Club funded 2010 Joint World Conference to draw up social development blueprint

10 June 2010

To enable Hong Kong to lead the global debate on people-centred sustainable social progress, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has provided the Hong Kong Council of Social Services (HKCSS) with funding of HK$5.5 million to host the 2010 Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development.

The five-day event at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre will bring together about 3,000 social service practitioners, professionals, policy makers and academics from around the world to develop "The Agenda" for social work and social development in the next decade.  It is being co-organised with seven local education and welfare entities and three international organisations, namely the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the International Council on Social Welfare, and the International Federation of Social Workers.

Today (10 June), Club Chairman Dr John C C Chan joined United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, Chief Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Henry Tang, and representatives of the three international organisations as officiating guests at the opening ceremony.

Dr Chan told the delegates that since The Hong Kong Jockey Club's establishment over 125 years ago, horse racing in Hong Kong had become a multi-billion dollar business.  In its unique role as a not-for-profit organisation, the Club had a long tradition of donating to charitable causes and had played a crucial role in the city's evolution, helping to overcome the challenges it had faced throughout the years. 

Over the past decade, he noted, the Club's Charities Trust had donated more than HK$10 billion to charitable and community projects, rendering the Club by far Hong Kong's largest non-government benefactor. The Club was also the largest single taxpayer in Hong Kong, contributing an average of over HK$12 billion a year to public funds over the past 10 years.

"We not only complement what the Government does for the community, we are also keen to work with non-government organisations, academics from multi-disciplinary fields, and other key stakeholders," Dr Chan explained.  "This enables the Club's funding to reach into many diverse areas of need."

Every society has its unique social issues, he added, varying in degrees of magnitude, prevalence, imminence and complexity.  "Whilst we could address these social issues at policy level, tackling them with intervention programmes or offering services, the social work profession plays a pivotal role at the forefront, shouldering a great deal of responsibility.

"We at the Club consider this Joint World Conference to be a milestone event for all community partners - indeed, everyone who shares our aim of striving for a better world to live in," Dr Chan concluded.  We are here to develop 'The Agenda'.  I hope we will all embrace it as 'Our Agenda' going forward."

Fellow keynote speaker Hong Kong SAR Chief Secretary Henry Tang said he believed the Conference would stimulate in-depth discussion on how cross-sectoral collaboration could help turn a new chapter on social work and social development for the next decade, and contribute to the creation of a caring and just international community.

A similar wish was expressed by United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, who said that this conference itself was of extremely high value to the United Nations.  He hoped that the blueprint created from the Conference could conclude previous experiences and come up with a practical and creative action agenda to deal with present challenges and improve people's lives.  "Participants are expected to carry on the Conference's spirit and the approved blueprint to their own countries or communities, and take action to promote social development locally and internationally," he stressed.

The 2010 Joint World Conference will cover a wide spectrum of discussions on Practice, Policy and Education, built around three themes - "Life Course Challenges & Actualisation", "Equity & Social Inclusion" and "Sustainable Environment".  It will provide a platform for policy makers and practitioners around the world to discuss and establish a new action agenda for social work and social development in the next decade, offering a valuable opportunity for local academics and practitioners to learn from overseas insight.

Various workshops will be conducted during the conference, including one on the Trust-initiated project "P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme". 

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club 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.