Report on Beijing Visit 

Dr Charles Chan and staff of NHWS (Dr Alma Au, Mr Kevin Chan, Mr Simon Lai, Ms Winnie Lin) conducted a visit to Beijing from July 12 to 16, 2008 with the aims to follow up with the research project on Migrant Workers Children (MWC), to establish network for future collaboration, and to identify potential resources for the development of the project. The Beijing project comprises the following components:

1. Promoting Health promoting schools (HPS) among MWC in Beijing: aims, theory and models
2. Need assessment approaches in HPS
3. Locating deployable resources for adolescents from disadvantaged families in HK and Beijing
4. Networking resource-bearing adults in Beijing – a new agenda for the corporate world
5. Building sustainable mentoring programs in Beijing
*details of the above components will be provided once available

Highlights of the visit included:

July 12 : Visited the Beijing Juvenile Life Education Centre (北京青少年生命教育基地) at the China Youth University for Political Sciences (中國青年政治學院) ( a 2-years Mentoring Program for MWC based on the ICM model will be administered by the Centre starting in September 2008.)  Then met with Dr Han Jia Ling (韓嘉玲) of the Migrant Workers Education and Action Research Centre, Beijing Academy of Social Science (北京市社會科學院社會學所流動人口教育與行動研究中心) to gain a better understanding of MWC schools in Beijing.

July 13 : Attended the Launching Ceremony of the MWC Health and Development Steering Committee (外來務工子女健康發展督導委員會) followed by a round-table meeting held at the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Prevention & Control (北京市疾病預防控制中心).  Dinner reception hosted by the Youth Foundation (青年發展基金).

July 14 :  A full-day Research Conference at the Beijing CDC on public health and development for MWC attended by academics and professionals from Hong Kong, Australia and Beijing.  Titles of the presentations by Dr Charles Chan, Dr Alma Au, Mr Kevin Chan and Mr Simon Lai were A multi-level project on intergenerational poverty transmission among migrant worker children in Beijing , Adolescent executive function and empathy: A bio-ecological analysis , Group cohesion in health promoting coalitions - corroborating individual and group level data and A person-oriented approach to data analysis using SLIEPNER.

July 15 :  Visit to Xing Hua School (興華學校) in 宣武 and 豐台 districts (a well-established MWC school in Beijing) and met with staff of the schools.   In the afternoon, meeting with Prof. Han Shi Hui (韓世輝) of the Department of Psychology at the Peking University (PKU) with a view to explore cooperation with his neuroscience lab for analysis of behavioral observations of MWC through neuropsychological evidence.

July 16 :  Dr Chan met with Prof. Shi Bai Nian (史柏年), Executive Director of the Beijing Juvenile Life Education Centre (北京青少年生命教育基地) and Mr Yip Cho Yu (葉祖禹), Chairman and Founder of the New Path Foundation (美新路基金會), a Beijing NGO with ten years of experiences in the field of mentorship to discuss future collaboration on mentoring program.

On the whole, staff of the NHWS has received positive feedbacks and identified necessary support from the above-mentioned parties.  The contacts and resources will be followed up accordingly to facilitate the work of NHWS in Beijing.

「外來務工子女健康發展督導委員會啟動禮｣及「外來務工子女健康發展學術研討會｣

繼2008年4月2日，北京大學，香港理工大學和澳洲格裡菲斯大學於北京大學聯合簽署的「北京外來務工人員子女健康促進學校的發展與他們的財產形成：防止跨代貧 窮議程 」的合作計劃備忘錄，陳清海博士聯同醫療及社福網絡的同事包括區美蘭博士，陳顯宏，賴文建及林仙韻，於7月12日至15日，前赴北京市參加「外來務工子女健康發展督導委員會｣啟動禮及「外來務工子女健康發展學術交流研討會｣，及跟進上述備忘錄內的部份議題。委員會聯合主席為蔡元雲醫生及朱明若教授，成員為關注外來務工子女健康發展的專業和學術界人士，來自國務院扶貧辨公室，北京市疾病預防控制中心，中國疾病預防控制中心，北京大學心理學系教授，北京大學人口研究所，中國青年政治學院等機構。

Briefing Session for the Child Development Fund

Date : 3 July 2008(Thursday)

Time : 3.30pm-5.30pm

Venue : Auditorium, 1/F., duke of Windsor Social Service Building, 15 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Free admission

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) is now inviting bona fide charitable organisations with a good track record on the provision of children and youth services in Hong Kong in the past 5 years to operate the first batch of the Child Development Fund pioneer projects. There will be a total of 7 pioneer projects each in the following regions/ districts - Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East, Kowloon West, New Territories East, New Territories West, Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung. The closing date of submission of application is 30 June 2008.

The pioneer projects aim to encourage children from a disadvantaged background to develop an asset-building habit and to accumulate financial assets as well as non-financial assets (such as right attitudes and a proper mindset, personal resilience and capacities as well as social networks) which are important assets for their future development.

SWD will hold a briefing session for interested applicant Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) with details as below :

Date: 11 June 2008 (Wednesday)
Time: 2:30 pm
Place: Hall, 1/F, Henry G. Leong Yau Ma Tei Community Centre, 60 Public Square Street, Yaumatei, Kowloon.

Interested applicant NGO, which would like to send a representative to attend the briefing session, should send the briefing session return form by fax to 2152 9396 on or before 6 June 2008.

More information can be obtained here.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU), Peking University (PU) and Griffith University (GU) jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 2, 2008 in Bejing on a collaborative project entitled : “Development of health-promoting schools, and asset-accumulation for migrant worker children in Bejing. An inter-generational poverty prevention agenda”. (more)

A booth to present the IntensiveCommunity Mentoring (ICM) Project (organized in 2004-2005 under the auspicious of the QEF) at the QEF Projects Exposition 2008 was successfully completed on May 11, 2008. The event was held from May 9 to 11, 2008 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhitbition Centre. Programs of the booth, which included display panels, computer games and video presentation, had attracted visits and enquires by school principals, teachers, students and members of the public.

http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200712/16/P200712140216.htm

Mentoring program will be one of the main features in the implementation of Child Development Fund (CDF) for preparing children and adolesents from disadvantaged backgrounds to attain post-secondary education, occupational and skills training.

The mentoring program is evidence-based scheme which will facilitate more development opportunities in adolescents through a community resource-bearing adult mentor serving as a role model in a twelve to eighteen months period. This program follows the Intensive Community Mentoring (ICM) program using a SARIS Model: Setting – Activities – Roles – Identity – Supportive Relationships.

Intergenerational poverty is a global issue (United Nations, 2005) and there is a need to build both financial and non-financial assets in children from poor families. The Hong Kong Commission on Poverty (HKCP) Report recommended the delivery of mentoring program to adolescents with this disadvantaged background as one of the solutions to intergenerational poverty.

A HK$300 million is earmarked in the 2007-08 budget speech for setting up a Child Development Fund (CDF) by the Hong Kong SAR Government in order to provide children and adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds with more development opportunities.

References:

United Nations. (2005). World Youth Report 2005. Retrieved 9/13, 2007, from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/wpayintergenerational.htm.

Hong Kong Commission on Poverty. (2007). Report of the Commission on Poverty. Hong Kong: HKCP. Report: http://www.cop.gov.hk/eng/report.htm.