In the final days of the year, we visited Huổi Khương village of Nà Bủng border commune. There are no longer dusty earth roads, but smooth concrete routes connecting the commune center to the village. This is one of the most vivid proofs of the effectiveness of Project 4 under the National Target Program for Socio-economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas (Program 1719). With an investment resource of over VND 1,690 billion in the 2021 - 2025 period, the province has deployed 525 essential infrastructure works, of which 264 transport works were hardened. Solid roads help people travel conveniently and transport highland agricultural products to lowland markets and neighboring provinces.

Talking to Sùng Thị Ly, a resident of Huổi Khương village, Nà Bủng commune, it is known that in August 2025, her family received support of VND 50 million from the capital source of Project 5 under the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. Along with saved money, the family built a spacious wooden house. Currently, her family has a spacious house and no longer has to live in a dilapidated temporary house as before. Her husband also feels secure going to work in Bắc Ninh province with a regular income, so life is much more stable than before.

Implementing Program 1719 in the 2021 - 2025 period, Nà Bủng commune was allocated VND 43.02 billion. Of which, development investment capital was VND 20.75 billion, implementing investment for 5 projects and 9 cultural houses; non-business capital was VND 13.26 billion, implementing 23 projects, including 9 projects supporting production development. The projects have contributed to developing infrastructure in the commune area. Models and projects supporting production development are proving effective, step-by-step changing the awareness, way of thinking, and way of doing in production development of the People, contributing to raising income and improving lives.

One of the bright spots in implementing support policies for ethnic minority areas in the province is the social policy credit capital of Project 1 under Program 1719. The capital source directly helped 3,312 households with funds to build houses, 12 households with residential land, and 30 households successfully change professions. Instead of just waiting for “free” support from the State as before, people have proactively borrowed capital and contributed working days to build houses, creating a solid foundation to “settle down and thrive”.

In the economic field, Project 3 under Program 1719 has formed high-value production linkage chains. With 110 projects linking the planting of macadamia, coffee, and cinnamon, and 338 community production projects, the program has helped people switch from outdated farming to commodity agriculture.

To deploy national target programs, Điện Biên province established steering committees from the provincial to the grassroots level. With the involvement of the entire political system and promoting the role of heads, legal bottlenecks were gradually removed through 13 resolutions of the People’s Council and 18 decisions of the provincial People’s Committee. The total mobilized capital for Program 1719 alone reached an impressive level: over VND 4,510 billion, of which the local counterpart budget was VND 366,174 million, 182% higher than the assigned plan.

Efficiency from program projects has contributed to promoting the province’s socio-economic development. Per capita income has improved, and the poverty rate of the whole province decreased to about 17.66%. The ethnic minority area recorded an average poverty reduction of 5.85%/year, exceeding the target of 5%/year assigned by the Government.

Although achievements have been made, the deployment of national target programs in Điện Biên still faces many difficulties. For national target programs to truly become the “key” opening the future for the Điện Biên highlands, in the 2026 - 2030 period, the province has proposed many breakthrough contents. Among them, it proposed integrating 3 national target programs into 1 common program named: “National target program for socio-economic development in difficult and extremely difficult areas”. Regarding financial mechanisms, it suggested the Central government shift strongly from “pre-check” to “post-check”, assigning targets and total capital sources for the whole period, allowing localities to proactively allocate and flexibly adjust between investment capital and non-business capital. At the same time, proposing to adjust the capital structure towards increasing investment capital (80% - 90%) and reducing non-business capital (10% - 20%). For difficult provinces receiving over 70% of Central budget support, it is suggested to abolish the mandatory regulation on local counterpart capital. Besides, expanding support beneficiaries to include fair and good economic households in ethnic minority areas, so these households act as “locomotives”, leading and sharing experiences with poor households in production linkage chains.

The deployment of national target programs in Điện Biên has lit up remote villages and brought faith in a warm and full life. Despite many challenges, with the involvement of the entire political system and the consensus of the people, national target programs will continue to be the motivation to make Điện Biên a bright spot in hunger eradication and poverty reduction.