Approximately 95,000 Chinese mothers in 28 provincial areas have received financial support from the Happiness Program, launched five years ago to promote family-based poverty-reduction activities.
The total number of people that have benefited from the program has exceeded 400,000, a conference was told Tuesday in Beijing.
A total of 120 million yuan has been distributed and 85 percent of the recipients have risen above the poverty line, according to the organization.
The program was launched in February 1995 by the China Population Welfare Fund in cooperation with other organizations.
It has been offering small sums of money to poor mothers in rural China in a bid to help them undertake small-scale farming and processing business.
The fund also provided free skill training and free medical services for financially-laden mothers.
A conference was held on October 18 in Beijing on the achievements of the program, and was attended by 10 mothers involved in the program, and He Luli, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
(People's Daily 10/18/2000)
