From April 11 to 25 the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) organized a seminar on MDG and Sustainable Poverty Reduction for Developing Countries. The event was attended by seventeen representatives from Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Yemen, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, and Malawi as well as four international students, two of them from Tsinghua University - MID 2011 (Joao Trevisan and Rocio Garcia).
The seminar included ten sessions and a case study field trip to Jiangxi Province. During the sessions the participants got in touch with topics related to the general situation of China’s economic and social development, namely, policy and practice of rural and urban poverty alleviation; progress, policy and the experience of China in achieving the MDGs; participation of foreign aids in poverty reduction in the country; social security in rural China; China’s rural health policy and practice; policy and practice of environmental protection in rural China; China’s employment system and policy on rural China; and rural women’s development in China.
In the field trip the participants could observe the latest achievements of Jiangxi Province in rural poverty alleviation and development. Located in the southeast part of China, Jiangxi Province shares borders with Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and Hubei. Although located in a relatively rich area of the country, Jiangxi is among China’s least developed provinces and the challenges faced by the local government are enormous. Some of these challenges, such as low quality public services and rural poverty, were recurrent during field visits.
The field trip included visits to nine different villages, towns and counties in the Jiangxi Province. In each one of these localities, a local official was responsible for introducing the specificities of the local community and providing further explanations if necessary. The list below presents the sites visited by the two students during their stay in Jiangxi:
Ecological Fishing Village in Sheshan, Feishuxia and Chengangshan Villages, Poyang County Vocational Technical School and Vocational and Technical Education Center of Poyang County
People’s Hospital in Poyang County
Rural Middle School and Rural Health Center, Poyang county
Jingdezhen Ancient Kiln and Folk-Custom Expo Area
Tea Oil Camellia Production Cooperative in Dalian Village, Wuyuan county
Relocation Project, Huangling village, Wuyuan county
Social Security Projects in Qinghua village, Wuyuan county
Ecological Environmental Protection Projects in Fuchun village, Wuyuan county
The seminar and the field experience allowed the participants to gain an in-depth understanding of rural development, poverty reduction and the progress of the country towards the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, thanks to the very diverse background of the delegation, these seven days in Jiangxi provided the two MID students with the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with people that are working with poverty alleviation and development on a daily basis.
Contributed by Rocio Garcia and Joao Trevisan,MID 2011 Class
