NPO Management and Hong Kong Social Welfare History
Non-Profit Organization (NPO) Fundamentals
Defining NPOs and Their Characteristics
From an academic viewpoint, NPOs exhibit the following characteristics:
- Organized: Structured operations and governance.
- Private: Institutionally separate from government.
- Non-Profit Distributing: Surplus revenue is reinvested, not distributed to owners or directors.
- Self-Governing: Able to control their own activities.
- Voluntary: Relying significantly on voluntary participation and contributions.
NPO Functions and Impacts
The Social Welfare Department interacts with NPOs through Funding and Service Agreements (FSAs) and Service Documents (SDs).
Many European NPOs are based in rich countries but operate internationally, often in foreign developing countries.
Positive Impact Areas:
- Policy influence (especially in Social Welfare, SW).
- Religious outreach.
- Direct service provision.
Negative Impact: NPOs may have an edge over businesses due to their tax-exempt status.
Foundations of Altruism
Traditional altruism provides the philosophical basis for NPO work:
- Christianity: Emphasizes unconditional love.
- Often part of spreading the Gospel.
- Confucianism: Focuses on benevolent love.
NPO Management, Measurement, and Social Value
Areas of Social Concern and Issues
NPOs address various social problems and issues, including:
- Crime and social disorder.
- Public health crises.
- Recreation needs.
- Educational gaps.
Social Measurement Techniques
Social measurement aims to quantify social issues and impact using:
- Quantitative data analysis.
- Social projects (surveys, interviews, focus groups).
Understanding Social Values
Social values are not captured in market price but are measured in financial value. They form the core mission, vision, and value upon which NPOs are established.
Key Principles for Measuring Social Value:
- Involve stakeholders.
- Understand impacts thoroughly.
- Prioritization of needs.
- Publication (e.g., annual reports).
- Do not over-claim (demonstrate substance/capability).
- Transparency in operations.
- Verify the results.
Social Capital Defined
Social Capital refers to the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society:
- Bonds: Close ties (e.g., blood relationship).
- Bridges: Broader connections (e.g., classmate, colleague).
- Linkages: Connections across different sectors (e.g., NPO involvement).
NPOs often serve as the main vehicle of development in developing countries.
All entities, from traditional non-profit to for-profit organizations, generate Income, Social Value, and Social Impact.
Modern NPO Structures and Governance
Hybridization and Social Enterprise
Hybridization: Entities exhibiting characteristics from two or more sectors (government, private, non-profit/civil society).
Social Enterprise: Focuses on economic empowerment by creating employment and training opportunities for the socially disadvantaged, promoting Social Inclusion.
NGO Social Responsibility (NSR)
The first element of NSR involves contributing to a specific social good or common interest, feeling responsible for social needs that are not covered by governmental policies or even not yet acknowledged by the public.
Accountability and Ethics
- Accountability: Requires transparency and efficiency.
- Stakeholder: Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by an organization.
- Ethical Issues: Compensation, conflict of interest, publication and solicitation practices, financial integrity, investment policies, accountability, and strategic management.
Effective NPO Leadership
Successful leadership requires:
- Situational Fit: Addressing current problems (e.g., aging population).
- Sustainability Planning: Thinking long-term (e.g., 5-year plans).
- Vision Supervision: Overseen by management or a supervisory board.
- Transparency: Making the work public.
Historical Development of Social Welfare in Hong Kong
Early Colonial Hong Kong and Social Segregation
In early Hong Kong history, distinct geographical and social segregation existed:
- Tai Ping Shan District (Sheung Wan): Home to local Chinese, characterized by poor living environments and hygiene.
- The Peak: Reserved for Western residents.
This led to segregation between the Government and the Chinese community in terms of living places, ruling systems, punishment, and the implementation of the Night Pass (curfew, 宵禁).
Economic and Social Changes
Economic development centered on Hong Kong as a Free Port and Entrepôt Trade hub, leading to a significant population increase, primarily Chinese laborers (known as coolies).
After 1857, Chinese merchants shifted their businesses and capital into Hong Kong.
Hang (Nam Pak Hang): Associations formed by merchants to protect their own interests.
Emergence of Chinese Leadership
Early social problems included a high criminal rate, many single male migrants, and a lack of strong lineage structures necessary for jurisdiction. Consequently, the richest businessmen became powerful leaders of the Chinese population in Hong Kong.
Chinese Voluntary Association: The Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan served as an early judicial and social center, where people were judged in a public assembly (公所) beside the Temple, handling wife-family issues and signing business contracts.
Founding Key Institutions: TWH and PLK
The Tung Wah Hospital (TWH)
The need for TWH was highlighted by the 1869 Kwong Fook I Tsz Scandal, involving dead bodies and sick people housed improperly. Chinese residents lacked medical care, being poor and distrusting Western medical services.
In 1870, Governor McDonnell proposed the idea of a Chinese Hospital. The establishment served to mitigate the I Tsz scandal, was funded by influential Chinese merchants, and facilitated indirect rule over the Chinese population.
- Chinese Influence: Based on Confucianism and Buddhism.
- Western Governance: Run by law (The Chinese Hospital Incorporation Ordinance).
TWH moved from Fan Mo Street to Po Yan Street.
Community Leadership: The establishment of TWH recognized the power of the Chinese merchant elite, granting them the highest social status and effectively transferring all functions previously held by the Man Mo Temple.
Merchants contributed attributes such as time, talent, and skill for administration, investment, and fundraising.
Later developments included the 1894 Bubonic Plague and the opening of Kwong Wah Hospital in 1911.
The Po Leung Kuk (PLK)
Established in 1878, Po Leung Ku (保赤安良) means “protecting the young and women.”
The need arose from the trade of men (coolies) starting in the 1850s and the trade of women (often referred to as “flower pig,” kidnapped and abducted overseas) starting in the 1860s.
Vulnerability Factors Leading to Prostitution or Suicide:
- Orphans raised by prostitutes.
- Women who lost husbands needing to raise children.
- Families incurring debt.
- Women leaving unhappy families.
- Women cheated into working as maidservants overseas.
- Kidnapping and being sold overseas.
- Slave-like Mui Tsai being sold.
The Rules for the Society for the Protection of Women and Children were established in 1882.
PLK worked to suppress abduction by offering rewards for information about kidnapping, employing detectives, and providing temporary shelter for victims.
Mui Tsai: A domestic servant or maidservant who was slave-like, had no fixed working hours, had to obey all owner orders, and received no wages, only food and lodging. The disputation over this practice began around 1879, leading to the eventual end of the Mui Tsai system in 1930.
Post-WWII and Modern Social Welfare
After 1970, Hong Kong saw significant development in industry and export, attracting many migrants and refugees from Mainland China, alongside a baby boom following WWII.
MacLehose Reforms (1970s): Governor MacLehose introduced wide-ranging reforms that laid the foundation of modern Hong Kong as a cohesive, self-aware society, significantly improving the social welfare system:
- Establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
- Massive public housing program.
- Expansion of community and arts facilities.
- Expansion of social welfare and community facilities.
- Introduction of 9 years of compulsory education.
These new developments, particularly in education, aimed to help citizens rely on themselves within society.