Group photo of guests at Tsinghua Public Welfare Poverty Alleviation Forum offline venue

On 7th November, Tsinghua Forum on Public Welfare and Poverty Alleviation was held in the reception hall of Tsinghua University's main building. The forum was hosted by Tsinghua School of Public Policy & Management (SPPM), organized by Institute for Philanthropy Tsinghua University (IPTU) and the Institue of Sustainable Development Goals of Tsinghua University (TUSDG), and supported by China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and CICC Charity Foundation. The forum is an important part of the Global Advisory Board (GAB) of SPPM in 2020, and is also one of the series of activities for the 20th anniversary of SPPM.

Focusing on the theme of poverty alleviation in public welfare, the forum aims to share China's poverty alleviation experience and stories, summarize China's theory and practice of poverty alleviation in public welfare, and discuss the role and contribution of China's poverty alleviation cause to the world's poverty alleviation process and the realization of the United Nations SDGs. The opening ceremony of the forum was hosted by Professor Peng Zongchao, Secretary of the Party Committee of SPPM, Tsinghua University.

Professor Jiang Xiaojuan, Dean of the SPPM, Tsinghua University, Yang Xinping, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of CICC, and Mohammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen bank, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and member of the GAB, delivered speeches respectively.

Speech by Jiang Xiaojuan

In her speech, Jiang Xiaojuan thanked all the guests and CICC and CICC Charity Foundation for their support. She pointed out that poverty is an enduring problem that accompanies the development of human society, and China's fight against poverty has made great contributions to global poverty reduction and has been committed to global cooperation in poverty reduction. Over the past 20 years since its establishment, the SPPM at Tsinghua University has been committed to solving real-life problems in national development, including poverty alleviation and rural revitalisation, through talent training and scientific research.

Speech by Yang Xinping

Yang Xinping delivered a speech on behalf of CICC, CEO Huang Zhaohui and CICC Charity Foundation. She proposed that party leadership and government responsibility are the structural support and core of poverty governance, and the fundamental guarantee for the effectiveness of poverty reduction; social participation, including enterprises, is an important complement to the cause of poverty eradication and the main body of participation. CICC adheres to the core values of the enterprise, adheres to the core connotation of corporate social responsibility, and established CICC Charity Foundation to focus on education in poverty-stricken areas, form a whole-chain help system, and block the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

Speech by Muhammad Yunus

In his speech, Muhammad Yunus pointed out that the creation of structural poverty is systemic and social. Poor people have the same qualifications as everyone else, and just as the seeds of a tree grow in a pot and on the ground with completely different results, the poor need nourishing soil for their own development. The pandemic has given the world a chance to reflect and bold action is needed.

Peng Zongchao presided over the opening ceremony

During the keynote speeches, Wu Hongbo, Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs, Co-Director of TUSDG, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and member of the GAB, Lu Mai, Vice Chairman of the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), and member of the GAB, Li Xiaoyun, Professor of Liberal Arts and Senior Chair of the China Agricultural University (CAU), Honorary Dean of the College of International Development and Global Agriculture and Wan Yiting, president of Tomorrow Advancing Life delivered the keynote speeches respectively.

Speech by Wu Hongbo 

Wu Hongbo delivered a keynote speech entitled "Achievements and Challenges of Public Welfare Poverty Alleviation". He pointed out that China's fight against poverty and global cooperation in poverty reduction have been highly recognised by the United Nations. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the economy, employment, education, etc., and has posed a major challenge to the realisation of the vision and commitments of the sustainable development agenda. In the grand poverty alleviation pattern, social organisations and corporate public welfare are the right-hand men of the government, and public welfare poverty alleviation is close to the needs of the society, innovative in poverty alleviation mode, and promotes poverty alleviation for all.

Speech by Lu Mai 

Lu Mai delivered a keynote speech entitled "Combined efforts of all parties to help fight poverty". He introduced the innovations and experiences of the government, social organizations, enterprises and academia in forming joint efforts to reduce poverty. In the field of education, the "Village Kindergarten Programme" and the "Wisdom Education China Project" are designed to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

Speech by Li Xiaoyun

Li Xiaoyun delivered a keynote speech entitled "Small Public Welfare, Big Impact". He used the poverty alleviation practice of Hebian Village as a case study to illustrate that the small public welfare of a social organisation with only three people can have a big impact: A village that has long been in deep poverty, Hebian Village in Yunnan Province, through a series of social experiments such as developing new industries, improving the living environment, building infrastructure, upgrading capacity, pre-school education, and developing a composite industrial system, has come out with a very distinctive road out of poverty.

Speech by Wan Yiting

Wan Yitian delivered a keynote speech entitled "Love and technology make education better". He introduced the progress of public welfare mode of Tomorrow Advancing Life as a private enterprise to play its role and help the cause of poverty alleviation, striving to be used, used well, used for a long time, and used accurately. Tomorrow Advancing Life will join hands with various forces to face rural revitalisation and take rural education as a hand to help consolidate the results of poverty alleviation and establish a long-term mechanism to solve relative poverty, so as to create a better future for education.

Moderated by Zhu Xufeng

The keynote speech session of the forum was moderated by Professor Zhu Xufeng, Associate Dean of SPPM and Executive Director of TUSDG.

Round-table discussion

The roundtable discussion session of the forum was moderated by Professor Deng Guosheng, Associate Dean of SPPM, Vice Director of Institute for Philanthropy Tsinghua University, and Chariman of the Academic Committee. Focusing on the practice, experience and trend of China's public welfare poverty alleviation, Deng Xiaodong, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and Mayor of Guzhang County, Hunan Province, Pema Yangjin, President of the Tibet Autonomous Region Mother and Child Health Care Association, Yang Jie, General Manager of the CSR Department of Beijing ByteDance, Wang Xingmian, Executive Vice President of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), and Zhou Shaojie, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and Associate Professor of the SPPM, took part in the round-table discussion.

Deng Guosheng made a summary of the conference

Finally, Deng Guosheng summarized the speeches of all the guests and expressed his thanks to all the guests and audience. The forum was held synchronously by on-site forum, online meeting and webcast respectively. According to statistics, more than 1,500 people attended the meeting online.