Interview:  “Consult Poor People on What They Need”

Professor Huang Chengwei, Director General of China National Poverty Alleviation Propaganda and Education Centre.

What is your appraisal of efforts in place by different African States to combat poverty?

I know some of the efforts but not much. I know about Kenya that is introducing new policies for farmers to show villagers how to deal with poverty. They also teach village people on how to build irrigation schemes. Looking at what Africa is doing vis-à-vis China, I think we can have a lot to learn from each other.  We have a lot of models in China which can help to enhance communication for Africa to deal with horticulture, for example, more successfully.

China lifted over 700 million people out of poverty in three decades. What has been the secret of the success story that Africa can learn from to shake off poverty in the continent?

The first thing is to keep economic development faster and suitable. Based on that, you will be able to touch poor areas and get the people actively involved in developing the economy socio-economically. By this, you need to guarantee the employment of poor people and so on.

You also need to target education to be sure that it is geared towards solving a problem, develop the healthcare system so as to keep the population healthy and active in development. It is also very important to mobilize the poor people to join the poverty alleviation efforts. This begins with consulting them where they are and on what they need.

China is working on completely journeying out of poverty by 2020. What would Africa gain in partnering with Chin...