(Originally published on 10/16/2014)

Last Friday marked China’s “10.17” Forum titled Shared Prosperity through Poverty Alleviation.  It was designed to coincide with China’s Poverty Reduction Day and the UN’s Day for Eradication of Poverty, and UNDP’s social media campaign dollar25 challenge. The Forum was divided into two sections – with the first devoted to speeches by a wide range of government, academic, and international partners on achievements to date on poverty reduction, and the second to parallel discussion forums on future challenges and ideas for action, including microfinance, innovation, youth engagement, and targeting poverty reduction in a multi-dimensional way. There was strong consensus throughout all these sessions on the need to “leave no one behind”.  

The opening session heard speeches from Mr. Zhu Shanlu, Party Secretary of Peking University and Mr. Alain Noudehou, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China. Mr. Zhu said “poverty reduction is a glorious and arduous mission, but we can achieve it with participation from everyone.” Mr. Noudehou congratulated China in its progress towards MDG one eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. However, he recognized upcoming challenges stating that despite “great progress made over the past couple decades, around 10 percent of the population still remains in poverty.” 

The other speeches highlighted multiple approaches to poverty alleviation. For example the representative of the All- China Women’s Federation (ACWF) highlighted the need to target women while the Ministry of Education focused on the importance of advancing education to spur innovation. Mr. Liu Yongfu, Director of the Chinese State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (LGOP) declared this year’s goal to be pulling “more than 10 million people out of poverty, and noted the context for this – 90 million people under the national poverty line (200 million using the World Bank’s poverty line), in 12,900 poor villages, in 14 distinct regions.. ”

The Poverty Alleviation and Development across the Globe session, was co-hosted later in the afternoon by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and UNDP China. The session brought key experts to China to highlight new ideas for China to consider in its fight against poverty, as well as highlight where other countries could learn from China’s actions to date. UNDP’s Country Director, Christophe Bahuet, co-moderated the panel, and Hannah Ryder, Head of Policy and Partnerships, gave a presentation entitled how development is changing for the better. Ms. Ryder stated that poverty reduction work has progressed strongly in the last decades, but will need to adapt because of 5 new global shifts: a. changes in wealth of many countries – such that poverty is no longer confined to the poorest countries; b. increasing urban versus rural poverty; c. greater potential for global shocks due to economic integration; d. increasing engagement by developing countries in tackling climate change; and e. the growing role of technology in delivering solutions to poverty.

Ms. Ryder called for a need to measure progress in a more comprehensive way beyond simple income measures, and take more complex and creative actions to solve development challenges. Development practitioners and experts then introduced the Multidimensional Poverty Index or MPI, and noted how helpful it had been in helping governments and others to fight poverty from multiple angles.

Other forums focused on three issues: finance, innovation, and youth. Panelists in the finance forum shared effective practices in financing low-income rural households, from establishing strategic partnership between government and financial institutions, to improving individual credit reporting system. The panel also called for a more comprehensive use of new technologies, especially internet finance, to reduce poverty. 

Similarly, innovation on public engagement was emphasized as a very important element in poverty reduction efforts. Due to rapid development of China’s e-commerce and expansion of logistic networks, using the internet to solve poverty-related problems or “e-commerce poverty reduction” in rural areas was highlighted as an effective and inclusive model for knowledge transfer.

Lastly, the educated youth were discussed as having the knowledge, skills and extensive networks needed to contribute to poverty reduction. By conducting R&D and working for local governments and communities, youth could be were a key part of the poverty reduction equation.  

The Forum was jointly initiated by Peking University, Tsinghua University, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Institute of Sociology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Research Department of the Rural Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, China Poverty Alleviation and Development Center (CPADC) and International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), and will be held annually.