Mainland China


Population: 1.3 billion
Annual income below 1,196 Yuan: 43 million
Human Development Index (2009): 92

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China, UNDP


Despite China’s rapid economic development, about 43 million people live below the poverty line of less than 1,196 Yuan a year.

Oxfam Hong Kong has been working on poverty alleviation and emergency relief in China since 1987. More than 500 million Yuan has been allocated to help thousands and thousands of people, mainly poor farmers in remote mountainous areas, ethnic minorities, women and children, migrant workers and HIV-AIDS patients. The agency has supported projects in almost every province/region/municipality.

Approximately one-third of Oxfam Hong Kong's total programme expenditure goes to poverty alleviation in Mainland China. The majority of programmes are located in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Beijing.

Oxfam Hong Kong opened its first field office in Mainland China in 1992, in Kunming, followed by offices in Beijing, Guiyang, Lanzhou and Chengdu. In 2004, the agency set up its China Unit to manage programme expansion.

Programmes in Mainland China focus on:

  • rural community development
  • livelihood improvement
  • emergency relief
  • gender equity
  • advocacy
  • basic education
  • small-scale infrastructure (such as water systems for drinking and irrigation)
  • health care improvement
  • NGO development

 

AWARDS
Oxfam’s poverty alleviation work has been widely recognised and supported by various institutions, media organisations, and government departments. Main awards include:

2010: Oxfam Hong Kong receives Philanthropic Organization Award in Mainland China
2009: Received “China Awards Charity Achievement-Corporate/Agency Category” jointly by China Report magazine (Zhongguo Baodao) and Hongqi Huakan Magazine
2008: Oxfam Trailwalker nominated for Rhino Award (environmentalism)
2004: On 17 October, the International Day of Poverty Eradication, Oxfam Executive Director received the Endeavour Prize at the first China Poverty Alleviation Awards by Nanfengchuang magazine
2003: Awarded with the Poverty Alleviation Prize by Nanfengchuang magazine
2001: Oxfam Hong Kong’s work was recognised in the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development’s White Paper on “The Development of China’s Rural Poverty Alleviation”

 

Tags: China