When our Chinese partner ‘Taiping Life’, together with their major shareholder China Taiping, set out to support impoverished communities of Yu’an in Anhui and Liangdang County in Gansu Province, they launched a range of different initiatives. They offered for instance economic assistance through the purchase and subsequent sale of locally produced agricultural products through their agency sales channel. And they provided practical support in the field of education and accessible insurance.
There is plenty of evidence around the world that education is an important factor in alleviating poverty as it helps local communities to help themselves. By developing their essential skills, residents of local communities in need can emerge better equipped and better able to support their families. But what is often missing is the opportunity to do just that, and that is where Taiping Life came in. Taiping Life provided essential skills and vocational training to more than 370 local government employees and close to 1,000 technicians. This included upgrading the vocational skills of residents whilst also developing the management skills of government officials. In addition, scholarships were provided to secondary school students.
Taiping Life also took the step to work on the ground in these communities, seconding staff to these areas to work in the alleviation of poverty, as well as providing access to insurance products designed to reduce poverty due to sickness.