District Highlights 2020-21

Consolidating Social Capital through Cross-sector Collaboration

The Kowloon City and Yau Tsim Mong District Social Welfare Office (District Social Welfare Office) endeavours to facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration for early identification and support for underprivileged groups or hidden groups in the community. Through active collaboration among service units in the districts, a total of 38 community care projects were organised under the theme of “Togetherness．Innovation．We Energize” initiated by the District Social Welfare Office in 2020-21. In addition to mobilising volunteers to facilitate and consolidate social capital, the ongoing partnership and collaboration among the service units also achieved synergistic effects. The total number of beneficiaries were over 6 300. To appreciate the efforts of the participating service units and further consolidate the efforts of different stakeholders, an online ceremony was conducted to award outstanding service units. Moreover, in view of the high population density of ethnic minorities in the districts, the District Social Welfare Office is also mindful of facilitating their access to mainstream welfare services. To keep the momentum of collaboration and achieve synergy among stakeholders in providing support services to the ethnic minorities, the District Social Welfare Office pooled together nearly 20 units providing services for ethnic minorities and published tailor-made 2021 calendar cards featuring information on district support services and distributed them through relevant service units.

“Enabling Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities through Multi-media Arts” (2020-2022)

The Kowloon City and Yau Tsim Mong District Co-ordinating Committee on Rehabilitation Services organised a two-year programme, namely “Enabling Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) through Multi-media Arts” (2020-2022). In order to provide opportunities for PWDs to unleash their potentials and promote inclusion, PWDs were invited to act in 2 micro movies, namely “Give them an Opportunity”, which illustrated true stories of PWDs and their interaction with their carers and employers. Key messages were also embedded to enhance the audience’s understanding towards PWDs and pay tribute to their carers and employers for their unfailing support to the PWDs. The micro movies were uploaded and broadcast on social media platforms in December 2020 and mid-January 2021, which attracted over 2 000 views. To achieve wider publicity of the message of inclusion, other events under this Programme, including a digital photograhpy contest and a community exhibition, are scheduled to take place in 2021-2022.

“Cherish Our Elders Like a Treasure” - Cultivating a Cherishing Environemnt for the Elderly

The District Social Welfare Office has launched a two-year project, namely “Cherish our Elders like a Treasure” to enhance cross- sector collaboration among elderly services units, local bodies and volunteer organisations in the districts. The project consists of a series of activities that aim at arousing the awareness of frontline staff, carers and volunteers in the community on the protection of the elderly persons and fostering early identification of hidden elderly singletons/doubletons and demented elderly persons and their carers to provide them with appropriate support and follow-up services. Besides, educational and promotional activities were launched to enhance the awareness of self-protection among elderly persons. In 2020-21, the District Social Welfare Office produced a series of user-friendly souvenirs which were delivered to the elderly persons through DECCs and Neighbourhood Elderly Centres to convey our care and concern and promote the message of “cherishing our elders like a treasure” in the community.

“Alliance for Resilience” - Stay Positive when Facing Adversity

The District Social Welfare Office set up the “Alliance for Resilience” in 2020 by recruiting local organisations to form volunteer teams, encouraging them to utilise their own capitals (including goods, manpower resources and venues, etc) and connect with other community stakeholders to serve the underprivileged groups during the epidemic. Through such collaborative efforts, an atmosphere of “resilience” was cultivated in the community. The Alliance instilled positive energy in the face of adversity and promoted volunteerism for the building of a caring and inclusive community. To kick off the Alliance, the District Social Welfare Office organised an online live broadcast event which attracted more than 100 participants from 54 organisations. There were 3 thematic sessions, including sharing of tips on maintaining good mental health under adversity by a clinical psychologist, cooking of Chinese nutritious soup by a Chinese medical practitioner and demonstration of simple physical exercises by a physical fitness coach. Participating volunteer teams also jointly produced a short video with the theme of "Stay Positive in the face of Adversity" to cheer up the community. The Alliance is an ongoing community care project. In early 2021, the District Social Welfare Office produced 3 000 gift packs with the message of “resilience” and distributed them to disadvantaged persons and families through the volunteer teams.