Guizhou's grassroots anti-poverty strategy hailed

Poverty reduction efforts should not be limited to large-scale development, and examples such as Southwest China's Guizhou province suggest that more localized and people-centered approaches could offer an alternative pathway, delivering more inclusive outcomes beyond traditional growth-led models, an international scholar has said.

Although international institutions and economists often emphasize promoting economic growth through ways such as scaling up, technological progress and urbanization, there is no single pathway to global poverty reduction, according to John Donaldson, an associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University.

Using Guizhou's earlier development experience as a key example, Donaldson highlighted an approach centered on supporting small and localized businesses that directly benefits rural communities, underscoring that "small works" can reduce poverty at a more sustainable pace of economic growth.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at a seminar titled "Sufficiency for All – Exploring Small-Scale, Low-Tech, Pro-Poor Initiatives" hosted by the Center for Contemporary China Studies at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Donaldson said that one of the measures Guizhou took was building dirt roads to link villages with small towns, which not only opened up access to markets for rural areas but also created more opportunities for locals to seek employment elsewhere.

"If you're a farmer that connects you to the marketing town. You can buy inputs, you can get a better understanding of the market, you're much more connected," he said.

"You can have a better knowledge of migration and job opportunities and other things like that."

In addition, to support local residents seeking employment elsewhere, Guizhou authorities provided adult vocational education to help workers improve their job skills, while also offering follow-up support and assistance.

Donaldson noted that Guizhou set up offices in coastal cities to support migrant workers by helping them build networks and access housing and job opportunities.

In developing its tourism sector, Guizhou did not follow a large-scale, centralized model such as building five-star hotels, but instead adopted a more inclusive approach that allows visitors to stay with local residents and become part of community life, thereby enabling tourism revenue to flow more directly to rural households, the scholar pointed out.

Donaldson's research is grounded in his two decades of fieldwork in China, covering politics, rural development and poverty, and extended to comparative studies across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.

Through his research, he found that similar approaches have been used not only in China, but also in countries such as Singapore and Barbados to create jobs and increase incomes.

Donaldson told China Daily that what matters in poverty reduction is not simply copying or replicating successful models like Guizhou in other parts of the world, but in the broader approach behind them, noting that this "is really a central question of everything" he has been studying.

"The spirit behind the model, low-tech, small-scale, I'm arguing, can be seen in every corner of the world," he said, adding that similar examples can be found even in Australia, including in areas such as microbreweries and farming.

The Guizhou model should not be copied in terms of the specific ways it was implemented, but "you could think about it like a buffet table," he said, adding that "there are lots of things that fall within the spirit of this idea, and then whatever might work in a particular of context, you could apply".

Donaldson said he has seen many examples where the approach works, which reinforces his belief in this pathway to poverty reduction.