District Highlights 2019-20

The Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Social Welfare Office (District Social Welfare Office) adopted “Show Your Hearts‧Hold Our Hands‧The Best in Tsuen Kwai Tsing” as the work strategy in 2019-20. An extensive network was successfully built by bringing together different talents to serve the underprivileged and to respond to the welfare needs of the districts to jointly build a caring and inclusive community.

Caring for the Underprivileged Whole-heartedly

s the population ages, more elderly persons need continuous support to live in the community. At the same time, the carers’ stress of looking after the elderly and persons with disabilities cannot be overlooked. In 2019-20, the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Co-ordinating Committee on Elderly Services co-ordinated a “Together We Care for Elderly Promotion Scheme” through a diversified and cross-service approach. The Scheme implemented more than 20 activities under a “Caring for Dementia - Mobilising Tsuen Kwai Tsing Project 2019-20”. Moreover, a large-scale thematic talk on “Who Knows My Heart” for carers was also held. It also ran a “Tsuen Kwai Tsing Caring Roving Programme” for which 34 roving stations were set at different spots in the districts. Through various domains, support network for the elderly and their carers was built up and the message of caring for the elderly was widely disseminated. The Scheme served more than 4 400 headcounts of the elderly, carers and community members. To serve carers of both the elderly and persons with disabilities in the districts, the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Co-ordinating Committee on Elderly Services and the District Co-ordinating Committee on Rehabilitation Services jointly launched the “Tsuen Kwai Tsing Walk Together with Carers Project”. Carers were provided support through the following 3 components, including producing tips cards for facilitating community members to identify needy carers, appointing carers and volunteers to be “Peer-to-peer Ambassadors” and setting up “Good to Relax” rest stations for carers. The Scheme mobilised cross-sector and cross-service collaboration to reach out to hidden carers, connected them to support services, and enhanced their physical and mental health to manage their caring stress. A total of 280 000 copies of the tips card were distributed in the community via more than 1 200 units including welfare service units, the Home Affairs Department, hospitals/clinics, public housing/private estates, primary schools/secondary schools/kindergartens and special schools, shops and roving stations, etc. Besides, more than 1 000 ambassadors were recruited and they invited needy carers to utilise support services through sharing their personal experience. The ambassadors also introduced the Scheme to local community and shops on the promotion day. Through penetrating publicity, support services were made known to needy carers. Last but not least, 40 sessions of “Good to Relax” rest stations for carers at 15 service points were conducted through collaboration with local work partners, allowing carers to relieve their stress and nourish their body and mind.

Hand-in-hand to Show the Power of Social Inclusion

The District Social Welfare Office was committed to co-ordinating various local welfare service units and stakeholders, and linking up powers of the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District to promote a caring and inclusive community atmosphere. The Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Co-ordinating Committee on Family and Child Welfare Services organised a “We Share - Our Neighbourhood Project” to promote mutual resources sharing, foster social inclusion among local people, and support hidden and needy inadequately housed households. At 4 service points with the theme of “Sharing Happiness”, 16 programmes, such as “We Share” stations and resources sharing fun day, etc., were organised. Through the programmes, needy inadequately housed families and children not only built close connection with welfare service units to gain continuous support, but also developed mutual support among themselves. The Project served nearly 2 500 headcounts of persons. Moreover, the “Tsuen Kwai Tsing Volunteer University” under the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Co-ordinating Committee on Promotion of Volunteer Services recruited 170 volunteers from welfare service units, Hospital Authority, parents and teachers associations, resident and local organisations to organise a thematic volunteer programme, namely “Care in Hundred Days”. To respond to the needs of the community, the volunteers served those inadequately housed households through arranging them community tours, visiting the elderly living at squatter areas and fighting COVID-19 together. The power of volunteers strengthened support network for deprived groups and facilitated their social inclusion. Besides, the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing Local Committee on Services for Young People and Yan Chai Hospital Social Services Department jointly organised a “You and Me - Cohesion Project 2019”. The Project linked up ethnic minorities and local young people to strengthen support network for families of ethnic minorities and promote inter-ethnic integration through ball games. Members of the Yan Chai Volunteer Group also took the role of mentors to share their life experience with the ethnic minorities and local youths, facilitating the development of young people. In respect of social integration for persons with disabilities, the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Co-ordinating Committee on Rehabilitation Services collaborated with 16 rehabilitation service units and the Tsuen Wan Trade Association Limited to implement a series of vocational training and career-related programmes, namely “Joint Hands for Employment”, for persons with disabilities and those with mental health concerns. It included briefing of the jewelry industry, workshops on jewelry design and visits to food factory and logistic company, etc. The commercial sector was also invited to visit sheltered workshops so as to enhance their understanding of the work of persons with special needs, thereby facilitating job matching and job referrals, as well as fostering an inclusive and caring community for persons with disabilities.

Pooling the Best Expertise to Face Challenges in Tsuen Kwai Tsing

The social incidents in 2019 brought unprecedented challenges to all social strata, including social welfare services. Coupled with the impacts of COVID-19, various sectors in the community, especially the underprivileged, encountered tremendous life impact and stress. Through different platforms, the District Social Welfare Office kept close communication and co-ordination with local welfare service units and different stakeholders, and provided support to welfare service units and their staff members, and tried our best to ensure the provision of welfare services to continually support the disadvantaged in the community. Pressure faced by young people and their families during the social incidents was particularly severe. The District Social Welfare Office provided on-going services for young people and their families by strengthening back-up for concerned professionals. A series of seminars and sharing sessions were held for 40 primary/secondary schools and special schools and 28 welfare service units in Tsuen Kwai Tsing to support school personnel, school-based social workers and youth service social workers to deal with the emotional stress and family relationship issues of young people and their families. To echo immediate community needs, the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing Local Committee on Services for Young People and District Co-ordinating Committee on Family and Child Welfare Services jointly launched a “Project AI - Accommodation and Inclusion” for rebuilding relationship between young people and their families, and enhancing support to concerned professionals of youth and family service to face new challenges. Facing COVID-19, the cross-sector and cross-platform network under the “Link Up Tsuen Kwai Tsing Small Area Platform Scheme” gave full play to the role of local welfare service units to support residents in the locality. Continuous assessment on welfare service needs of each small district was conducted, and flexible sharing of community resources to those needy groups of small districts was implemented. At the same time, the District Social Welfare Office lined up welfare service units of the elderly, family and child welfare, rehabilitation, youth services and relevant stakeholders to form a “Tsuen Kwai Tsing Joint Committee” in early 2020, so as to jointly formulate work plans of caring for the mental health of people living in Tsuen Kwai Tsing. In Tsuen Kwai Tsing, the District Social Welfare Office faced the challenges together with different sectors. We pooled the best expertise in Tsuen Kwai Tsing and were committed to serving the needy and building a caring and inclusive community.