Ho Chi Minh City's Fatherland Front launches the Action Month for the Poor. (photo: qdnd.vn)

Ensuring social security and reducing poverty are consistent priorities of the Vietnamese Party and State.

Nationwide campaign

During the Action Month for the Poor, provinces, cities, and the Vietnam Fatherland Front enhanced communications, encouraging all sectors and communities to help poor people by contributing to the Fund for the Poor and other charity programs, and responding to the movement "For the poor – leaving no one behind" initiated by the Prime Minister for the 2021-2025 period.

Various activities have been held to mobilize resources to help poor and near-poor people, remote and border communities, and areas affected by natural disasters.

Dak Lak province has approximately 55,000 poor households, 11% of its population. Le Xuan Suong, Vice Chairman of Dak Lak’s Fatherland Front, said that during the Action Month for the Poor, the province raised money from groups and individuals to build charity houses for the poor.                                        

“On October 17^th, we launched a large-scale program. More than 70 organizations,  businesses, and localities participated in the program and donated 556,000 USD to build ‘great solidarity’ houses for the poor,” Mr. Suong said.

Ho Chi Minh City implemented a program called "Connecting to social security for the poor" with a budget of 427,000 USD. The Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front supported poor and near-poor workers, awarded Nguyen Huu Tho scholarships to 2,000 pupils and students, gave savings books, each worth 427 USD, to 20 orphans and disadvantaged children, and donated 150 computers to students from poor households.

Tran Dong Xuan, Director of Tan Thang company in An Giang province, also responded to the Month for the Poor.  “My company built 40 houses for poor people in An Giang province this year. They now have a solid home to stabilize their life and escape poverty. We will continue to work with the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the provincial authority to help poor, homeless people,” said Xuan.

Helping the poor is a regular activity

The Action Month for the Poor is the peak period for some activities that are carried out throughout the year. The Vietnam Fatherland Front says that, from 2021 to September of this year, its branches at all levels had raised more than 770 million USD for the Fund for the Poor and Social Security. Agencies, organizations, individuals, and businesses donated 557 million USD to local social security programs.

Using state funds and public donations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels has built or repaired 100,000 charity houses, paid for 4.7 million medical examinations for poor people, and helped hundreds of thousands of poor people develop their production.

This year the Fatherland Front will mobilize resources to build ‘great solidarity’ houses for the poor, repair 8,000 houses, and provide gifts to the poor on the occasion of Vietnam’s Lunar New Year celebration.

The Month for the Poor and the policy of caring for the poor are humanitarian activities that improve the lives of the poor, strengthen public trust in the State's policies, and reinforce national unity.