The 2017 China Poverty Reduction International Forum was held on May 26 in Beijing. This event has attracted more than 100 participants from 7 countries, including officials, experts as well as representatives from international organizations, academia, business and NGOs. They had a series of in-depth discussions on how to develop poverty alleviation cases and share China’s experience, in order to help other developing countries find their way out of poverty.
The theme of the forum was “Developing and Sharing Governance Solutions to Reduce Poverty”. Innovative tools were introduced along with examples of successful progress. These highlighted experience in China and elsewhere from different perspectives.
The forum was co-hosted by the China Internet Information Center (CIIC), International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Asian Development Bank (ADB). It was jointly organized by China.org.cn, China Development Gateway, and Ada Technology (Beijing), while supported by Red Fortune (Beijing) Investment Management.
Last year’s forum saw the formal launch of the Global Poverty Reduction & Inclusive Growth Portal (GPIG). Initiated by the World Bank and supported by ADB, the GPIG portal is co-hosted and co-managed by IPRCC and CIIC.
Following a year of development, the portal is now supported by a strong network of contributors, promoting knowledge-sharing online and offline. It brings together information from different sources in a standardized way. By hosting, organizing, managing or delivering online and offline events, the portal promotes international cooperation and capacity building activities, contributing to the successful achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
GPIG’s launch of Global Poverty Reduction Online Knowledge Sharing Database was a highlight of the forum. The database classifies and translates a large number of poverty reduction cases from both China and the international community. Designed for worldwide users, its systematic presentation of poverty alleviation cases is unprecedented. Applying tree diagrams, it provides a clear picture of how China and other international bodies address the problem, focusing in particular on cases which are highly replicable in a technical sense. To facilitate social participation, the platform contains a guide to help users upload cases in standard templates, turning GPIG from an information sharer into a producer.
FAO, together with CIIC, has released a video named Think Innovatively for Poverty Reduction, exploring new measures to promote knowledge-sharing in support of the cause. The video urges to reduce rural poverty through innovative ways such as e-commerce, story-telling sessions, online live broadcasts and celebrity support, in the Internet Plus era.
Guo Weimin, Vice Minister of State Council Information Office, said that China’s experiences in poverty alleviation are part of the spiritual heritage of humanity. With 700 million people living in poverty worldwide, China should take creative approaches to telling its stories, so as to establish a platform for knowledge-sharing between China and the international community. He also emphasized the role of ICTs in poverty alleviation, saying that the Global Poverty Reduction Online Knowledge Sharing Database is a typical example.
