Mrs Amy Chan Chairman
Mrs Chan is Founder cum Chairman of the Charitable Foundation of Love.
She is also Chairman of the Child Development Matching Fund ( CDMF ), and a director of the Quality Mentorship Network, and the Hong Kong Stroke Fund. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Hospital Management of the Tsinghua University in Shenzhen.
Empowering Youth, Shaping Society
The Child Development Initiative Alliance (CDIA) was established in 2014. In our first 10 years of operation, we faced numerous challenges and difficulties. Nevertheless, CDIA has remained unwavering in its mission to facilitate youth development in Hong Kong. As CDIA Chairman, I believe that everyone is born with useful talents. By drawing out young people to speak from their hearts and listening intently to what they say, we can help them find a path to realise their dreams. This belief is what gives all of us at CDIA the energy to weather all storms and keep moving forward.
In 2013, a group of passionate individuals in the community came together with an understanding that young people will be shaping our society's future. They envisioned a platform to connect government, business, and the community to foster youth development in Hong Kong. After months of preparation, CDIA was officially launched in 2014. Society was focused on resolving intergenerational poverty at the time. We believed we could play a role in breaking the cycle of poverty by helping grassroots youths to identify their career aspirations and map out a route toward their goal. Indeed, the future belongs to our young people. If they are full of hope, the future of our society will be assured.
In the last ten years, we have steadfastly explored our way forward, accumulating experience and launching the Youth Work Explorer Programme (Y-WE). We know that young people may, at times, feel a bit lost about their future. We have self-developed a systematic method to conduct detailed assessments and one-on-one interviews with young participants to help them understand their interests, potential, and career aspirations. The effectiveness of our methodology has been scientifically validated. After identifying a possible career path, we place participants in suitable businesses or organisations to gain work experience, giving them first-hand exposure to the job nature and working environment of their chosen profession and industry.
I am delighted that since the launch of the Y-WE programme, the satisfaction rates of participating youth and the organisations providing work experience opportunities have consistently trended upwards, reaching XX% this year. I monitor this rate closely, not for the numbers themselves, but as an encouragement to my CDIA colleagues and our dedicated volunteers. We have yet to reach 100 percent, but this also means there is room for improvement, and we will continue to review and enhance the programme.
CDIA's achievements are largely due to strong support from Hong Kong’s business sector, the government, and community organisations. Currently, more than 400 business and organisation partners provide invaluable work experience opportunities to students, a vital element of our programme. I am grateful to be able to journey forward with these like-minded partners who share our vision and I welcome more friends to join us in our effort so that we may serve more young people.
The HKSAR Government launched its "Strive and Rise” poverty alleviation initiative in 2022 for secondary school students. A “Strive and Rise” Alumni has now been established to provide work experience for young participants from the inaugural cohort. I praise the government's direction and am excited that CDIA has been chosen to play a role in this initiative. Together with the government, we can help more young people live vibrant lives.
Youth development requires benevolence and seamless collaboration among all parties involved. While it is essential to have social organisations like CDIA to serve on the frontlines, the support and involvement of the business sector and the community at large are of equal importance. This collective effort instills confidence in young people to meet the future, helping them to prepare and navigate towards their life goals. Collaboration among government, business, and the community is a necessity. Let's all work together to empower our youths. We are not only helping them to find future careers, but we are also nurturing talent for tomorrow’s society, a society that belongs to future generations.