1. To negotiate with government on suspension of welfare cut and extension of TOG.

• Direct dialogue with Social Wwlfare Department (SWD) and Health, Welfare and Food Bureau (HWFB) on the issues (Q1-Q4)
• Continuous communication with Agency Members on the progress (Q1-Q4)
• Identify options for government to consider (Q1)
  

Mitigate negative impact of cut in resources.

• The Council had channeled NGOs' comments and concerns on the proposed Special One-Off Grant to the Government. It also provided professional supports to agencies in their application process through collaboration with legal, accounting, HR and mediation professionals.

2. To build up the infrastructure of donation and fundraising for NGOs.

• Establish the Foundations Network for community, corporate and family foundations (Q2)
• Oversee and manage projects of employee giving scheme. (Q4)
• Promote legacy giving and policy donation scheme. (Q3)
  

Bringing philanthropists together in pursuit of new insights for giving.

• The Council had established the "Foundations Network", which is a ground breaking local initiative to support grant making organizations to advance their mission in serving the public good and to strengthen their efforts by promoting effective philanthropy. Currently, there are 41 foundations and grant making organizations being engaged in the Network.
  

1. To engage social workers and NGOs in identifying and analyzing the needs of selected population groups (e.g. children, elderly) and propose measures for addressing the needs. (Q1-Q3)
2. To engage experts from different sectors to study and propose policy solutions aimed at addressing the needs of working poor and low income families. (Q1-Q3)
3. To network and engage various think tanks and social groups in understanding, defining and fostering collective efforts in addressing the issue of poverty. (Q1-Q4)

• The Council had successfully engaged about 20 other organisations, mainly business and professional organisations as well as policy think tanks, to jointly organize an End Child Poverty event which provided opportunities for cross-sectoral deliberations to identify strategies and measures for poverty alleviation. Representatives of the organizers had presented the proposals to the Government and would work together to follow up on some of the suggestions.
• The Council had also lobbied the support of the Commission on Poverty in the development and promotion of social enterprises and also made submissions to the Commission and the Legislative Council on issues related to poverty. Concerned NGOs had also been engaged in the preparation of these submissions.

4. To monitor the progress and make recommendations to the Government and LegCo in relation CSSA review and basic needs study. (Q1-Q4)

• The Council had made submissions on the review of CSSA and presented the findings of the Basic Needs Study to both the Government and the LegCo. Two sharing sessions on operational issues of CSSA were also held with the attendance of the representatives of SWD as well as representatives of social welfare organisations so as to identify and jointly resolve operational issues experienced by CSSA applicants.

5. To organize forums for NGOs to discuss with Social Welfare Department on CSSA operational issues. (Q1-Q3)

1. To consolidate the sector's views on the future directions of social welfare and the setting of welfare agenda, and lobby for support. (Q1-Q3)

• After extensive consultation with the sector, the proposal on a social welfare blueprint was submitted to the Government for consideration. The HWFB initiated a welfare priorities setting exercise with the sector.
• Various discussion platforms on welfare priorities were held and the consolidated views were channeled through Council's representatives in HWFB's consultation sessions.
• The proposal for Welfare Priorities Setting for 2006/07 and Beyond was submitted to HWFB in August 05. Some of the recommendations are being followed up by the Government.

2. To work in partnership with the Government and to mobilize the rehabilitation and elderly sector to participate in the formulation of the new Rehabilitation Programme Plan and the policy agenda in response to an ageing society. (Q1-Q4)

Rehabilitation Programme Plan

• The working group on Rehabilitation Programme Plan (RPP) was formed under HWFB with a good representation of service operators and users. The Council played an active part in the working group and organized a series of discussion with the sector. Apart from a total of 7 submissions on various topics, the Council also proposed a framework for the strategic plan for reference of HWFB. The whole exercise is expected to be completed by May/June 2006.
  

To map out a framework of a blueprint for elderly services

• A working group was set up under the Specialized Committee on Elderly Services to follow up the task.
• An initial framework was mapped out and secondary data analysis has been done to enrich the discussion. Within the broader framework, the Specialized Committee has selected Active Ageing and Long-term-care for further deliberations and to make concrete recommendations in the year plan of 2006-07.

3. To organize inter-district sharing network to facilitate NGOs to participate in district welfare planning and respond to Government's initiatives in the design of the district welfare planning protocol. (Q1-Q4)

• A working group on district planning was formed with NGO colleagues from 13 districts. An informal network of NGO colleagues of different service backgrounds from the districts was also formed to enhance communication on issues relating to district planning. Cross-district sharing meeting was held to discuss on SWD's proposed district planning protocol.
• A proposal on district social needs indicators were formulated and submitted to the Government.
• A position paper on SWD's consultation paper on district welfare planning protocol was formulated after consultation with the sector and submitted to DSW, district council chairpersons and the LegCo Panel on Welfare Services for consideration.

4. To work in partnership with the sector and the Government in:

• Evaluation of DECC and NEC (Q1-Q4)
  

• The sector's views have been channeled to SWD and our comments on the Consultancy Brief were accepted by SWD. NGO and Council representatives were invited to participate in the Steering Committee convened by SWD, in which views collected from the sector have been channeled.

• Conversion of Home for the Aged and provision of Infirmary Case in non-hospital setting (Q1-Q4)

Conversion of Home for the Aged

• Sector's views were channeled to SWD & HWFB after reaching agreement on the overall conversion plan.
• Upon SWD's invitation for comments on the implementation details, the Council had further consolidated the sector's views for their consideration.
• A meeting was held with SWD to deliberate on the sector's concerns about the implementation details and feasible solution have been suggested. Under our facilitation, SWD organized a briefing on March 10, 2006 to inform the agencies with Homes being selected for the first stage conversion.
  

Provision of Infirmary Care in non-hospital setting

• Proposal on the provision of infirmary in non-hospital setting has been made after consultation with the sector and submitted to the Government.
• Discussion with the Hospital Authority was held upon invitation by SWD.

• Implementation of IFSC (Q1-Q4)

• Network on IFSCs was set up to provide a platform to discuss common concerns. 10 meetings were held to discuss operation and service interface issues.
• The views and suggestions were channeled and discussed with concerned government department.

• Policy direction of Community Development Service (Q1-Q4)

Advocating for a policy statement on CD service

• After extensive consultation with the sector, a proposal on the policy statement on CD service was prepared and submitted to HAB and the Government's response was positive.
• The CD Policy Statement was finalized and endorsed by LegCo as a Government paper on Community Development.
  

Discussion relating to funding and policy of CD service

• After discussion with the sector, the HAB committed to allocate an extra 2.8 M resource to support new CD service development in the 2006-07 financial year.
• A proposal on Community Networking Team in Economically Deprived Locality was prepared in consultation with the sector and forwarded to HAB for consideration.

• Capacity building of the sector through the Partnership Fund (Q1-Q4)

• A number of opportunities, such as tea gatherings and luncheons had been provided for NGOs to network with their potential partners and facilitate them in the application for Partnership Fund. Workshops for proposal writing had also been organized.

5. To make use of the Welfare Convention to discuss welfare agenda setting and sharing of evidence-based practice. (Q4)

• The Convention on Social Partnerships was organized on 19-20 January 2006, with the first day devoted to the theme of Social Partnerships and the second day to best practice sharing by winning agencies of the Best Practice Awards in Social Welfare 2005 to facilitate mutual learning within the sector. 184 participants attended the first-day programme and 282 the second-day, and their feedback was very positive. 84 Agency Members attended the Convention, representing 28% of total membership.
• In view of improving service quality and accountability through the promotion of evidence-based practice, the 2005 Best Practice Awards in Social Welfare was successfully launched with 91 entries from 28 NGOs.

1. Conduct a survey on public attitude towards welfare NGOs; and basing on the findings revise the Council's overall PR strategy including media strategy with action plan. (Q3)

• 800 telephones interviews were successfully completed in Oct-Dec 2005, and the survey report was completed and presented to the concerned Standing Committee in February 2006. A sharing session on the survey findings for Agency Members was organized in May 2006. After incorporating views of the Standing Committee and Agency Members, a revised PR strategy will be submitted to management in Q1 of 2006.

2. Conduct membership survey to collect feedback from Agency Members on the Council's major programmes and services, and its performance. (Q3)

• The Survey was completed in December 2005 with 177 Agency Members returning their completed questionnaires, representing a high return rate of 57%. Survey report with recommendations were presented to and then endorsed by the concerned Standing Committee and the Executive Committee in January 2006. A sharing session on the survey findings for Agency Members will be organized in April 2006.

3. Build capacity for business development:

• Developing the Council's fee-charging policy; (Q1)
• Developing project costing framework; (Q1)
  

• First draft of the fee-charging policy was presented to Senior Management Meeting in May 2005. Basing on senior management's views and the subsequent discussions with individual components, the policy was finalized in March 2006 and will be implemented in full swing wef April 2006.
• Development of the project costing framework was slipped owing to unforeseen heavy workload. It will be completed in 2006/07.

4. Negotiate with SWD for new FSA for 2006-09 and with Chest for allocation for 2005-06 and coming years. (Q2)

• Negotiation with SWD on the new FSA was pending upon the completion of SOG application. The Chest allocation for 2005-06 was settled in Q1 and discussion for the coming years is undergoing.