Press Releases

CIIF promotes building social capital

        The achievement of the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF) is particularly impressive as it is charged with a challenging mission of promoting a relatively new and abstract concept of building social capital, by building community capacity and establishing support networks through cross-sectoral partnerships.

        The Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, made this remark today (October 12) in his opening address at the CIIF Second Annual Forum. The forum was attended by over 400 participants from a wide cross-section of the community including non-governmental welfare organisations, resident associations and women's groups as well as the business sector.

        Dr Chow said the strategies adopted by the CIIF were to encourage social investment and tripartite partnerships.

        "The CIIF seed funding is invested in community-initiated projects with an aim of building individual, family and community capacities for self-help and mutual help, enhancing their social connectedness, and enabling their participation in social and economic life with outcomes.

        "Under a bottom-up approach, local solutions are jointly developed to address shared concerns, through tripartite partnership, which may take the form of joined-up efforts and cross-sectoral collaboration," he said.

        Dr Chow pointed out the early changes brought about through these CIIF projects were amazing.

       "Some are tangible, like the increasing number of volunteers involved, or jobs created. Other results are more intangible, such as increased confidence, self-esteem, increased ability to help oneself and others, increased joint efforts to solve local problems," he said.

        Dr Chow noted that the recent formation of a consortium among seven research teams involving over 16 academics plus their researchers from five local universities to jointly evaluate the impact of the CIIF was another breakthrough.

        "Collaboration is in itself a form of social capital, and this degree of cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary collaboration and goodwill augurs well for us as a community, " he said.

        Dr Chow said the Second Annual Forum was indeed a testament and fitting tribute to the outstanding achievements of the participating agencies, their staunch collaborators, as well as the CIIF Committee.

        "I am confident that, with the continual support from the participants, frontline workers, business and professional collaborators and academics, these early impacts would extend into the mainstream of social services in due course," he said.

        The $300 million CIIF was established in 2002 to inculcate the concept of social capital, social investment and tripartite partnerships in the community. As at October 2004, the number of approved projects had increased to 60, involving $50 million since the fund was launched in August 2002. Over 300,000 will be involved in these 60 projects, with over 160 mutual help networks and 16 job-creating co-operatives to be established.

        Tripartite partnerships have been a main feature among the 60 CIIF funded projects with 70% of the projects including such an element. The range of business collaborators has been increasing and the nature of business partnerships would be more diverse. These business partners presented their experience at today's forum.

        At the forum, the Director of Poverty Reduction and Social Development from the Asian Development Bank, Dr Brahm Prakash, and Professor Shanti K Khinduka of the Washington University in St Louis gave commentaries on social capital development.

        Seven teams of academics from five local universities also shared their experiences in measuring return from social investment.

        There were concurrent workshops on specific topics in which funded project teams gave brief introductions on how they promoted social capital in their projects. There was also an exhibition showcasing 40 project display booths.

        The CIIF is inviting the fifth batch of applications with a closing date of October 18, 2004. Information about the CIIF is available at the fund's website at www.hwfb.gov.hk/ciif/index.htm.

Ends/Tuesday, October 12, 2004

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