11 / 11 / 2018
Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project helps enhance quality of family services with aid of ICT
To promote family harmony, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has initiated the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project in collaboration with The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and NGOs. This four-year project, making effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) and data analytics, is aimed at helping 26 NGO-operated Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Service Centres (Centres) enhance the quality and efficiency of their family services, as well as facilitate their early identification of at-risk family cases and provide any needed intervention. The project is also aimed at building the capabilities of front-line workers so as to achieve the goal of enhancing family well-being.
Officiating guests at the launch ceremony of the project today (11 November) were Club Steward Margaret Leung; Secretary for Labour and Welfare Dr the Hon Law Chi-kwong; and Acting President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong Professor Paul Tam.
Mrs Leung said the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project encouraged the effective use of ICT to provide innovative family services and enhance family harmony. ˇ§The Club has always been committed to improving the lives of Hong Kong people through multi-sector collaboration. Combining the cross-sectoral efforts of the academic and social welfare sectors, this project aimed at helping 26 NGO-operated Integrated Family Service Centres and Integrated Service Centres reduce their administrative work and enhance the quality and efficiency of their family services with the use of information and communications technology and big data analysis,ˇ¨ she explained.
The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project is funded by a Trust donation of over HK$157 million, and involves cross-sectoral collaboration with the School of Public Health and Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative at HKU, along with more than ten NGOs.
A content management system (i-Connect) will be developed for the 26 NGO-operated Centres participating in the project, covering information management, assessment and administrative functions. The system will help reduce the Centresˇ¦ administrative work and facilitate their early identification of at-risk cases, so that early preventive and remedial services can be offered. ICT tools will also be developed to enable more families to access services provided by the Centres. An online platform for capability building will also be established to help front-line workers join online training and experience-sharing programmes.
In addition, public education activities will be organised to enhance citizensˇ¦ knowledge and understanding of healthy family functioning, as well as to encourage more social workers to organise family-based activities using ICT. The School of Public Health at HKU will conduct big data analysis on the information gathered through the i-Connect system, aiming to help policymakers, Centre operators and even individual social workers understand the emerging service needs and proactively adjust their services accordingly to meet future requirements.
The Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project is expected to benefit about 75,000 individuals and around 1,000 social workers. Through its public education activities, online platforms and social media, a further 170,000 members of the public will be able to enhance their understanding of family well-being and thus help promote family harmony.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a world-class racing club that acts continuously for the betterment of our society. The Club has a unique integrated business model, comprising racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. Through this model, the Club generates economic and social value for the community and supports the Government in combatting illegal gambling. In 2017/18, the Club made a record return to the Government of HK$22.6 billion in duty and profits tax and contributed HK$1.2 billion to the Lotteries Fund. Approved charity donations were HK$4.2 billion. The Club is Hong Kong's largest single taxpayer and one of the cityˇ¦s major employers. Its Charities Trust is also one of the world's top ten charity donors. The Club is always "riding high together for a better future" with the people of Hong Kong. Please visit www.hkjc.com.
Photo Captions:
Photo 1:
Club Steward Margaret Leung says the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project encourages the effective use of information and communications technology to promote innovative family services and enhance family harmony.
Photo 2:
Club Steward Margaret Leung (right), Secretary for Labour and Welfare Dr the Hon Law Chi-kwong (center), and Acting President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong Professor Paul Tam (left) officiate at the launch ceremony of the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project.
Photo 3:
Group photo.
Photos 4/5:
Guests tour the game booths at the launch ceremony of the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project and an associated community event.
Photos can be downloaded from the website of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (www.hkjc.com/english/corporate/corp_news.asp).
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