Participation and co-operation by all sectors in society are crucial for pooling efforts and resources to address livelihood issues such as nurturing of the young, poverty alleviation, elderly care and support for the disadvantaged, so that the needs of the community could be met in a timely manner, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, said today (November 3).
 
     Mrs Lam made the remarks while attending the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged (PFD) Project Sharing cum Award Presentation Ceremony organised by the Social Welfare Department (SWD).
 
     "The theme of today's ceremony, 'In partnership we build a caring community', highlighted the purpose of the PFD. Over the years, the Government has been working closely with different sectors in enhancing society's competitiveness and social cohesion, and building a caring and inclusive society for creating a brighter future," Mrs Lam said.
 
     "In the past 10 years, the Government has made use of the cross-sectoral platform offered by the PFD to encourage tripartite partnership among the welfare sector, the business community and the Government in providing necessary assistance through diversified welfare schemes to the underprivileged children, youths, women, new arrivals, low-income families, ethnic minority families and the unemployed to improve their life and help them develop community networks. With the participation and support of our business sectors which possess extensive manpower and financial resources, provision of more diversified and efficient social services is made possible. The synergy from the community has provided needy groups with care and encouragement, demonstrating the importance of mutual care and support," she added.
 
     Also speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said that the PFD has made significant progress since it commenced operation. In the past 10 years, more than 900 welfare projects amounting to a total of over $400 million in matching grants were approved under the PFD. These projects proposed by 213 welfare non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and schools attracted donations of more than $400 million from about 1,400 business corporations and the number of beneficiaries has exceeded 1 million.
 
     Mr Cheung said he was encouraged to see the fast increasing support the Fund has gained, noting that there are currently 120 welfare NGOs and schools and 503 business corporations participating in the projects, which is a phenomenal growth over the first round's 29 welfare NGOs and 80 business partners.
 
     Organised by the Secretariat of the PFD of the SWD, today's ceremony aimed to commend the joint efforts and contributions of the participating business corporations, welfare NGOs and schools in the PFD projects, and to encourage further collaboration to help the disadvantaged for fostering a cohesive, inclusive and caring society. The Outstanding Contribution Awards, the Excellence in Collaboration Awards and the Excellence in Participation Awards were presented to organisations for their outstanding contribution and participation (please refer to the Annex for the list of awardees).
 
     Also officiating at the ceremony today were the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Miss Annie Tam; the Director of Social Welfare, Ms Carol Yip; and members of the Advisory Committee of the PFD. Attendees of the ceremony included representatives from the business corporations, welfare NGOs and schools which have participated in the PFD.
 
     In the project sharing session, the Rock Foundation Limited, Youth Outreach, Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Bishop Hall Secondary School with Midland Charitable Foundation Limited, Christian & Missionary Alliance Church Union of Hong Kong Limited and We R Family Foundation Limited were invited to share their experience in the implementation of social welfare projects with different service modes, with a view to encouraging provision of diversified welfare projects in serving the disadvantaged.
 
     The PFD was set up in 2005 for the promotion of tripartite partnership among the welfare sector, the business community and the Government to help the disadvantaged. The Government provides matching grants having regard to the donations made by business organisations to support welfare NGOs in running social welfare projects. Since its inception, the Government has injected $800 million into the PFD, of which $200 million is dedicated to implementing more after-school learning and support programmes for primary and secondary students from grass-roots families to facilitate their whole-person development.

Ends/Thursday, November 3, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:21

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