Book offers 25 cases of how to lift people out of poverty

A new book was unveiled during the 2020 International Seminar on Global Poverty Reduction Partnerships in Gansu province in November, highlighting successful cases as a reference for global poverty relief.

The Way Forward 2020: Stories of Poverty Reduction in China was compiled by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China and the China Internet Information Center and published by Foreign Languages Press.

The book presents 25 poverty alleviation stories by 11 writers from various countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

The stories cover 15 regions across China including Fujian, Guizhou, Shandong, Shanxi, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces, as well as Beijing and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The stories provide a multifaceted showcase of China's poverty reduction work through environmental protection, e-commerce, technology, finance and tourism, and share the country's successful experiences in these regards.

Gilbert F. Houngbo, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development says in his preface to the book that China's achievements in poverty relief can help motivate other countries and provide them with valuable experience.

"I hope that this book contributes to the shared and rich knowledge and experience of China's successful poverty reduction story, and serves as a source of inspiration to other countries to achieve sustainable rural development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," he said.

Gao Anming, vice-president and editor-in-chief of the China International Publishing Group, announced a list of the 34 best case studies from the Global Solicitation on Best Poverty Reduction Practices (Second Call) during the seminar.

The Global Solicitation on Best Poverty Reduction Practices (Second Call) was jointly launched by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, the China Internet Information Center, and three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations－the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme－in mid-October 2019.

Its aim is to solicit poverty reduction case studies from all over the world, so as to share best practices in poverty alleviation through real-life cases and promote international cooperation and exchanges in this field.

Nearly 500 cases from 30 countries were submitted for the second call and another list of 100 excellent case studies is scheduled to be released in 2021.

In addition, a half-hour-long sale of produce from poor areas was livestreamed on Juhuasuan, the group-buying arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, on the eve of the international seminar, with several foreign diplomats participating.

Five minutes after its opening of the livestream, 6.5 metric tons of apples from Gansu's Lixian county were sold. The county recently freed itself from the label of absolute poverty.

Marielza Oliveira, FAO Representative ad interim in China, said that livestreaming not only provided high-quality agricultural products to consumers in China and other countries at favorable prices; it also promoted poverty alleviation.