Happenings

Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong (the Centre) collaborates with four key NGO partners – CareER, Heep Hong Society, SAHK and St. James’ Settlement; and implements Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment. The three-year Project aims at encouraging members of the society to think outside the box in terms of job types for people with disabilities (PWD) and providing them with more suitable opportunities, so their talents and contributions can be fully acknowledged from multiple perspectives. The Project’s Inclusive Career Platform will organize “Inclusive Employment Fair cum Exhibition 2023 – Inclusive Education & Employment – Business and School Partnership Scheme Award Presentation Ceremony and Idea Exchange Session”. It aims at raising awareness of people from different sectors (especially the corporates and schools) on the potentials and value of PWD in different areas, fostering dialogue and collaboration, facilitating network building and action platform in order to create more opportunities for PWD. Through thematic knowledge exchange sessions, this event aspires to further promote inclusive employment development in Hong Kong and create a more inclusive and sustainable society. Discussion topics include the relationship between inclusive employment, corporate sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI); experience sharing of corporates; and the development of related vocational training.   Date: November 3, 2023 (Friday) Time: 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm (Registration starts at 2:00pm) Venue: Atrium, L1 D‧PARK, Tsuen Wan Language: Cantonese (Sign language is available. Please indicate in the registration) Main Target: Corporates, schools, NGOs and people who are interested in the agenda of inclusive employment for PWD Quota: Limited seats; first-come-first-served. Please registration in advance Fee: Free Sign-up Now: https://ccsg-hku.surveycake.biz/s/BVbzZ (Registration deadline: October 27, 2023) Rundown Event Summary: Opening Ceremony of Inclusive Employment Fair cum Exhibition 2023 Inclusive Education & Employment – Business and School Partnership Scheme Award Presentation Ceremony Idea Exchange Sessions Session (1): What Does Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Mean in a Corporate? Ms. Dorothy LAU (Senior Manager, Environment & Social Responsibility – Insights & Communications, MTR Corporation Limited) Session (2): Nurturing Local Talent Pool – Unlocking the Potential of PWD for Inclusive Growth Ms. YANG Shun-Lai (Senior Manager, Vocational Training for People with Disabilities Office (VTPDO), VTC) Refreshment and Networking Inclusive Employment Fair cum Exhibition Tour* *Remarks: Between November 3 and 5 (Friday to Sunday), there will also be a bazaar, an inclusive employment exhibition, art installations, and experiential workshops. All are welcome. For more details, please Contact: 3917 8638 Ms Renee LAW

Dubbed as a world-famous food paradise, Hong Kong has a vibrant foodservice landscape. The vibrancy, however, comes with a huge amount of waste generated throughout the operations. Not only is it a waste of resources but also increases the operating cost. As part of the government’s strategy to achieve “#WasteReduction．#ResourcesCirculation．#ZeroLandfill”, both the forthcoming #municipalsolidwastechargingscheme and single-use plastic ban call for the industry to actively work with different stakeholders to transition to a circular economy.   This Knowledge Primer will inquire into how the local foodservice industry can attain resource #circularity through collaboration with the government, businesses, consumers and culinary training institutes. The four individual presentations will shed light on the following topics: Invest Hong Kong will share the latest local trends of foodservice value chain’s innovation for circularity; The Institute of Dining Professionals will identify challenges involved in realising resource circularity, and discuss possible strategies for the industry to align the operations with resource circularity; Maxim’s Group will present practical insights of engaging consumers on circularity with the Circularity in Action projects’ experiences; The Principal of Hotel and Tourism Institute, Chinese Culinary Institute, and International Culinary Institute will bring in the perspective of instilling #circularthinking into the practitioners through refreshing curriculum and other learning experience.   A moderated discussion among the speakers will follow to exchange ideas on their different roles, and also potential synergy in the foodservice industry’s #valuechain to bring about circular transition.   The event will also celebrate the launch of the project’s A Practical Guidebook to a Circular Economy: Collaborating with Value Chain Partners for a Resilient Business. Designed as a go-to self-study resource particularly for foodservice business owners and managers to grasp and act on the idea of resource circularity, this Guidebook emphasises intellectual access, practicality, value chain-based problem-solving, and local relevance. The guidebook highlights exemplary circularity projects and best practices for reference, and also provides standard-aligned step-by-step guidance and readily available templates to help the readers translate commitment into action. Event details: Date: 17 October 2023 (Tuesday) Time: 2:30pm – 5:00pm (4:15pm to 5:00pm will be the networking session) Venue: HKU iCube, 4005-07, Two Exchange Square, Central, Hong Kong Format: Physical* Language: Cantonese and English (with SI) Programme website: https://bit.ly/KP6Event_eng For programme rundown: https://bit.ly/KP6Rundown For registration:  http://bit.ly/KP6_Registration (Deadline: 13 October 2023) For enquiry: Mr. Woody Cheng (Tel: 3910-2463 / Email: pslb@hku.hk)

What makes a good rural stewardship? The Forest Village Programme is an action research project initiated by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at HKU, with the aim of bringing Mui Tsz Lam and Kop Tong back to life. Adopting the revitalisation cluster as the scaling up strategy, the HKU team expands its effort from the multi-faceted and inclusive revitalization model of Lai Chi Wo programme and has now also taken on the Mui Tsz Lam and Kop Tong project with funding from the Countryside Conservation Office.

The Centre’s Rural Revitalisation project has won the Faculty KE Awards 2023 with its impact on enhancing civil society’s capacity and readiness for sustainability attainment using Rural Revitalisation as the action domain. You may find out more about the Project and its impact with this link: https://www.ke.hku.hk/assets/doc/KEAward/2023/SocialSciences.pdf The Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards were introduced in 2011 to recognise each Faculty’s outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organisations. The selection criteria include quality of the underpinning research and the impact with support of evidence, effectiveness of the engagement process with the community or partner organisations, and demonstration of cross- and multi-disciplinary impacts. Congratulations to the inter-disciplinary team: Professor Wai Fung Lam and team members – Dr Winnie Wai Yi Law, Ms Katie Hiu Lai Chick, Mr Ryan Siu Him Leung, Ms Sianna Si In Yiu, Ms Vivian Hoi Shan Leung, Dr Taihua Hu, Ms Iris Pui Yee Man, Mr Leo Ying Yin Li, Ms Yiying Zhang, Dr Vivian Ho Yee Chu, Dr Jessica Marie Williams and Dr Sarah Sau Tung Liao, Centre for Civil Society and Governance; Dr Billy Chi Hang Hau and Professor David Dudgeon, School of Biological Sciences; Professor Ji Chen, Department of Civil Engineering.

You are cordially invited to the fifth Knowledge Primer (KP) titled “Scaling Circularity through Transformative Technologies and Business Model Innovation” under the “Partnership for Sustainability Leadership in Business” (PSLB) project, initiated by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG) of HKU with support from The Hongkong Bank Foundation. Waste challenge has always been painstaking in Hong Kong. The Waste Blueprint for Hong Kong 2035, which was issued by the Government in 2021, highlights that circularity transformation is noticeably happening in other Asian cities to relieve the over-reliance on landfills. The circularity approach allows better use of valuable land resources and technology while transforming waste into various useful resources, hence achieving a ‘multi-wins’ situation that seems very promising. However, only a few circularity initiatives have succeeded in a large-scale implementation to this date in Hong Kong. This Knowledge Primer will take a closer look into the driving forces needed by businesses, industries, and the Government to develop a scalable circular model in Hong Kong. The three keynote speeches will address the following topics: global value chain transformation and its implications for circular economy transition from an academic perspective; Esquel Group, a garment manufacturing giant, will be sharing their experience of putting circularity into practice in driving business model innovation, and last but not least, Watsons Water, a known brand for bottled distilled water, will shed lights on how to leverage on supply chain management and customer engagement to ramp up their circularity efforts. It will be followed by a panel discussion joined by all keynote speakers and representatives from Nan Fung Development Limited and Eureka Nova to exchange views on building a vibrant ecosystem for circular economy by forging partnerships across different value chains. After the inspiring discussion, the event will end on a high note with the Sustainable Value Chains (SVC) Commitment and SMEs Sustainability Leadership Recognition Scheme Cohort 2022 Prize Presentation Ceremony, recognizing participating companies’ achievements over the one-year journey that fosters partnerships between value chain partners and accelerates the circular transformation. The event details are as follows: Date: 4 July 2023 (Tuesday) Time: 2:30pm – 6:30pm (5:30pm – 6:30pm will be the networking session) Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong Format: Physical and Online via Zoom* Language: Cantonese and English (with simultaneous interpretation) *A participant limit will be in place for physical and online attendance to cater to the maximum capacity of the venue and online streaming platform. Please sign up to reserve your space. Should you be interested in participating, please register via https://bit.ly/KP5_Registration on or before 2 July 2023. You are welcome to contact Ms. Mimi Kan at Telephone: 3910-2535 / Email: pslb@hku.hk for queries. PSLB Team

Rural Sustainability Programme – APAC Initiative for Regional Impact (AIRI) Regional Forum I  Bridging Knowledge and Action: the Roles of the University in Rural Revitalisation Rural communities of many developed and developing countries are facing pressing challenges of depopulation and environmental deterioration. Higher education institutions, as the hubs of knowledge and innovation, are increasingly expected to contribute to rural sustainable development and respond to the needs of rural communities. This regional forum calls upon academics and renowned practitioners from Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong to share their experiences and insights on how universities can play a critical role in rural revitalisation by integrating knowledge and resources from different fields, promoting urban-rural partnerships, as well as incubating local talents and changemakers. Date: 17th June 2023 (Saturday) Time: 09:30am-12:15pm Hong Kong Time Format: Join us at Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong or via Zoom Languages: English (with simultaneous interpretation into Mandarin and Thai on Zoom) Details and Registration: https://ccsg.hku.hk/airi/1st-regional-forum   All are welcome!

Despite the significant number of people with disabilities (PWD) in Hong Kong, their needs and well-being are often neglected. However, PWD are entitled to respect, recognition, possibilities, and diversified lifestyles like everyone else. Career planning is a continuous and life-long process. Under the principle of integrated education, most special educational needs (SEN) students enroll in mainstream schools. They receive the same career planning service as non-SEN students despite the likelihood of needing an individualised educational plan. Recognising SEN students’ possible diverse career paths, educators are encouraged to scout the job market to provide suitable career planning for SEN students to unleash their employment potential after leaving school. Hong Kong is currently facing a shortage of talent and labour, and employers and industries are eager to come up with plans to fill job vacancies or nurture local talent. If companies can locate the talent pool in PWD, they will arrive at a win-win situation whereby they can now tackle labour shortage while PWD will have gainful employment. Moreover, riding on the increasingly popular tide of “Environment, Social and Governance” (ESG) as an indicator of corporate performance and resilience, nourishing an equal and diverse inclusive workplace culture can help the industry create social value and expand the imagination of social impact solutions. The Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong is launching the “Inclusive Education & Employment – Business & School Partnership Award Scheme,” a platform that combines resources, knowledge, and skills for representatives from the business sector and mainstream schools. It aims to facilitate the corporates to understand how diverse talents can bring value to business operations and for the education sector to know more about the job market trends. 💡Target Audience From the business sector: corporate communications and sustainability, human resources, and people committed to fulfilling social responsibility. From mainstream secondary schools: teachers responsible for life planning education and SEN supports. 💡Main Content Knowledge Exchange Sessions: Knowledge is the basis for empathy. In these sessions, experts and experienced practitioners from different sectors will be invited to share their professional knowledge and wisdom in practising inclusive employment. You will learn more about the malleability of PWD and the benefits of business and school partnerships from multiple perspectives. Organization Visits: Visits to PWD vocational training institutions and corporates that practice inclusive employment will be arranged. The visits will enhance participants’ understanding of PWD’s latest training curriculum and they will receive practical tips on working with PWD. Interactive Experiential Workshops: Workshops will be hosted by PWD trained and employed by non-governmental organisations and social enterprises. Participants can interact with these diverse talents through different forms of activities, enhancing communication and understanding between you and PWD. All activities will be conducted in Cantonese, are free of charge, and run on a first-come-first-served basis.. For registration, please fill in the Application Form. For more information, please refer to the Programme Guide (Chinese version only). If you have any questions about the Scheme, please contact us at jcicp@hku.hk. Let’s achieve a sustainable and inclusive society together! Thank you.

March 31, 2023 The Centre for Civil Society and Governance (“the Centre”) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) welcomes Mr. George Chen to join as an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Centre. As a practitioner–scholar, Mr. Chen brings his over two decades long professional experience in media, technology and policy to the Centre and the wider Faculty of Social Sciences. Mr. Chen, a Yale World Fellow appointed by Yale University in 2014, was the most senior policy representative based in Hong Kong, one of the two Asia Pacific hubs for Meta, previously known as Facebook, for more than seven years until most recently. Mr. Chen joined then Facebook in January 2016 to build the company’s regional policy operation from scratch out of its Hong Kong office. Later Mr. Chen became Meta’s first-ever Managing Director of Public Policy for Greater China, Mongolia, and Central Asia. At Meta, Mr. Chen also led the company’s supply chain related policy issues across the Asia Pacific region. During his time at Meta, Mr. Chen helped to launch the Tech for Good Initiative at the Centre in 2021, including the Meta-HKU Scholarship in Public Policy and Sustainability Leadership to support students of Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Social Sciences in the field of Sustainability Leadership and Governance (MSocSc(SLG)) on the basis of academic merit. Prior to Meta, Mr. Chen served in various editorial and management positions for major media organisations in Hong Kong and Shanghai, including the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Reuters, and Dow Jones. Mr. Chen was the youngest Managing Editor appointed by the SCMP in its century-long history. He also had short stints for Reuters in New York, London, and Dubai. Mr. Chen has been on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong since 2019. Mr. Chen was awarded the “Medal of Friendship” in 2022 – one of the highest honours for foreigners — by the order of the President of Mongolia for his long-time contributions to Mongolia’s IT industry development. Mr. Chen earned his Master of International and Public Affairs (with distinction) from the HKU, with concentration on US-China-Taiwan triangle relations. He’s been also working on his Doctor of Public Administration dissertation about misinformation and regulation at the HKU.

Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment Inclusive Career Platform A Sincere Invitation to Download “InMatch” Mobile Application In recent years, there has been growing public awareness of people with disabilities and the need for social inclusion. Interest-based communities, corporates and the philanthropic sector are keen to contribute to the cause, and yet many organisations promoting social inclusion are unable to gain headway on projects due to a lack of resources.   To resolve this mismatch, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong has launched the mobile app “InMatch” under the Inclusive Career Platform of the Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment. Users can share their innovative social inclusion project ideas/solutions; and various resources, such as capital, time, network and skills anytime, anywhere through their mobile devices to promote social inclusion.   As a resource-matching platform connecting different sectors, “InMatch” fosters a conducive environment in which communities of interest can engender a socially inclusive and cohesive society, while also facilitating more efficient and effective allocation of community resources.   The main features of the app include: Inclusion Ideas – Publish innovative inclusive project ideas or activities; and seek suitable resources (including seeking job openings for people with disabilities); Available Resources – Provide resources to support inclusive projects (including recruitment of people with disabilities); Latest Activities – Announce and browse the latest inclusive activities and information.   The mobile app supports: Corporates to connect and support organisations which promote social inclusion, with a view to optimising their “Environmental, Social and Governance” (ESG) performance; Schools, NGOs, parent organisations and social and promote activities through the app; Parents and people with special education needs (SEN) / disabilities to browse the inclusive activities to grasp the community information and resources; Community members to offer their resources to those in need more efficiently.   The mobile app “InMatch” is now available for free download from App Store and Google Play.   If you have any questions about “InMatch”, please contact us at jcicp@hku.hk.   Let’s achieve a sustainable and inclusive society together! Thank you.