Guizhou poverty relief project for women promoted nationally

China's Southwest Guizhou province has run a handicraft program since 2013, helping more than 500,000 women get work and shake off their poverty by making embroidery, according to a news conference held on July 7 for the upcoming 2021 Eco Forum Global Guiyang.

The Eco Forum Global Guiyang is an annual event held in Guizhou's provincial capital of Guiyang. This year it will take place on July 12-13 and include a themed forum focusing on the contributions made by women to low-carbon and green development.

The annual handicraft project, also known as the Jinxiu Initiative, has generated an output value of more than 6 billion yuan ($926.2 million) over the past three years. It was cited as a success story in the All-China Women's Federation's report on China's experience in poverty alleviation for women, which was handed to the United Nations.

According to Yang Xiaoman, Party secretary and chairwoman of the Guizhou Women's Federation, women are key to economic development, green production and green consumption.

It is widely thought that during the process of new industrialization, urbanization, agricultural modernization and tourism industrialization, women can contribute to the transformation of economic development – helping to save the consumption of resources, reducing polluting emissions and helping the nation's move towards creating an ecological civilization.

It is expected that the Jinxiu Initiative will be promoted through this year's Eco Forum Global, so as to boost rural revitalization and green rural development.