Chief Secretary Carrie Lam officiated at a ceremony today commending 1,000 business corporations, welfare bodies and schools for their participation in the Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged Project.
She said participation and co-operation by all social sectors is crucial for pooling efforts and resources to address livelihood issues like nurturing of the young, poverty alleviation, elderly care and support for the disadvantaged, so the needs of the community can be met in a timely manner.
The Government has made use of the cross-sectoral platform offered by the fund to encourage tripartite partnership among the welfare sector, the business community and the Government in providing assistance through diversified schemes to people like underprivileged children, new arrivals, ethnic minority families and the unemployed, she added.
Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung said more than 900 welfare projects amounting to over $400 million in matching grants were approved under the fund over the past 10 years.
He said he is encouraged to see fast increasing support for the fund, noting there are now 120 welfare non-government organisations and schools as well as 503 business corporations participating in the projects, compared to just 29 welfare NGOs and 80 business partners in the fund's first round.
The fund was set up in 2005 for the Government to provide grants to match the donations made by business organisations to support welfare bodies in running social welfare projects.
Since its inception, the Government has injected $800 million into it, of which $200 million has been to implement more after-school learning and support programmes for primary and secondary students from grassroots families.
