Volunteerism and Building of Social Capital
PROMOTION OF VOLUNTEER SERVICE
14.1
SWD launched the Volunteer Movement in 1998 and has since been actively promoting volunteer service to foster a spirit of participation and dedication for building a caring and harmonious community. A new theme “Volunteering – New Attitude to Life” which promotes “Level 3 Volunteering” and encourages volunteers to integrate the core values and spirit of voluntary work into their everyday life, has been adopted for the Volunteer Movement from 2011 onward. Besides launching a new series of thematic poster and video with the new theme, a series of promotional programmes, including the annual highlight, “Hong Kong Volunteer Award Presentation Ceremony”, officiated by Volunteer-in-chief/wife of the Chief Executive, were also organised in 2011 and 2012.
14.2
Apart from continuous enhancement of promotion through different publicity media and Internet, a Volunteer Casebook including 22 selected outstanding volunteer stories was published in December 2012 to capture the good deeds of the outstanding volunteers and volunteering projects so as to encourage and influence the public to become volunteers. In 2012, the number of registered volunteers broke through the one million mark. In addition, significant achievements were attained in the following areas:
CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING
14.3
SWD has offered a wide range of support services, such as publishing newsletters on corporate volunteering, seminars on corporate volunteering, corporate volunteer training courses, consultation services and mentor scheme for the newly formed corporate volunteer teams. SWD also organises the “Best Corporate Volunteer Service Project Competition” regularly, so as to encourage corporate sector to actualise corporate social responsibilities through volunteering. Besides, a new mode of volunteering project “Job Shadowing Programme” which enhanced the flexibility of the owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to participate in volunteering was implemented in 2012.
14.4
In 2011-13, a total of 57 staff from 27 corporations had received volunteer training whereas 34 projects participated in the “Best Corporate Volunteer Services Project Competition” at the same interval. 41 senior secondary school students and 15 SMEs joined the “Job Shadowing Programmes”, both giving very positive feedbacks. Besides, as a cross-sector deliberation to promote integration of the disabled and the able-bodies, SWD, in joint hands with more than 40 corporate volunteer teams as well as other government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) co-organised the “Stargaze Camp for All & the Blind” since 2011. Around 1 000 and
1 300 participants joined the event in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and attracted wide and positive media coverage.
STUDENT AND YOUTH VOLUNTEERING
14.5
The “Hong Kong Outstanding Youth Volunteers Scheme” has been held annually since 2000 to award the contribution of Hong Kong's outstanding youth volunteers. To widen their exposure, 40 outstanding youth volunteers selected in 2011-12 and 2012-13 were arranged to visit Beijing and Taiwan respectively for exchange as volunteer ambassadors. SWD also provided practical support to the Hong Kong Outstanding Youth Volunteers' Association for strengthening their role in promoting volunteerism among the students and youths. To encourage the youth volunteers to develop innovative group volunteering project to meet the community needs, the “Best Student and Youth Volunteering Project Competition” was launched in 2012. Seminars and award presentation ceremony for students and youths are conducted annually to foster whole-person development through volunteering.
VOLUNTEERING IN COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS
14.6
SWD organised a two-year campaign, “Caring for Our Community” which successfully mobilised residents in public/private housing estates to join volunteering. Around 107 resident volunteer teams (RVTs) were formed and committed to serve the needy at neighborhood and local levels. Some of the RVTs also joined the “Innovative Estate Volunteering Services Project Competition” held in 2011-12 to initiate tailor-made volunteering service projects in their communities. In 2012, SWD launched the “Community Caring Shop Recognition Scheme” to further promote volunteerism in the community through the involvement of the local shops and recognised their contribution to the community. The annual “Hong Kong Citizen Hong Kong Heart” Volunteer Ambassador Programme attracted over 280 volunteer teams to make over 75 000 “Do-It-Yourself” items as gifts for the needy or deprived groups every year.
ACHIEVEMENT OF VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT
14.7
As at 31 March 2013, 1 072 572 individuals and 2 414 organisations had registered to join volunteer service and they delivered nearly 22.4 million hours of volunteer service in 2011.
PARTNERSHIP FUND FOR THE DISADVANTAGED
14.8
The $200 million Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged (the Fund) was established in 2005 to promote the development of tripartite partnership among the welfare sector, the business community and the Government to help the disadvantaged. The Fund aims to provide incentives to the welfare sector to expand their network in seeking and securing corporate participation in helping the disadvantaged, and encourage the business sector to take up more corporate social responsibility in helping to create a cohesive, inclusive and caring society. The Government provides matching grants to donations in cash and/or in kind made by business corporations to support welfare NGOs in running social welfare projects. In May 2010, the Finance Committee of Legislative Council endorsed an injection of $200 million into the Fund to encourage further cross-sector collaboration to help the disadvantaged.
14.9
Since March 2005, eight rounds of application have been launched. SWD has promoted the Fund to welfare NGOs and business corporations through kick-off ceremony, sharing cum briefing sessions, website, newsletter and press conferences, etc. As at 31 March 2013, matching grant of over $247 million had been allocated to 141 NGOs for carrying out 575 welfare projects for the disadvantaged, with the cash and/or in-kind donations from 918 business partners. Altogether, over 800 000 disadvantaged persons were benefited.
