Expectations for change in ethnic minority areas in Khanh Hoa

Khanh Hoa province currently has 35 ethnic minorities living together (with over 72 thousand people, accounting for 5.8% of the province's population). Accordingly, the province has 28 communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, mainly in 2 mountainous districts of Khanh Son, Khanh Vinh, some communes in districts, Ninh Hoa town and Cam Ranh city.

In recent years, despite the Party committees and authorities at all levels focusing on leadership, direction and mobilization of many resources and integrating many programs and policies to invest in socio-economic development, the ethnic minority and mountainous areas (EMMs) of Khanh Hoa province still face many difficulties.

The reasons are due to harsh natural conditions, vast mountainous terrain, sparse and unconcentrated population, low quality of human resources, limited awareness of the people, backward production labor skills, lack of economic and social infrastructure in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, not meeting and creating motivation for development; the lives of the majority of ethnic minorities.

Therefore, the implementation of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas is both a driving force and an opportunity for the people of ethnic minority and mountainous areas of the province to strive to stabilize their residence, have jobs, improve their income and quality of life.

*The ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Khanh Hoa province are changing every day. Photo: Dam San*

7 Resolutions, 12 plans and 13 decisions

To implement the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period, Khanh Hoa has mobilized the entire political system.

Based on the content of the Program, focusing on projects and sub-projects, Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee issued 01 thematic resolution, the Provincial People's Council issued 06 resolutions, the Provincial People's Committee issued 12 plans, 13 decisions and many other documents to lead and direct the implementation of the Program. At the same time, based on the guidance documents of the central level, localities have developed and allocated resources to implement the Plan to inspect, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Program in the province in each phase and annually.

The implementation of the Program has been resolutely carried out by Party committees, authorities and organizations at all levels, with the highest political determination and with the support of the people...

Localities are always interested in and direct the propaganda work on the Program. The forms of propaganda are diverse and rich through many means; implementing the integration of propaganda on ethnic policies and the Program through propaganda conferences, training courses, etc. so that people and communities know and are proactive, positive, creative, creating motivation to join hands in implementation, at the same time self-checking and monitoring during the implementation process.

2023: Focus on 7 goals

According to Plan No. 2204/KH-UBND of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee dated March 10, 2023 on implementing the Program, in 2023, the province identified 7 important targets, including: the poverty reduction rate among ethnic minorities reaches 5%. 100% of extremely disadvantaged communes and villages are supported to invest in developing essential infrastructure to serve production, people's lives and circulation of goods. Over 98% of ethnic minorities have access to clean water. 100% of ethnic minorities participate in health insurance. 100% of working-age workers in need in 2023 are supported with vocational training suitable to the conditions of ethnic minorities and the characteristics of ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Strive for 50% of cadres, civil servants and public employees in ethnic minority and mountainous areas to be trained in ethnic knowledge. 100% of prestigious people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas are trained in security and defense knowledge...

The province's priority focus for implementing the Program in 2023 is: solving housing, production land, job conversion, domestic water and essential infrastructure for transportation, health, education, culture and sports and supporting production development to gradually improve the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities.

*Housing, land for production and clean water for people are the tasks that Khanh Hoa province prioritizes to solve. Photo: Dam San*

Khanh Hoa province strives to support housing for 147 households this year, support job conversion for 266 households, and support decentralized domestic water for 535 households. Regarding centralized domestic water: invest in building 02 projects for ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Cam Lam district and Cam Ranh city. At the same time, support the contract protection of over 21,000 hectares of protective forests, special-use forests, natural forests... assigned by the state to forest management boards and commune-level People's Committees for management according to regulations, contributing to creating jobs and increasing income for people.

Recently, in the preliminary report of 3 years of program implementation, Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee affirmed that the Program has contributed greatly to the implementation of the socio-economic development plan of localities. The resources and policies of the Program have been and are focusing on investing in developing essential infrastructure works to serve people's lives. Along with the implementation of ethnic policies and other national target programs, the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities and mountainous people has been improved.

After 3 years of implementation (as of May 31, 2023), the disbursement rate of the Program's capital for the 2021-2023 period in Khanh Hoa province is higher than the average of the provinces in the Central Highlands and the national average (18.28%). The poverty reduction rate in the ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Khanh Hoa reached 6%, exceeding the target assigned by the Prime Minister (over 3%) and exceeding the plan set by the Provincial People's Committee in 2023. The achieved results show that the Socio-economic Development Program for the ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Khanh Hoa province can exceed expectations.

Mr. Tran Hoa Nam - Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee acknowledged that the Conference to review 3 years of implementing the Program and the Workshop to share experiences and orientations for the implementation period 2026-2030 of 17 provinces in the Central - Central Highlands region showed the determination, high responsibility and timeliness of central agencies, aiming to comprehensively and fully assess the situation and results of implementing the Program, the causes of shortcomings and limitations, and at the same time share good, creative practices and experiences of localities in implementing the Program. Most importantly, according to the Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, each locality needs to seriously assess and analyze the fundamental and specific difficulties and obstacles affecting the progress and effectiveness of implementing the Program in order to have timely solutions. In particular, all levels and sectors must identify ethnic work as a strategic, fundamental, long-term, urgent issue and a task of the entire Party, people, army and the entire political system to organize and implement.

Source