Selection of best-practice poverty reduction cases launched

The first case review meeting for “The Global Solicitation and Challenge Prize on Best Poverty Reduction Practices” was held in the China Internet Information Center (CIIC) in Beijing on Wednesday.

This initiative was jointly launched in May this year by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN Food and Agricultural Organization, International Fund for Agriculture Development, World Food Programme, China International Poverty Reduction Center (IPRCC), and CIIC. Designed to promote knowledge-sharing, it invites organizations and individuals from all over the world to submit cases on poverty reduction.

This is the first effort on the part of these seven authoritative organizations to gather information on best-practice poverty reduction, as a pilot attempt to extend and innovate global partnerships on poverty reduction.

The program has received about 400 cases submitted by government departments, enterprises, and individuals from China and the rest of the world. At least 150 more submissions are expected.

The IPRCC and the CIIC, together with the China Institute for Poverty Reduction Research of Beijing Normal University, have edited, improved, translated and finalized the submissions.

Based on a preliminary evaluation, a short-list of 130-150 cases will be prepared for final evaluation by experts from the seven organizations, before choosing the 100 winners.

Covering various fields on poverty alleviation, such as education, industrial development, relocation, ecology, and innovative working mechanisms, the first batch of 20 shortlisted cases were reviewed at the first meeting of final evaluation yesterday. Their scores will be the sole criterion for inclusion in the top 100. All the winners will receive a certificate granted by the seven organizations in January next year.

Zhang Guangping, deputy director general of IPRCC, said at the meeting: “The selection of these cases is an effective way to share and exchange poverty reduction experiences and to tell the public good stories. We hope that this meeting will play an important part in creating innovative partnerships between organizations, and will promote South-South cooperation through knowledge sharing.”

Representatives from the Child Poverty and Gender Office of UNICEF and the China Institute for Poverty Reduction Research of Beijing Normal University, among all the 20 participants, also attended the meeting and expressed their views on the cases.