DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment in the 2001-2005 period with the following contents:

I. THE PROGRAM�S OBJECTIVES

1. Overall objectives:

The national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment in the 2001-2005 period is a general inter-branch program in the country�s socio-economic development strategy, aiming to create favorable and suitable conditions for supporting the poor, poor households and poor communes in production development, income generation, access to social services, and hunger elimination and poverty alleviation; reduce the unemployment rate in urban areas and increase the use rate of working time in rural areas, make the labor structure compatible with the economic structure, create jobs for people who need jobs, and raise the quality of people�s life.

2. Specific objectives:

a/ Hunger elimination and poverty alleviation:

- To reduce the percentage of poor households (according to new criteria) to below 10%, or 1.5-2% per year on average (about 280,000 - 300,000 households/year); to stop relapse into chronic hunger;

- Poor communes have adequate essential infrastructures (small irrigation, schools, medical stations, public roads, electricity, daily-life water, markets).

b/ Job creation:

- To create jobs for 1.4-1.5 million people each year;

- To reduce the unemployment rate in urban areas to below 6% and increase the use rate of working time in rural areas to 80% by 2005.

II. THE PROGRAM�S CONTENTS

1. Hunger elimination and poverty alleviation: including the following policies and projects:

a/ Policies in support of the poor, poor households and poor communes, including supports in terms of health care, education, social security policies, agricultural land use tax exemption, supporting the poor regarding their housing, working tools and production land.

b/ Projects in direct support of hunger elimination and poverty alleviation, including:

- The group of general hunger elimination and poverty alleviation projects:

+ The credit project on lending capital to poor households for production and business development;

+ The project on guiding the poor in ways of earning a living, promoting agriculture, forestry and fishery;

+ The project on building hunger elimination and poverty alleviation models in special areas (coastal areas, highland and border areas, islands, former resistance bases, deep-lying areas in the Mekong River delta).

- The group of hunger elimination and poverty alleviation projects for poor communes (with 25% or more poor households and inadequate essential infrastructures), not covered by Program 135:

+ The project on building essential infrastructures in poor communes (small irrigation, schools, medical stations, civil roads, electricity, daily-life water, markets);

+ The project on supporting production and development of production and business lines in poor communes;

+ The project on training and fostering personnel for the hunger elimination and poverty alleviation work and officials for poor communes;

+ The project on stabilizing the life of migrants and building new economic zones in poor communes;

+ The project on sedentary farming and residence in poor communes.

2. Employment:

a/ Activities aiming to develop employment shall be carried out along three following directions:

- Socio-economic development for stabilizing jobs for people who have already had jobs and creating new jobs by concentrating efforts on directing a number of key economic development programs, thus creating more jobs;

- Stepping up the export of labor and experts;

- Enhancing the activities in direct support of job creation and labor market development.

b/ Activities in direct support of job creation and labor market development shall be carried out with the following projects:

- The project on organizing the lending of capital under mini-projects for job creation through the National Employment Support Fund;

- The project on raising the capacity of and modernizing the employment service centers;

- The project on labor survey and statistics and building a labor market information system;

- The project on training and fostering personnel for the work of labor and employment management.

III. IMPLEMENTATION DURATION

The national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment shall be implemented for 5 years (2001-2005).

IV. THE PROGRAM�S FINANCE

The program�s mobilized capital sources are estimated at about VND 22,580 billion, including the following sources:

a/ Hunger elimination and poverty alleviation:

About VND 16,245 billion is anticipated to be mobilized (not yet covering the international cooperation capital sources for hunger elimination and poverty alleviation), including the following capital sources:

- Central budget;

- Local budgets;

- Capital mobilized from the community;

- Credit capital (around VND 10,000 billion);

- Integrated capital.

b/ Employment:

The expected capital is around VND 6,335 billion, including the following capital sources:

- Central budget;

- Local budgets;

- Retrieved capital (around VND 4,600 - 4,700 billion);

- Other sources.

Annually, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall base themselves on the objectives, contents and current regulations to allocate funding to ensure that the program operates according to set objectives and efficiently.

V. ON THE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

The national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment shall operate according to the inter-branch mechanism. The concerned ministries� and branches� responsibilities shall be assigned as follows:

1. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility in managing the program, regularly assist the Government in organizing, managing, administering and coordinating activities with the ministries, branches and localities and synthesize the program implementation situation; study and elaborate policies on social security and support for the poor in terms of accommodation; assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee for Ethnicities and Mountainous Areas, the Ministry of Health, the State Bank of Vietnam, the relevant ministries and branches and the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities in managing and organizing the implementation of the following projects:

- The project on training and fostering personnel for the hunger elimination and poverty alleviation work and officials for poor communes;

- The project on building hunger elimination and poverty alleviation models in particular areas;

- The project on organizing the lending of capital under mini-projects for job creation through the National Employment Support Fund;

- The project on raising the capacity of and modernizing the employment service centers;

- The project on labor survey and statistics and building a labor market information system;

- The project on training and fostering personnel for the work of labor and employment management.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall have to assume the prime responsibility for:

- Coordination with the Ministry of Finance in proportioning and arranging annual plans for the program implementation on the basis of agreement with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs according to current regulations and plans;

- Coordination with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the concerned ministries and branches in guiding localities to integrate other programs relating to the national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment in the same locality, from the planning to the implementation direction.

3. The Ministry of Finance shall have to assume the prime responsibility for:

- Coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in proportioning and ensuring State budget allocated annually for the program in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law;

- Guiding the financial management mechanism applicable to the capital sources mobilized for the program;

- Directing and organizing the full and timely capital allocation strictly according to the estimates and objectives already approved;

- Studying and proposing measures to exempt agricultural land use tax for poor households.

4. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall assume the prime responsibility for studying to elaborate policies in support of poor people in terms of working tools and production land; coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Aquatic Resources, the National Committee for Population and Family Planning, the concerned ministries, branches and localities in managing and organizing the implementation of the following projects:

- The project on building essential infrastructure in poor communes;

- The project on support for production and development of production and business lines in poor communes;

- The project on guiding poor people in ways of earning a living, promoting agriculture, forestry and fishery;

- The project on stabilizing the life of free migrants and building new economic zones in poor communes;

- The project on sedentary farming and residence in poor communes.

5. The State Bank of Vietnam shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the concerned ministries, branches and localities in directing the Bank for the Poor to manage and organize the implementation of the credit project on lending capital to poor households for production and business development.

6. The Ministry of Health shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the concerned ministries, branches and localities in studying, elaborating and implementing the policy on medical examination and treatment for the poor.

7. The Ministry of Education and Training shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in studying, elaborating and implementing the policy on supporting the poor in education through the integration and implementation of the national target program on education and training.

8. The Committee for Ethnicities and Mountainous Areas shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in managing and organizing the implementation of the hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment projects in areas inhabited by ethnic minority people.

9. The National Committee for Population and Family Planning shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in managing and organizing the implementation of projects on stabilizing the life of migrants and building new economic zones in poor communes.

10. The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies and the agencies attached to the Government shall have to study and elaborate the policy on supporting the poor, poor households and poor communes, and direct the implementation of the hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment program within the scope of their respective management.

11. The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall organize the elaboration and implementation of the contents of the national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment in localities; periodically report to the Prime Minister and the program-managing bodies on the program implementation situation.

12. The Central Committee of Vietnam Father-land Front and the central bodies of mass organizations are requested to participate in the implementation of the national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment; participate in supervising the program implementation at all levels.

Article 2.- To establish the Management Board of the national target program on hunger elimination, poverty alleviation and employment, which shall assist the Prime Minister in deploying the program implementation.

The program�s Management Board shall have to coordinate with the Central Committee of Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations in organizing and implementing the program.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 4.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI