Initiated and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project is hosting a four-day symposium themed “Looking Beyond the Pandemic: Creativity and Innovation in Promoting Resilience in Families and Children”. Representatives from the Government, academia, the social welfare and various cross-sectoral stakeholders will discuss creative ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) can be used to promote family well-being and resilience.
The symposium opened today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The opening ceremony was officiated by Dr Law Chi-kwong, HKSAR Secretary for Labour and Welfare; Leong Cheung, Executive Director, Charities and Community, The Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Professor Richard Wong, The University of Hong Kong’s Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and Chair of Economics, Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy, and Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy. Among other attendees were representatives from the 12 partner non-governmental organisations.
In his remarks Mr Cheung said ICT support from the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project has been particularly useful during the pandemic. “Through cross-sectoral collaboration, the Project assists all 26 NGO‐operated Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Service Centres in Hong Kong to leverage the use of ICT, optimise NGOs’ processes and through data analytics further promote innovative family services.”
Dr. Law added, “The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project manages, shares and transfers knowledge in full play – its undue efforts have contributed to the continuation of integrated family services throughout the year-and-half long pandemic. The Project has also been encouraging social workers to integrate technology into their family services and program designs. Aside from enhancing overall service quality and operational efficiency of frontline practitioners, the Project has also enriched service users’ experiences.”
Dr. Law further hopes that the symposium will take the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project and Hong Kong’s family services to a whole new level, through the exchange of practice wisdom.
For more information about the Symposium, please click here to read the article.
