BEIJING - In 2012, the Chinese central government for the first time allocated 200 million yuan ($32.08 million) to finance non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Xinhua has learned.

With this fund, 377 social work projects and more than 120 training programs were carried out, with 17,700 people trained and 1.85 million directly benefited, according to the country's NGOs administration under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Besides the central government input, these projects involved a total investment of 320 million yuan, said the administration.

In recent years, the Chinese government has rolled out measures to boost the development of social organizations and better bring their roles into play.

In 2011, the central government started a pilot project designed to simplify registration for social organizations.

Under the pilot, social organizations may directly register with civil affairs authorities. They do not need to find an administrative sponsor to supervise their activities as a precondition for registration, as was previously stipulated.

The previous rule made it difficult for social organizations to register, since administrators were often reluctant to assume the responsibility of sponsorship.

As a result, many social organizations ended up operating without registering.

So far, the practice of "direct registration" has spread to 19 provinces.

Moreover, some provinces have also loosened control over registration for non-public offering foundations, non-indigenous chambers of commerce and private non-enterprise units concerning foreign affairs.