Panda Pack learning project helps children

Panda Pack Project, launched in China to improve the basic learning conditions for primary school pupils in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative region, has benefited 569,000 children by the end of last month, according to an official of China's top anti-poverty agency.

Since the project launched in February 2019, it has invested 58.26 million yuan ($8,9 million) to provide sufficient learning supplies to primary school students in more than 10 countries in Asia and Africa, said Su Guoxia, spokesperson for the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

"The project strengthened the friendship and connectivity between China and beneficiary countries," Su said.

She explained the package on Tuesday during the Dialogue on China's Poverty Reduction Experience, an online sub-forum of the International Forum on Sharing Poverty Reduction Experience.

"Co-launched by China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and Alibaba Philanthropy, the package is a public welfare activity without fiscal support," Su said.

Given the increasing need of sanitary supplies to combat COVID-19 this year, the pack adds facial masks and disinfectants to the regular supplies in addition to school bags, stationery, and other daily necessities.

The project is part of the foundation's efforts to help poverty reduction in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative region. By the end of last year, the foundation has invested 200 million yuan in poverty reduction projects in 24 countries, which involved 900,000 people.

According to the World Bank, China has lifted around 800 million people out of extreme poverty and destitution from 1978 to 2018, accounting for more than 70 percent of the world's total during that period.

China's experience will serve as an example for the rest of the world, Vladimir Norov, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said at the forum.