A document entitled The Opinion on Further Improvement on the Poor Support System has been released by China’s State Council on the 10th of February. The document points out that it is necessary to ensure the basic livelihoods of the poor and improve the systems of social support. It also encourages social organizations to provide impoverished people with voluntary services, services bought from the government and charitable donations, creating a harmonious environment in which the whole of society cares for the poor and gets involved in helping them. If poor people need to be looked after at home, the government can ask their relatives, friends, social organizations or organizations offering social work services to provide them with daily care, nursery care and other services after receiving their approval.
Furthermore, it is highly recommended that the government and private capital cooperate with each other by applying the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode to establish social support and service institutions. The government should buy more social service projects from social organizations and implement financial subsidies and tax preferences, leading NGOs and social service institutions to provide specialized and personalized services for impoverished people. Social organizations are also supposed to assume their responsibilities so as to enhance the quality of their services.
