Hanoi Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front receives donations from organisations and individuals at a ceremony held on October 11 to launch a "Month for the Poor"(Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA)🦹 – Chairwomanof the Hanoi Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Nguyen Lan Huong has called on organisations,businesses and individuals at home and abroad to continue supporting the poor,contributing to the “Fund for the Poor” as well as other social securityprogrammes of the capital city.

She made the appeal at a ceremony in Hanoi on October 11 to launch a “Monthfor the Poor”, which will last until November 18.

Huong praised the donations frombusinesses, organisations and individuals to assist poor peoplein Hanoi as well as support the city's social security activities.

According to her, caring for and assisting poor households and those with financial difficulties to improvetheir living conditions is always a special concern of the city.

ꦰ The official asked the Fatherland Front committees at all levels to collaborate with relevant authoritiesand agencies to promote communication activities to enhance the campaign's effectiveness. They were also requestedto review the number of disadvantaged households in the locality as well astheir needs to make specific support plans.

Addressing the event, Vice Chairmanof Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Xuan Dung said the city has carried out effectiveactivities to improve the living conditions of the poor and disadvantaged,contributing to ensuring social and political stability and creating a drivingforce for its economic development.

Hanoitargets to reduce the number of poor households by 25-30% and the number ofnear-poor by 10% per year, which eventually leads to no poor families by late2025.

The goal was set in the city’saction plan on sustainable poverty reduction in the 2022-2025 period that was announcedin April this year.

The total budget allocated forthe programme is estimated at 1.58 trillion VND (nearly 66 million USD).

The city is expected to carryout a host of poverty reduction solutions, especially in localities with highpoverty rates, while creating incentives for poor households to soon escapepoverty.

The main targets of poverty reduction support are poorhouseholds on welfare, ethnic minority people, those suffering severeillnesses, with a disability, or those of non-working age group. Poor households will be helped to gain access to basic social services such as healthcare, education,housing, clean water, hygiene, or job placement.

The vice chairman also called on businesses, organisationsand individuals to contribute more to the city’s poverty reduction work.

According to Hanoi VFF committee, the city’s “Fundfor the Poor” has received 56.2 billion VND (2.3 million USD) from organisations,enterprises and individuals since 2021.

The city supported the building of 653 houses for poorhouseholds and repaired 145 other houses with capital sourced from thefund. Thousands of poor households haveaccessed preferential loans and received support in medical examination andtreatment.

During the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the city had received more than 1.8 trillion VND worthof cash, medical equipment, and food from organizations, enterprises, andindividuals, along with about 14 billion VND donated to the“internet and computers for students” programme and more than 10,000electronic devices presented to disadvantaged students for their online learning during thepandemic.

At the ceremony, organisations and enterprisespledged to donate over 30 billion VND to the fund for the poor.

The municipal People’s Committee and VFF committee also handed over 200 houses, 20 cows and 15 motorbikes topoor households in the city on the occasion.

Earlier in late September, the Hanoi VFF committee sent an open letter to agencies, organisations, businesses andpeople in the city calling for donations to the city’s “Fund for the poor”, onthe occasion of the “Month for the Poor”.

In the letter, the committee said that0.16% of the city’s households are poor. Therefore, community support would beof great significance, contributing to the city’s fulfillment of its target ofcreating conditions for households living in difficult circumstances to escapepoverty.

🃏 The Hanoi VFF committee receives support throughthe following accounts: Vietnam Fatherland Front – Hanoi chapter – “For the poor” Fund,account number: 3761.0.9057259.91046 at the Hanoi State Treasury, or bankaccount: 1500201116868 at the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development -Hanoi branch./.