(Beijing) The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) and the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) today jointly announced the launch of “March for Compassion”, a new initiative to provide social work services for 10 categories of impoverished families nationwide and to build capacity in the field of social work which has been adopted as a new national policy. A contribution of RMB 20 million from LKSF supports the MoCA in the nationwide implementation of the program with a focus on Zhejiang, Shandong, Anhui, and Chongqing provinces.
The program aims to pioneer a bottom-up community service model by professional social work services, offer online training in high level professional knowledge, as well as advance policy research on social work service standards in China. 100 projects based in 100 communities will be selected, with each major program receiving RMB 200,000 in grants, and other smaller programs receiving RMB 100,000. The programs provide a wide range of services, serving a wide cross-section of underprivileged groups, including migrant populations, left-behind rural villagers, mentally ill patients, unemployed, special needs groups, and the elderly. 200,000 people are expected to benefit. In addition to building a comprehensive digital distance learning platform, training will be provided for 1,500 officers of MoCA as well as professional social workers as a way to build capacity. Through policy research seminars, public forums and academic exchanges, the program will not only raise awareness of the importance of social work, but also advance standards in the field of social work.
