Press Releases
CIIF Committee pays tribute to Dr Raymond Wu
The following is issued on behalf of the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund
Committee:
The Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF) Committee writes an article
today (October 12) paying tribute to Committee chairman, Dr Raymond Wu wai-yung,
who passed away last week.
The committee praised Dr Wu for his work and contributions in promoting the CIIF,
saying that his passion and commitment for the well-being of Hong Kong never
wavered, in health, in sickness and as he departed from us in such haste.
Under the dedicated leadership of Dr Wu, the CIIF took up the challenge to make
changes to mindsets, values, networks and institutional relationships, as part
of the social capital building process. Homespun values championed by the CIIF
included the strong belief that there were abilities and talent amongst the most
vulnerable that could be nurtured; that there was opportunity and hope that
could be created through reciprocal mutual help and partnerships; that it was
more blessed to give than to receive; and that human dignity transcended
material gains.
Dr Wu had been working tirelessly to plant and cultivate the seeds of change. He
went to every corner of all 18 districts and patiently coached over 100 projects
into fruition. At policy levels, Dr Wu worked through policy bureaus to push for
policy coherence in implementation. At project levels, Dr Wu encouraged a number
of pilot initiatives to encourage cross-sectoral partnerships to create new
opportunities. At the community level, he encouraged a jump out of the
intra-group bonding to weave more dynamic and neighbourhood-based mutual help
networks that bridged generations, social strata and backgrounds. His primary
objective was to create the necessary conditions to foster social inclusion and
social harmony in the community.
With the hard efforts of Dr Wu, the CIIF so far supported 116 social capital
projects of varying scales in every district. More than 2,700 collaborators were
engaged in joint implementation, with more than 10,000 previous service
recipients transformed into givers, over 200 mutual help networks established
and more than 300,000 people involved.
The committee said feedback from the participants whose roles and lives had been
transformed was overwhelmingly positive. The effectiveness of the social capital
building strategies had been affirmed by an independent evaluation undertaken by
a CIIF Evaluation Consortium formed by five local universities.
Social capital theories and practice were being incorporated into a number of
university curricula. Various advisory committees such as those for social
welfare, women, elderly, youth, rehabilitation and social work training were
generally impressed with the relevance and potential of social capital
strategies for their policy areas. In August this year, Dr Wu was invited by the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) to present the CIIF experience to their staff. The
CIIF experience was well regarded, contributing conceptual, strategic as well as
implementation insights for a new community-driven development policy initiative
that the bank planned to promote.
Acting Chairperson of the CIIF Committee, Ms Sophia Kao, said: "As a team, we
feel abundantly blessed to have worked with Dr Wu. Throughout the last four and
half years, we have been guided, challenged and nurtured by Dr Wu's exemplary
unreserved giving, compassion for the 'little people' in the community,
exceptional intellect, boundless wisdom, good-humoured challenges, quick wits
and resourcefulness.
"There could be no better tribute to Dr Wu than our pledge to further innovate,
enhance, sustain, develop and extend the impact of social capital development
that he started in Hong Kong and elsewhere."
Ends/Thursday, October 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:08
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CIIF Committee pays tribute to Dr Raymond Wu