school; 99.3% of primary school students will attend school at the right age, 99.2% of secondary school students and 98% of high school students will attend school; 99% of people aged 15 and over will be able to read and write fluently in Mandarin; strive to have over 45% of ethnic minority workers of working age receive vocational training suitable to their needs and conditions; 74.9% of villages and hamlets have community houses; 38.2% of villages and hamlets have traditional cultural and artistic teams that operate regularly and with quality...

Thuy Hang