Second FAMILY Symposium takes multi-disciplinary approach to promoting "3Hs"

7 November 2009

The family is the base of every society.  No harmonious society can be built without loving family relationships.  Better family relationships also mean fewer social problems, a point noted by the Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive in his recent policy address, when he announced the Government's plan to launch a Happy Family Campaign to promote family core values.

Since 2008 The Hong Kong Jockey Club, through its Charities Trust, has been implementing its own initiative to build better family relationships, entitled "FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society".  Today (7 November), the Trust and its project partner, the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), organised the project's second symposium, carrying the theme of Multidisciplinary Collaboration to Promote Family Health, Happiness and Harmony - sharing of experiences and findings.  The symposium provided a platform to discuss the promotion of family health, happiness and harmony ("the 3Hs") in a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach.

Club Deputy Chairman T Brian Stevenson joined Secretary for Labour and Welfare The Hon Matthew Cheung and Vice-Chancellor and President of HKU Professor Lap-chee Tsui as officiating guests at the opening ceremony.  Mr Stevenson noted that the Club had taken a proactive approach in addressing social needs through various Trust-initiated programmes such as the FAMILY Project. Through a citywide household survey, intervention projects and public education programmes, it aimed to identify suitable measures to promote Health, Happiness and Harmony in families.

"We are delighted that the Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive shared the Government's plans to launch the 'Happy Family Campaign' to promote family core values in his Policy Address," Mr Stevenson addressed.  "I am sure there are areas where this FAMILY Project can join forces with the Family Council in engaging the public, motivating the community to take action and build upon the single most important system in our society - the FAMILY system."

Mr Cheung said that the role of the Hong Kong SAR Government was as an enabler and charitable bodies such as The Hong Kong Jockey Club were crucial for taking forward initiatives for happy families and harmonious society.  "This symposium provides a timely platform to discuss and explore best practices to achieve sustainable efforts to empower families.  I commend The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for conceiving this most worthwhile project and staging this prestigious event," he concluded.

Over 300 representatives from NGOs, healthcare professionals, social workers, academics and Government officials attended today's symposium, at which keynote speakers included two internationally renowned experts, Dr Vish Viswanath, Associate Professor of Harvard School of Public Health and Professor Ralf Schwarzer, Professor of Psychology at Freie Universitat, Berlin.  Also on the programme was the FAMILY project team's sharing of preliminary results and findings of a citywide household survey and of five intervention programmes that have been devised to address the problems identified.

Two workshops on 6 and 9 November are also being held to provide professionals from the social service sector with an opportunity to interact with local and overseas speakers on the formulation of more effective and evidence-based intervention programmes.

FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society is a citywide project launched by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust with HK$250 million funding, in collaboration with the School of Public Health of The University of Hong Kong.  The project aims to identify the sources of family problems, devise suitable preventive measures and promote family Health, Happiness and Harmony (the "3Hs") through a citywide household survey, intervention projects and public education programmes.  Further details of FAMILY the Symposium are available at http://www.hkjcfp.org.hk/sym2009.

125th Anniversary of The Hong KongJockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is celebrating its 125th Anniversary in 2009/10 season.  Over the past 125 years, it has become one of Hong Kong's best known and respected organisations, providing the public with world-class sporting entertainment as well as being the city's major non-Government community benefactor, now donating more than HK$1 billion a year to charitable and community projects.  It has been a part of Hong Kong through good times and bad, sharing the city's growth and development with its people, and is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for future generations.