World Vision, one of the largest relief and development non-governmental organizations in the world, will invest around 50 million yuan (US$6.6 million) in the next three years in children's welfare and disaster relief in south China's Guangxi Province.

Under an agreement signed between World Vision and the aid-the-poor office of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 35 million yuan will be poured into children's education, welfare and development projects.

The children-focused projects include scholarships for poverty-stricken students in primary and middle schools in the region, school facility improvement, welfare of orphans and epidemic vaccinations, according to Qiu Zhongmin, a representative of World Vision for Guangxi and Guizhou.

The remaining 15 million yuan will be used in civil welfare, reconstruction in areas hit by disasters such as floods, Qiu said.

Since 1990, World Vision has invested 128 million yuan in various anti-poverty projects in Guangxi, benefiting about one million people each year, according to the region's foreign-funded anti-poverty project administration center.

World Vision began its work in China in 1982 and currently has programs in 16 provinces or regions in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2007)