The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project was launched on 11 November 2018 at the Centennial Campus of the University of Hong Kong, with Dr Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, HKSAR Government; Mrs Margaret Leung, Steward of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Professor Paul K.H. Tam, Acting President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) officiating the ceremony. The ceremony was attended by the Project’s professional support teams, including representatives of government departments, non-government organisations, HKU School of Public Health and Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative.
Initiated by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project is a cross-sectoral collaboration to devise an innovative and evidence-based family service delivery model that leverages the effective use of Information and Communications Technology (“ICT”). With an aim to promoting family well-being, the Project Team highlighted the importance of making good use of ICT in fostering family communication, as well as strengthening family relationships. The key components of the Project include developing an online platform for furthering the professional skills and knowledge of frontline social workers, as well as building a content management system. Complemented by data analytics performed by the Institutions, the Project will assess its overall impact and adjust future family service planning. Together with 12 participating NGO partners, it is hoped that citizens’ awareness about a happy and healthy family could be raised through organising public education events and managing social media channels.
The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project will also promote the use of ICT in service delivery, programme design and planning in family services. A community event was held on the same day for NGO partners to showcase the use of different ICT tools, for example mobile applications, motion sensing games and etc., to engage the service users in a fun and interactive way. The launch ceremony attracted about 1,400 members of the public, and kick-started a series of publicity and public education activities in the coming four years.
For more information about the Project Launch Ceremony, please click here to read the article.
