Editor's note
There is no doubt that grassroots governance needs to shift the focus of service downward, and more resources such as human, financial, and material sink. But the party committee and the government are undesirable. Grass-roots affairs are cumbersome and complicated, and residents’ needs are fragmented and diverse. Public investment is always limited, and staff's energy and abilities are also limited. Relying on relevant departments alone cannot manage or manage them well. At present, some places talk about strengthening grassroots governance, only asking people for money and equipment. If they can’t meet the requirements, they think that there is nowhere to start the work, let them go to all kinds of problems, and fall into the misunderstanding of high-cost governance. This has brought many ills, such as a sudden increase in financial burdens, complicated work processes, and frequent contradictions. At the same time, it has promoted the bad tendency of right and wrong, leading to the proliferation of bureaucracy and formalism, and it is difficult for ordinary people to feel the sense of gain.
Can you do big things with a small amount of money? The Banyuetan editorial department organized reporters to conduct interviews in many provinces and cities, sorting out and summarizing some practices with low cost and good results, in order to provide reference and inspiration for solving the problems of grassroots governance.
1
Crowdfunding of properties in old communities
2 cents per square meter, there is a balance at the end of the year
Half a month talk about reporter Zhai Zhuo
At present, the daily management of most urban communities depends on property companies, and the property fee is generally about 2 yuan per square meter. In Qinyuan Community, Jiefang District, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, the service fee here (the service fee is called service fee, which is equivalent to the property fee because no property company has been established) is 2 cents per square meter. "The magnificent transformation from the courtyard to the beautiful courtyard. How did this community do it?
The Qinyuan community is close to the railway station. It used to have outdated infrastructure, a messy environment, and many hidden dangers for local people to avoid it. In 2014, the liberated area initiated the construction of "beautiful buildings and courtyards" and invested funds to remediate these old communities. However, the government's aid funds can only meet temporary needs. Zou Jiafen, director of the Community Office of the Liberated Area, said: "The masses are subject to discussion, and the masses are subject to the masses."
Under the guidance of the Zhandong Community Party Organization in Jiaonan Subdistrict, Qinyuan Community established a Resident Council in 2016. More than 100 household representatives voted to elect 12 people as members of the Resident Council, starting the road of residents' autonomy.
The old community cannot attract property companies, and the council is determined to set up public accounts and manage itself. After the council accounted for the gate, cleaning, water and electricity, and greening expenses of the community, the service fee was finally determined at 2 cents per square meter.
Wang Yanqiu, the person in charge of the residents’ council of Qinyuan Community, calculated an account for Banyue Tan reporters: "Each household can charge a service fee of more than 50,000 yuan per year based on an area of about 120 square meters. There are nearly 100 parking spaces in the community. According to the charging standard of 1 yuan per day for parking, we can earn about 30,000 yuan a year. Don’t underestimate the 80,000 yuan. This money has solved many practical problems for our community."
Out of the 80,000 yuan, gate guard and cleaning expenses accounted for the bulk. In order to save costs, the council decided to hire residents in the community to undertake these two tasks. Seeing the recruitment notice posted at the gate of the community, the three retired elders Xu Xiangcheng, Kong Xiangan, and Ma Heping couldn't sit still: "Not only can we serve the residents of the community, but we also have extra income. We are willing to do this."
Qinyuan Community became the first old community in Jiaozuo City to refit elevators
Saving a sum is a sum, which is the key to the healthy operation of the Qinyuan community service fee every year. At the beginning of the reconstruction of the community, in order to beautify the environment, the residents council decided to purchase some ginkgo trees and walnut trees. After several inquiries, the price still cannot satisfy everyone. Liu Zhengping, a member of the residents’ council, stood up: “I heard that the nursery stocks and flowers in Huojia County are cheap, but it’s far from here. Would you like to go and see?” Wang Yanqiu took four or five council members and ran around. After more than 100 kilometers, the cheap ginkgo and walnut trees were pulled back. "Running back and forth seems to be troublesome, but it saves nearly 3,000 yuan in the public accounts of the community."
Speaking of such low-cost and high-yield saving measures, almost every member of the Qinyuan Community Residents’ Council opened their mouths.
"With the joint efforts of everyone, there will be a balance of more than 80,000 yuan at the end of the year. The remaining money is evenly distributed to each account, which can offset the service fee that needs to be paid the following year." Wang Yanqiu said. In order to ensure the fairness and transparency of the use of funds, the residents council will announce the use of accounts at the end of each year, allowing every resident in the community to supervise.
"If you have any problems, go to the Council, and if you have any difficulties, go to the Council Garden." This is a jingle that everyone in Qinyuan District can recite. Today, the Qinyuan Community Resident Council has grown from 12 members to 20 members. They are responsible for community security, conflict mediation, public health, duty patrols, medical consultation, preschool education, etc. The mass autonomy has achieved remarkable results.
2
Community parents hold group together
With a little government support, children are no longer alone
Half a month to talk about reporter Mao Zhenhua
It was raining outside the window. 9 children from different families, aged three or four years old, sat with their parents in the free activity room provided by the community, and listened attentively to the story of Mingming’s mother’s "Fantastic School Bus Flying with Dinosaurs" Whispered.
"Today Mr. Curly's class was drawing a dinosaur. But Dorothy drew her pet Dinah. Ralph told her that Dinah is a bird, not a dinosaur. Who is right..."
This is a parent-child story meeting organized by the "Rainbow Bridge-Group Raising Home" in TEDA Street, Binhai New District, Tianjin. Similar scenes will be staged almost every weekend before the epidemic, and most of the venues are provided by the community for free. Children of similar ages walked out of the house, gathered together, listened to stories, played games, and performed talents, and enjoyed themselves for a few hours.
The timeline returns to the afternoon of the parent-child story meeting. After the story is told, there are performances and games. The puzzle team competition is not a small challenge for children of this age. Some children pouted because others were fighting faster than themselves, and some children jogged into their mother's arms and cried because of their hard work. Even so, towards the end, the children gathered in front of Mingming's mother, the organizer of this session: "Auntie, can we play this game again next time?" His eyes flashed with expectation.
"Rainbow Bridge-Group Raising Home" was established in 2013. It originated from the simple wish of the founder Liu Lixin: Parents hug together, gather children together in their spare time, play together, educate, share parenting experiences, and let children no longer alone.
Initially, the parents selected one to two nights a week for the children to have activities together. One or two parents hosted the activities to guide the children to draw, cut paper, tell stories, sing songs, and increase time with their peers. After several activities, parents are delighted to find that some originally introverted children have begun to take the initiative to cut apples and move stools for their friends, and they can’t wait to share the fun when they return home. Many parents have a soaring sense of accomplishment and happiness.
The scale of "Rainbow Bridge-Group Raising Home" is getting bigger and bigger, and it needs larger space and more funds. After understanding about Tianjin Binhai New Area and TEDA Street, they supported them in applying for venture philanthropy projects and secured more platforms and funds to continue to strengthen the "group raising" model and expand from TEDA Street to more surrounding areas. For more than 6 years since its establishment, the society has sowed the seeds of love into more than 2,000 families.
Zhang Guosheng, deputy head of Tianjin Binhai New Area and secretary of the Taida Street Working Committee, said that the “Rainbow Bridge-Group Raising Home” model changed the residents of the jurisdiction from “social people” to “community people” after working 8 hours. While enriching the spiritual world of the children, it also brings more big friends together, develops from strangers to friends, and forms a harmonious relationship between people. The activities organized by the residents spontaneously were discovered and guided by the government in the development process. They did not need to invest too much resources, but they effectively solved the pain points of the people.
3
The empty nest elderly help each other
The village averages 10,000 yuan, and the elderly enjoy it
Half a month talk about reporter Xiang Kailai Lin Chao
When I walked into Jianghou Village, Fukou Town, Sha County, Fujian Province, I saw a picture of the countryside that was different from the traditional impression: in the Senior Activity Center, paintings and calligraphy works of the elderly with a little "childishness" can be seen everywhere. In several opened exercise books, it was written crookedly: "We old people are happy every day."
The words "We old people are happy every day" written by the elderly from the Elderly School in Sha County, Sanming City, Fujian Province. Photo by Lin Chao
Shaxian snacks are well-known throughout the country, and 80% of young adults go out to do snack business. This has led to many empty-nest elderly people in Shaxian rural areas and poor spiritual life for the elderly. But now changes have begun to happen.
The elderly in Jianghou Village excitedly told Banyue Tan reporters about the changes that have taken place in the village in the past three years. “In the past, everyone’s main leisure was chatting and dozing off under the big tree at the entrance of the village.” said 68-year-old Mao Mingji. Now she likes the health classes and gymnastics classes in the senior school, and especially likes team-playing softballs. Also tough.
Elderly School is a school built in June 2017 under the guidance of the Fujian Provincial Association for the Promotion of Lifelong Education for the whole people, bringing the idea of a university for the elderly to the countryside.
Although the social benefits are significant, the Elder Academy is a cheap project. "It's not all about money. The key lies in helping each other. It is easy to replicate and promote." said Feng Jinyu, director of Jianghou Village. "Last year, more than 30 courses were held, and a total of more than 10,000 yuan was spent."
More than 10,000 yuan can make the old life of the elderly in the village more colorful?
The top-level design reduces the difficulty of implementation of the senior school. Shaxian County issued the "Implementation Opinions on Innovating Lifelong Learning to Promote Home Health Care Services", and the deputy county head served as the group leader to set up a leading group to integrate resources. Most senior schools use existing happiness hospitals, health centers, and elementary school classrooms to share resources.
The faculty is to mobilize the strength of the village and at the same time give full play to the advantages of non-governmental cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan. Experts and scholars from both sides of the strait work together to cultivate a team of volunteer teachers who "serve the elderly". After training, a large number of retired teachers, civil servants, village cadres, and village leaders have mastered the relevant knowledge of "elderly education", and have become the backbone, basic and supplementary teams of teachers and managers in senior schools.
Chen Yi'an, founder of Fujian National Lifelong Education Promotion Association, said that in addition to necessary transportation expenses and meal allowances, teachers in senior schools do not receive additional tuition fees.
The daily management and activities adopt the “Community Elderly Care Model of Self-Learning and Mutual Aid Groups”, organizing the “Three Commons” activities of sharing learning, sharing meals, and companionship. Elderly people study courses together, eat lunch together and go out for activities, as companions, encourage each other.
According to Chen Yian, the cost of the meal was initially supported by the Provincial Civil Affairs Department, and then the support was stopped. The old people brought vegetables from home to share with everyone, or made dumplings and steamed buns together, and they were delicious and enjoyable. Meals cost only two to three yuan. "In fact, they don't care about what they eat, but they care about eating together and enjoying the happiness of everyone being together."
Today, Shaxian Elder School has opened nearly 40 schools, achieving full coverage of 12 townships and streets, benefiting more than 10,000 elderly people. Yang Xingzhong, secretary of the Shaxian County Party Committee, said that the old age school allows the empty-nest elderly to learn, enjoy and do something for the elderly, which stimulates the endogenous motivation of the rural elderly to provide for the elderly, and allows the elderly to enjoy their old age in mutual learning and mutual assistance. life.
4
Reorganization of manpower in the village
Volunteers for a few days per person in exchange for a clean village
Half a month talks reporter Min Zuntao Luo Chen
A year ago, the environmental condition of Zhutian Village, Huanglin Township, Yudu County, Jiangxi Province was still generally dirty, messy and poor. There were 11 villager groups in the village, 316 villagers, and only 65 households with good hygiene habits. There are only 27 households meeting the standard. "Many people can't even'sweep the snow before their doors', let alone maintain the environmental sanitation of the whole village." said Li Nanchang, party branch secretary of Zhutian Village.
There are many, wide-ranging, and large-scale work on the improvement of rural human settlements. It is obviously not enough to rely on only 6 village cadres and workers in the village. Xiao Weiping, deputy head of Huanglin Township, based in Zhutian Village, said: "The core of this work is to mobilize the masses, organize the masses, and rely on the masses."
Last year, after the election of the villagers’ congress, Zhutian village established a village council, with 5 respectable, fair and decent villagers serving as council members. The village council was given the leadership, supervision, innovation and long-term management of human settlement environment improvement. The function of protection.
What is the standard for a good living environment? What should the villagers do to meet the standards? Before carrying out rectification work, we must first establish norms and standards for the villagers.
In Zhutian Village, the villager group is the unit, and the public area sanitation rectification of this group is carried out first, and then the villagers council conducts on-site appraisal work. Each group selects 3 "clean star" households and 3 unclean households. The standard for rectification has been established.
However, this is only the first step, and the more important thing is to establish an effective long-term management and protection mechanism.
The villagers' council of Zhutian village organizes village sanitation cleaning
The lack of manpower for the improvement of human settlements has always been a problem. For example, choosing to hire people is a considerable expense for the village collective. In order to save costs as much as possible, Zhu Tiancun explored the establishment of a volunteer mechanism to fully utilize existing manpower and resources.
At the beginning, the source of volunteers was public welfare workers and policy villagers. There are 26 people in public welfare positions such as ecological forest rangers and women team leaders in the village. Based on 20% of their annual salary, they are converted into volunteer days at 80 yuan per day. The total number of volunteer days in the village is 124 days. Policy-oriented villagers include poor households with registered cards, low-income households, five-guarantee households, etc., except for those who are unable to work or other special circumstances. These villagers have mobilized volunteers for a total of 233 days.
With the protection of the volunteer mechanism, the living environment of Zhutian Village is getting better every day. But it is not enough. Everyone benefits from a better environment in the village, so volunteers should also participate. Beginning this year, Zhutian Village has promoted the nationwide volunteer system, and each villager has to undertake 5 volunteer days or 80 yuan per day, in order to mobilize all villagers to participate in the construction, co-governance and sharing of the living environment.
Free-range poultry farming has always been a pain point and difficulty in the improvement of rural human settlements. In order to separate humans and animals in public areas, Zhutian Village mobilized every villager to take two volunteers, 20 bamboos, and 160 yuan of funds to fulfill their obligations. In 3 months, more than 2,100 meters of fences were set up in the village. This project, which originally required more than 80,000 yuan, was completed at 6,500 yuan.
In addition, Zhutian Village also stipulated in the village regulations and the people's agreement that all residents of the village should pay 1 yuan per month as a sanitation fee for public areas. "After the villagers paid the money, on the one hand they were more conscious to maintain the sanitation of the public areas, and on the other hand they also spontaneously supervised the cleaning of the public areas, which played a two-way restraint." said He Jiangfeng, the chairman of the Zhutian Village Council, and the village is not only more beautiful now. , The hearts of the people are more unified.
The Zhutian Village Council organizes volunteers to carry out bamboo fence enclosures. The fences are provided free of charge based on local materials. Volunteers participate in the work spontaneously, which not only improves the environmental taste, but also realizes the separation of human, animal, and poultry.
5
Mass enthusiasm accumulates
One big bottle of shampoo, we sort out the garbage
Half a month talk about reporter Shao Kun
Early in the morning, Yang Fang, a cleaner in Sunpo Village, Taiping Town, Zoucheng City, Shandong Province, began door-to-door collection of garbage.
"The recyclables are put in the green bucket, and the non-recyclables are put in the blue bucket, and then weighed, scored by the villagers, and recorded in the notebook." Yang Fang said, 1 kg and 1 point are exchanged for rewards once a month With these points, villagers can exchange daily necessities. 20~40 points can be exchanged for a bag of organic fertilizer, 40~60 points can be exchanged for daily necessities such as shampoo and soap.
It’s time for the points to be exchanged for items. As soon as the environmental sanitation waste sorting management office in Beiqi Village, Xiangcheng Township, Zoucheng City opened its doors, villagers gathered around and said: "This time I have a lot of points. I want to exchange a bottle of detergent." "I want two. Bar of soap"...
In order to promote the classification of domestic waste in rural areas, Zoucheng has made a lot of exploration and made many detours. In the beginning, the government pushed the masses to do it, and arranged to arrange garbage sorting, and the cleaning staff increased their salary every month to collect them.
Bu Dexing, director of the Zoucheng City Appearance and Environment Maintenance Center, said: “At that time, banners were hung and TV was used for publicity. The town cadres paid for the villages and the village cadres contracted households. The town and village cadres were paid subsidies. The annual cost was about 4.3 million yuan. The classification work is still not effective."
Residents in Sunpo Village, Taiping Town, Zoucheng City put garbage in separate categories, and cleaners collect them separately
It is necessary to mobilize the masses to handle matters of the masses. After the start of the rubbish sorting exchange points model, the villagers’ enthusiasm for rubbish sorting increased, village officials did not have to pay subsidies, publicity expenses were reduced, the workload of cleaners was reduced, and the villagers gradually formed good hygiene habits.
The reporter of Banyuetan saw in Beiqi Village, the beautiful small village with simple houses, neat streets, and greenery with green trees and red flowers. Qi Shihu, secretary of the Beiqi Village Party Branch, said that at the beginning of last year, the village held a poverty alleviation mobilization meeting. More than 1,300 people in the village gathered in one venue. After the meeting, there was no piece of confetti or a cigarette butt on the ground.
In Zoucheng, rural waste is not only classified, but also used as a resource. Villagers classify domestic garbage into two categories: "decomposable" and "non-decomposable".
"Rotten" garbage is transported to the resource utilization station by the transporter, and the operator weighs and records the sent garbage. After pretreatment, the garbage is crushed, squeezed, dehydrated, and then put into fermentation equipment, and after 24 hours of fermentation, organic fertilizer is formed.
The village cleaners sorted the "non-rotful" garbage a second time, and then classified them according to the standards of "good sellers", "bad sellers" and "toxic and harmful". "Unsellable" garbage is included in the garbage collection and transportation system of "household collection, village collection, town transfer, and municipal treatment", and is uniformly transported to waste incineration power plants for harmless treatment; "toxic and harmful" garbage is collected uniformly in accordance with relevant regulations Transport temporary storage for special treatment.
Up to now, Zoucheng City has built more than 30 garbage transfer stations in towns and villages, and 30 garbage classification and resource utilization stations. The garbage classification facilities have achieved full coverage of the town, and the coverage of administrative villages has reached 80%.
Bu Dexing said that 13 towns in Zoucheng City only need to spend about 750,000 yuan each year to complete the city’s rural waste classification. This measure saves about 3.55 million yuan in waste classification promotion funds and more than 10 million yuan in waste incineration treatment costs.
6
Retired employees shine
With an enthusiastic peacemaker, conflicts in the community will not be turned over
Half a month talk about reporter Li Ping
Walking into the Datieguan community, Wenhui Street, Xiacheng District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, old people chatted leisurely together, and children played happily, creating a harmonious and warm scene. Who would have thought that this place used to be a "chaotic nest".
"At that time, there were more than 100 conflicts and disputes in the community a year. As soon as I went to work every day, I was blocked by community residents in the office. Every day there was noisy and clamor in the office." Slimin was once the party secretary of Datieguan community, talking about early 2006. When he took office in the community, he still had lingering fears.
Datieguan community peacemaker is mediating residents' disputes
At that time, there were three types of residents in Datieguan community, some were villagers who demolished their villages and entered the city, some were residents of the old city, and some were new residents who bought commercial houses in Hangzhou.
"Community residents are complex and diverse, and conflicts and demands are very diverse and prominent. At that time, there were as many as dozens of petitions in one year." Slimin said that neighbourhood disputes caused by private construction and construction accounted for 50%. The conflict between the committee and the property accounted for 30%, and coupled with the problem of the distribution of interests of the original village collective stock economic cooperative, "it made me utterly overwhelmed, and the community cadres obviously felt powerless."
In desperation, they thought of relying on retired party members to establish mass autonomous organizations to help resolve conflicts and disputes. Therefore, in 2008, the Peacemaker Association was established with community retired party members as the main body.
The Peacemaker Association has done a good deed for the people since its establishment. In May 2008, Hangzhou planned to build a walking trail along the Grand Canal, which needed to advance 20 meters to Datieguan Heping District. Many people were dissatisfied and petitioned. The Peacemaker Association was dispatched to act as an intermediary between the government and the masses, and finally persuaded the masses to agree to advance 10 meters into the community, and the 10 meters of space that was freed up has now become the walking trail and green area of the Grand Canal. Residents in the community walked along the Grand Canal after dinner, and their quality of life was greatly improved.
“Being a peacemaker has to endure grievances, play eloquence, and live in a place. The most important thing is to have a warm heart.” Wang Yuehua, 61, became a member of the Datieguan Community Peacemaker Association in 2016. Said that in addition to mediating conflicts among residents, they are more like the confidant older sisters or confidant older brothers of the residents.
It is understood that every year the community will count the conflicts and disputes mediated by peacemakers. It is recognized that according to the size and nature of the conflicts and disputes, subsidies ranging from 20 yuan to 50 yuan are given. However, many peacemakers are themselves retired employees. And the party members, who had a higher level of consciousness and had retirement salary, did not get the money.
"Because of the Peacemaker Association, the community has become more and more harmonious without spending much money. In the past three years, the number of complaints about community conflicts and disputes has dropped by more than 25% every year. The annual growth rate is more than 10%, and the contradiction is basically not out of the community, and community cadres can also get out and do a good job of public services." said Sheng Jun, party secretary of Datieguan community.
Source: "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 14 of 2020 Original title: "Although it costs less, governance can be done well"
Half a month to talk about reporters: Zhai Zhuo, Mao Zhenhua, Xiang Kailai, Lin Chao, Min Zuntao, Luo Chen, Shao Kun, Li Ping