Message We sha make every effort to strengthen the community buiding programme which serves to foster among the peope of Hong Kong a sense of beonging and mutua care. We wi continue to impement the District Administration Scheme through our network of District Offices and oca organisations to hep Hong Kong become an even more ivey, caring and prosperous community. We hep to promote pubic understanding of government poicies through our extensive iaison network with oca residents and community organisations, reguar visits and organisation of community projects. We aso keep up our community buiding efforts by encouraging pubic participation in various activities targeted at promoting community wefare, better buiding management and in the fight against crime. We sha strive to maintain the Hong Kong Specia Administrative Region (HKSAR) as an integrated and harmonious society, with broad pubic participation in community affairs and a strong sense of commitment to the we-being of the community. We sha take the ead in and ca for fu community ownership of the responsibiity for nurturing and deveoping our young peope. To prepare our young peope for the chaenges of the new miennium and to take an active part in buiding up the HKSAR, we sha work with famiies, schoos, empoyers, media, non-governmenta organisations (NGOs), youth groups, as we as young peope themseves through partnership and promotion of civic education. Specificay, we sha reinforce the widey accepted positive vaues among the young peope and deveop structured eadership training programmes on a continuing basis to meet the training needs at every stage of a youth's deveopment. We
sha encourage young peope to nurture their sense of beonging to Hong Kong as we as to appreciate Chinese cuture and heritage on the one hand and to widen their vista through internationa exchange programmes on the other. (David H T Lan) Secretary for Home Affairs
Community and Youth Deveopment Our Poicy Objective is to promote community and youth deveopment to nurture civic responsibiity and a sense of beonging. Our targets in pursuing this Poicy Objective are to achieve a high eve of pubic participation in community affairs to increase the number of district campaigns and community invovement projects organised to maintain a high percentage of those eigibe to register as voters to enhance the eve of awareness of the pubic of their civic responsibiities to enhance the eve of awareness about community and youth services avaiabe to enhance the sense of beonging amongst the community 1
Key Resut Areas (KRAs) To ensure that this Poicy Objective can be achieved, we must deiver resuts in a number of key areas, that is, we must I II III IV Review community deveopment needs and provision Create and maintain a community support infrastructure Buid community awareness and responsiveness Nurture the growth of a stronger understanding of our community and cuture Page 3 Page 6 Page 8 Page 11 The foowing sections of this booket expain the importance of these KRAs, describe the broad thrust of our efforts, and outine the indicators which we are using to assess progress. Each section ists the new key initiatives being taken to achieve our objectives and pinpoints the agency accountabe for each initiative and the specific targets which we intend to meet. 2
I Review community deveopment needs and provision The District Administration Scheme provides a channe for the Government to understand the views of the pubic and identify any shortfa in the provision of services. We assist Government bureaux and departments in consuting the district advisory bodies on territory-wide and district issues. In so doing, we ensure that pubic views on important issues are taken account of in the poicy-making process. We aso ensure that improvements are made to the oca environment and to the quaity of ife of peope in the district. We are committed to ensuring that new arrivas in Hong Kong quicky integrate into our community and contribute to our society. We conduct reguar surveys to understand their probems and needs, and iaise with bureaux, departments and service providers in the panning and deivery of services to meet their needs. It is important that our young peope are brought up in such a way that they wi be abe to contribute to and be eaders of the community in future. We woud continue to seek the advice of the Commission on Youth on how our young peope coud take up a more active roe in buiding up the HKSAR and in vountary work. To ensure that our civic education programmes are abe to meet the changing needs of society, the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education conducts reguar opinion surveys on civic education. 3
Indicators The indicators we wi use to measure progress in this area are the number of community need reviews conducted against pan the shortfa in service identified for current and future years the number of new services identified to meet demand shortfa predictions the number of new service deveopment projects panned and funded Initiatives To strengthen co-ordination with district advisory bodies (Home Affairs Bureau )* To review the Chinese Tempes Ordinance to ensure that its provisions meet the changing needs of the community Targets To encourage bureaux and departments to consut the Provisiona District Boards as far as possibe on territorywide issues and district issues By mid-1999, to identify the provisions which shoud be revised and formuate recommendations accordingy * the brackets denote the agency with ead responsibiity for the initiative 4
Initiatives To enhance our capacity to review services provided for new arrivas, to encourage NGOs to impement new initiatives to hep new arrivas and to conduct reguar surveys on new arrivas to understand their probems and needs (Home Affairs Department (HAD)) Targets To conduct quartery surveys on new arrivas in 1999 to assess the probems and needs of the new arrivas and to faciitate improvements to new arrivas services To hod round-tabe meetings with NGOs twice a year to evauate the effectiveness and adequacy of existing services provided for new arrivas and to exchange views on how to enhance these services To study support systems for young new arrivas (Commission on Youth (CoY)) To study the infuence of the media on young peope (CoY) To conduct the 1998 opinion survey on civic education (Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education) To compete the study in mid-1999 To compete the study in eary 1999 To compete the survey in end 1998 5
II Create and maintain a community support infrastructure To foster coser ties between the community and the Government and to encourage pubic participation in activities promoting community wefare, we maintain an extensive iaison network with oca residents and community organisations. We provide and manage community has and centres, which provide venues for civic education and community buiding activities. We provide Area Committees (ACs) with the necessary support to assist them in deaing with oca issues. Our District Offices hep to set up and maintain reguar iaison with Mutua Aid Committees (MACs) and Owners Corporations (OCs) to ensure that their concerns and probems are brought to the notice of reevant departments for action. The Home Affairs Department, through its iaison network and cose ties with the rura communities, impements the Rura Panning Improvement Strategy (RPIS) Minor Works Programme and minor environmenta improvement projects. Through the work of a Co-ordinating Committee on New Arriva Services supported by district co-ordinating committees and overseen by a Steering Committee on New Arriva Services, we co-ordinate the provision of services to hep new arrivas in Hong Kong integrate into the community. We aso maintain a partnership with NGOs in assisting new arrivas. Indicators The indicators we wi use to measure progress in this area are the number of community has and centres providing venues for community activities the utiisation rate of community has and centres against pan the number of ACs, MACs and OCs estabished 6
Initiatives To encourage the formation of district bodies and buiding-based residents organisations (Home Affairs Bureau ) To assist in the 1998-1999 Voter Registration drive To compete the RPIS (Minor Works) Programme and to impement the annua minor environmenta improvement projects so as to upgrade the infrastructure and improve the iving environment of the rura community To re-deveop the Chai Wan Community Centre to provide a centra faciity for youth deveopment activities which wi incude faciities for conferences, seminars, workshops, and internationa exchange programmes Targets To form at east 270 new MACs/ OCs in 1999 To register as many eigibe permanent residents as voters as possibe To spend up to $588 miion in 1999-2000 in improving the rura environment To compete the project by 2003 7
III Buid community awareness and responsiveness The Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education promotes civic awareness among the genera pubic by organising territory-wide projects such as the annua Civic Education Day and annua Civic Education Exhibition workshops and competitions teevision and radio programmes production of educationa materias on a wide range of civic education topics The Committee aso operates a funding scheme to enabe NGOs to organise civic education projects. We promote the understanding of the Basic Law by sponsoring projects organised by NGOs through the Basic Law Promotion Funding Scheme. We aso promote community invovement by encouraging District Boards to make use of the District Board funds to organise simiar activities. To hep new arrivas buid up knowedge of the community and the services avaiabe to them, we pubish and reguary update a service handbook. The handbooks are distributed to new arrivas at the Lo Wu checkpoint, our Pubic Enquiry Services Centres and other Government and NGO outets. We organise the territory-wide Summer Youth Programme annuay for chidren and young peope aged between 6 and 25. We aso encourage NGOs and youth groups to organise exchange programmes in co-operation with simiar organisations overseas. 8
To enhance youth deveopment, the Commission on Youth advises the Government on matters affecting young peope and aso pubishes a Charter for Youth to promote the principes and ideas of youth deveopment. Indicators The indicators we wi use to measure progress in this area are the eve of subscription of organisations and individuas to the Charter for Youth the number of education, pubicity and other awareness buiding measures impemented the community and youth response and participation rates of our programmes the eve of invovement in vountary support activities and associations Initiatives To promote the principes and ideas for youth deveopment enshrined in the Charter for Youth (Home Affairs Bureau ) To expand the Community Participation Scheme under the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education Targets To expand the subscription for the Charter for Youth in 1999-2000 To increase the amount of sponsorship avaiabe under the Scheme in 1999-2000 9
Initiatives To expand the Internationa Youth Exchange Programme and invite greater invovement by NGOs To strengthen iaison with NGOs and reevant Government departments to organise more vounteer projects and eadership training programmes for young peope To promote the Summer Youth Programme for more young peope To provide updated information to more new arrivas on services to faciitate their eary integration into the community and to promote their sense of civic awareness To operate the Basic Law Promotion Funding Scheme to subsidise projects organised by community organisations for their specific target groups Targets To increase the number of youths joining the Programme in 1999-2000 To enabe more NGOs and young peope to participate in vounteer projects and eadership training programmes in 1999-2000 To provide activities to more than 1.2 miion young peope in 1999 To produce and distribute a new edition of handbook for new arrivas from the Mainand in 1999 To encourage more community organisations to organise projects for promoting the Basic Law in 1999-2000 by funding at east 20 projects 10
IV Nurture the growth of a stronger understanding of our community and cuture With the reunification with China, the peope of Hong Kong have assumed a new identity. It is important that the community shoud deveop a stronger sense of beonging to the HKSAR and its cuture and heritage through civic education programmes and community participation projects. We wi strengthen our efforts to insti a sense of beonging in the community through civic education. Indicator The indicator we wi use to measure progress in this area is the degree of pubic understanding of our community and cuture, as measured by opinion surveys. Initiatives To continue to encourage more NGOs to organise study tours to the Mainand for young peope (Home Affairs Bureau ) To promote community participation in activities organised under Hong Kong, Our Home Targets To enabe more young peope to visit the Mainand through projects organised by different NGOs in 1999-2000 To enabe community-wide participation in the programmes 11
Initiatives To produce more educationa packages to promote understanding of our nation and sense of beonging to our community To co-organise with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Radio Teevision Hong Kong and community organisations a arge scae pubicity programme to promote positive vaues and a stronger sense of beonging to the HKSAR (ICAC) To hep promote heathy iving messages through the organisation of community invovement events, in support of the campaign on Heathy Living into the 21st century (Heath and Wefare Bureau) Targets To produce two educationa packages for mass distribution each year from 1999 onwards To encourage more peope to participate in the programmes To encourage the organisation of community invovement events for the campaign in 1999-2000 12