Poverty alleviation policies have given households some hope, directorof the Social Assistance System Strengthening Project (SASSP) Dang KimChung told Hai Quan Cuoi Tuan (Customs Weekend).

*How do you evaluate the social assistance system?

Atpresent our country has many policies to support people in specialcircumstances. But our social security system needs to have widercoverage in line with the Party Resolution No 15. The document usesnational minimum living standards as the benchmark to decide who willreceive Government support.

However, many poor people have notbeen able to access the support. Current poverty alleviation policieshave played an important role in Government attitudes, for example thepolicy on healthcare for the poor or financial support for students ofpoor households, including those from ethnic minorities.

*Some people have complained about the poor coverage of our present social assistance system. What do you think?

Oursocial security coverage is rather comprehensive, but the weak point isits administration. This can be blamed on poor data. In somelocalities, data is produced electronically while in many others it isstill written on paper.

In addition, the monthly allowances givento people in special circumstances are administered by the provincialDepartment of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and offices of othersectors. I think it is time to use an independent agency to do this.

Regardingthe coverage of the present social-security system, I just want to say,it depends very much on the capacity of the national economy. That'swhy our social support policy at the moment only focuses on people inspecial circumstances.

*What should we do to overcome the situation?

Thefirst thing to do is to change the administration system so it canrespond to the new situation. The new system must be connected from thecentre down to localities and information must be shared between theMinistry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and concerned agencies.

I'm confident when this system is in place, it will make social security policy more effective.

Inaddition, it will enable us to separate management from payments, inline with the objectives of transparency and accountability.

*Do you think the Social Assistance System Strengthening Project will help overcome these limitations?

Ihope the project will help us improve the situation. However, theproject is just a pilot. With lessons learned from the project we'll beable to scale up in the future.

Poor households, especially thosewith children under 15 years, pregnant women and ethnic people facingdifficult circumstances are the main targets for the project. The keyobjective of the project will be to integrate, step by step,social-support policies into a family assistance package; to develop anational data system, including data about poor households and peoplereceiving monthly support from the Government.

The project willfocus on investing in children's healthcare and education. Anothercomponent will be poverty alleviation. This will include generating jobsfor people able to work.

Last but not least, the project has aproposal on protecting human rights among the poor so that they candemand their basic needs will be met.-VNA