By Muskan Naveed ISLAMABAD, Nov 02 (INP-WealthPK): China has achieved a monumental feat. The Chinese government announced the total eradication of extreme poverty in the country as the year 2021 rolled out. China lifted nearly 100 million people – those below the poverty threshold – out of poverty. But how was the country able to achieve this historic task and can Pakistan learn something from China’s strategies? Poverty in China With the extreme poverty line of US$1.90 a day (according to World Bank’s standard), the global poverty has declined from 36.2% in 1990 to 8.7% in 2018. China has been responsible for more than 60% of the decline in global poverty. Following the US$1.90 poverty line, data suggests that poverty is now below 0.5% in the country – meaning China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty since 1980. Poverty alleviation has been an important agenda of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Ever since 1980s, the Chinese government has been taking active steps to fight poverty, such as setting up departments to identify the poor, the seven-year poverty eradication plan and the Dibao unconditional cash transfer programme. China had around US$100 million people living below the poverty line, spread over 128,000 villages and 832 counties. The Chinese government rolled out the poverty eradication campaign and has spent over US$80 billion in various relocation programs, creation of new houses, buildings of infrastructure – all aimed at eradicating poverty. China’s strategy for poverty elimination CPC had been steadfast in its mission of eliminating extreme poverty from the country and the dedication and commitment of the government is cited to be a major factor. Without the institutional support from the government, it is near impossible to achieve the feat that China did. The first step China took was setting a clear poverty eradication goal – ending extreme poverty by 2020. Second, before implementing the strategy, the government deployed a high number of personnel to survey households and identify those who are poor besides identifying the causes of their poverty. Moreover, the personnel were also tasked with getting attached with households to continue monitoring their poverty progress. China employed a targeted poverty alleviation strategy through which the government was able to identify different groups of poor in accordance with the root cause of their poverty and implement differentiated poverty strategies for them. The differentiated strategy was also known as the “Five Batch Strategy”. The poor were classified into five batches, with each batch being lifted out of poverty through a different process. People were divided into batches based on their need for industrial development, education, relocation, economic compensation and social security. China also set up a seven institutions system to ensure the seamless implementation of the strategy. The seven institutions targeted a system for accountability, policy, investment, assistance, social mobilization, supervision and assessment. This ensured that the poverty alleviation campaign did not lag in implementation. And hence, the country was able to achieve Lessons for Pakistan The strategy of China has proven to be valuable for countries around the globe; however, Pakistan can benefit more from it. Rural poverty was rampant in China which was also correlated with dependance on agriculture. Pakistan, being a largely agrarian economy with a huge chunk of poor rural population, can learn innumerable lessons from China. First and foremost, the government’s commitment and dedication to poverty eradication is what will set off the process. Secondly, accurate data regarding the poor population of Pakistan and the causes of their poverty. Moreover, policies cannot ever work with the “one size fits all” approach. The government needs to replicate the differentiated model of China for Pakistan in order to target each of the different groups of poor in the country. Lastly, as crucial as planning is the success of a project is largely rooted in the successful implementation. Hence, the Pakistani government needs to employ a strategy similar to China’s seven institutions program to ensure the implementation.