The village "rejoices"

BHG - In the middle of the border area, the remote villages have "rejoiced" with many spacious houses, new roads extending the pace of life, essential works and livelihood models sowing hope for a new life in the highlands. That is an impressive result after more than 4 years of implementing the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas.

The traditional linen weaving craft on the Stone Plateau is preserved and promoted. Photo: Bien Luan

Ha Giang is a border province with over 87% of the population being ethnic minorities, 127 communes in region III and 1,353 extremely disadvantaged villages. Most of the ethnic minorities live in mountainous areas, with harsh climates, unsynchronized infrastructure, and a lack of basic social services; therefore, the province has many subjects and areas benefiting from the program. After the National Assembly's Resolution on the 3 national target programs was issued, Ha Giang was one of the provinces that completed the drafting of legal documents and guidance documents early, creating a legal corridor for the rapid implementation of the program. The province closely and comprehensively directed and operated ethnic affairs, promptly issued resolutions, plans, and projects specific to local practical conditions; the Steering Committee for the implementation of the program was established at all 3 levels; promptly grasped difficulties and obstacles, proposed solutions to remove them to speed up the disbursement of capital sources. In the 2021 - 2025 period, the total planned capital source for program implementation is over 6,423 billion VND; of which the central budget is over 6,129 billion VND, the local budget is nearly 290 billion VND. By the end of 2024, over 4,365.6 billion VND has been disbursed, reaching 70.7%.

Tourists come to learn about the culture of the Dao ethnic group in Nam Dam village, Quan Ba ​​commune, Quan Ba ​​district. Photo: Vien Su

The projects and sub-projects were implemented synchronously and appropriately, and were supported by the people. The program supported 2,027 households to build houses, invested in 760 essential infrastructure works, implemented 7 projects for planning, arranging, and stabilizing the population, nearly 1,000 households changed their jobs, built 52 centralized water supply works, supported nearly 1,000 livelihood diversification projects, invested in the construction and renovation of 320 rural traffic works, 113 power supply works, 32 schools, classrooms, 29 medical stations, supported vocational training for 13,800 workers; invested in the construction of 355 cultural and sports facilities. Organized over 1,180 activities to change "thinking and working methods" to enhance women's economic power and promote gender equality. Up to now, 100% of communes have asphalt or concrete roads to the center, 98% of villages have hardened roads to the center; 93% of ethnic minorities have access to clean water; 90% of villages have cultural houses or community activity places; 100% of communes have met national health standards; 6 communes have been removed from difficult areas; the poverty rate in ethnic minority areas has decreased by an average of 5.38% per year; the rate of trained workers has reached 61.2%; the rate of mobilizing children aged 6-14 to go to school has reached 99%.

Director of the Department of Ethnic Minorities and Religions, Chu Thi Ngoc Diep shared: “One of the factors contributing to the success of the program is the drastic and timely direction of the province, the proactive, flexible and scientific organization at the grassroots level and the high consensus among the people. Most of the projects and sub-projects are evaluated as effective and have good efficiency, contributing to improving the quality of life for people in the highlands”.

However, the program implementation process still has difficulties and obstacles, some targets have not been achieved compared to the province's resolution such as the economic growth rate of ethnic minority areas, average income per capita; the whole province still has many communes and villages with special difficulties, some projects and sub-projects are slow to implement, livelihood models are small and lack linkages. To continue to effectively implement the program in the next phase, in addition to the efforts of the entire political system in the area, the province recommends that the Central Government integrate and combine projects with the same objectives, scope and objects to reduce focal points and avoid overlap; promote decentralization and delegate proactive authority to localities; consider expanding the objects, areas and implementation time for direct support contents for households; consider and supplement regulations allowing localities to adjust the annual State budget capital plan to implement the program for long-term capital sources.

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Source: https://baohagiang.vn/tin-moi/202505/ban-lang-reo-vui-c607c2e/