OREANDA-NEWS. September 05, 2013. Citibank (China) Co. Ltd. ("Citi China") and Humana People to People ("HPP") unveiled an achievement exhibition of Citi Wanzhou Rural Micro Enterprise Development Program ("Wanzhou Program") in Chongqing to celebrate the success of the three-year program. Meanwhile, Citi announced its continuous support to HPP to conduct a similar program in Chongqing's Haokou township of Wulong county starting January 2014, helping 1,500 local households (about 6,000 individuals) to increase their income level.

Supported by the Citi Foundation, the Wanzhou program, implemented by HPP in cooperation with Wanzhou District Poverty Alleviation and Development Office, has provided up to 1,853 household enterprises (7,096 individuals) from five villages with technical and field trainings on sustainable agricultural production and animal husbandry in the past two and half years, to achieve the objective of increasing their income levels while generating "triple bottom-line" economic, environmental and social benefits.

Through an effective and sustainable model of training local farmers to become skilled farming instructors, establishing farmer's clubs to conduct systematic training and support activities, the Wanzhou program equipped local farmers with knowledge and skill sets to become community leaders so the local community's capacity is greatly enhanced and sustained, resulting in greater impact to benefit more marginalized farmers. Since early 2011, a total of 127 training sessions have been conducted for 19,561 farmers cumulatively, helping 70% of program household enterprises increase their average annual income by 30%.

Other highlights of the Wanzhou program include providing fruit and nut trees to 120 household enterprises for free to further generate an estimated additional annual profit of at least RMB 920,000 for 20 years when trees are in full production, and establishing community development funds to support 62 income generating sub-projects, bringing additional 10% of income increase to 847 participating families.

Andrew Au, Chairman and CEO of Citi China, said, "The Citi Foundation supports the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low-to-moderate-income people, and adopts a results-oriented measurement framework to assess the impact of the programs we fund. We are delighted to see the progress made in Wanzhou and believe the tangible results generated are strong testaments to the success of the program design and rationale, and we are therefore inspired to replicate the model to support another program in Haokou of Wulong where we are confident to receive the same level of success."

It is also announced today that Citi will continue to support HPP to conduct another program - "Citi-HPP Chongqing Rural Micro Enterprise Development Program" - in Haokou township of Wulong county in Chongqing. Supported by the Citi Foundation, the program aims to help 1,500 households (about 6,000 individuals) in six villages to increase their income levels through a sustainable rural community development model including income generation and financial skills training, intensifying agricultural production, introducing new farming methods, increasing returns through value chain analysis as well as increasing financial access. The Citi Foundation's grant will be used to build capacity in the community and establish revolving funds in the target villages, where farmers will get access to capital to increase production and support income generating activities. The program will also increase the self-confidence and interactivity among farmers through teaching farmers to support each other in community based Farmers' Clubs.

Michael Hermann, country representative for HPP China, said, "HPP China engages in the concrete struggle of poverty side by side with the impoverished people. We join forces with the Poor, as well as enlist governments and other stakeholders locally and abroad in a collective effort to transform their lives and eradicate poverty in the long run. For three years the villagers of Wanzhou, the local government, Citi and HPP have become effective and proactive partners to identify ways to improve disadvantaged villagers' lives, their skills and income as well as raise their aspirations. We are grateful of Citi's support as well as government agencies who are instrumental to our project's success. We look forward to the continuous collaboration in Wulong so more impoverished people can benefit".

With ethnic minority accounting for up to 36.25% of the total population, Haokou township is one of the poorest townships in Chongqing. According to the local Poverty Alleviation Office 2012 annual report, out of the total population, about 70-80% are in low-income and 48% are in poverty. Haokou also shares similar geographical conditions with Wanzhou, located in the north of Wulingshan Mountains with many deep river valleys, the typical Karst topography.