The country's leading NGO has vowed to increase its capacity-building efforts to help reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development for the poor.

Wang Xingzui, executive director of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) said capacity building (developing human skills and societal infrastructures) and development-oriented projects were now the focus of its work strategy.

He said the shift was designed to support government efforts to provide a minimum standard of living for the country's 21.6 million rural poor who are currently surviving on less than 638 yuan (US$82.60) a year.

Gao Hongbin, deputy director of the State Council Leading Group on Poverty Alleviation and Development said that a further 90 million people were living on between 638 and 1,000 yuan, which is internationally regarded as the poverty line.

"NGOs have an important role to play in supporting the government in areas where it has previously not performed well," Gao said at a meeting of the CFPA in Beijing yesterday.

They can help poor communities with capacity building to improve their living standards, he said.

Despite Wang's comments, the majority of the country's near 300,000 NGOs and nonprofitable organizations are struggling to survive.

"Their life expectancy is determined by the terms of their programs or the amount of donations they receive," Wang said.

"Only by providing transparent management and financial systems can NGOs achieve sustainable development.

"An NGO's lifeline is its credibility. Benefactors will only trust you when they know how their money is being used," Wang said.

Last year, the CFPA generated 240 million yuan (about US$31 million), up 31.7 percent on 2005. In 2006, its key programs involved 235 counties, 423 universities and provided support to 533,600 people, up 8.2 percent on 2005.

(China Daily April 13, 2007)