HONG KONG, 12 JUNE 2009 - The Hong Kong government said Thursday (11 June) that it will provide a HK$1 million (US$ 0.129 million) sponsorship to the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) for organizing IT training to social enterprises.
Announcing the sponsorship at the NGO Day 2009 Thursday morning, Government CIO Jeremy Godfrey said it was the third sector specific project under the IT Training Program for SMBs.
"We launched the IT Training Program for SMBs last year to enhance the IT capability of the individual workforce and the industry sectors concerned," said Godfrey. "Two training projects for SMBs in the travel industry and Chinese medicine practitioners have already commenced earlier this year."
The IT training project for social enterprises will run from October 2009 to May 2010, with classes on commercial and general IT applications.
The project is expected to benefit about 340 practitioners in social enterprises and create job opportunities for the IT industry in the areas of project management, training materials development, and class conducting, the government noted.
According to Godfrey, there were more than 250 social enterprises with more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and practitioners as well as 5,000 frontline employees in Hong Kong.
Microsoft donates HK$6.4 million to HKCSS
At the same event, Microsoft announced a HK$6.4 million cash and in-kind donation to the HKCSS and four NGOs for IT training to underprivileged groups in Hong Kong.
The donation will help set up six new Community Technology and Learning Centers (CTLC) in Hong Kong, said Microsoft.
Run by four NGOs -- Christian Action, CTU Education Foundation, Hong Kong SKH Lady MacLehose Centre, and the Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council, these centers provide IT training to enhance the employability of disadvantaged groups, the software vendor added.
At the event, HKCSS also revealed the findings of a survey on the IT capabilities of NGOs in Hong Kong. Sponsored by Microsoft, the survey interviewed 103 NGOs, making it one of the largest of its kind since the Social Work Department study in 2003, Microsoft said.
The survey indicated that there has been a marked improvement in the IT infrastructure, such as Internet connections, local area network (LAN) and IT applications, which Hong Kong's NGOs have put in place, said Mircrosoft.
However, 65 percent of the NGOs don't have an IT budget while non-IT professionals oversee IT work in 47 percent of NGOs, the vendor noted.
In addition, 52 percent have had no IT training programs for staff within the past year, the firm added.
Despite the problems with IT funding and resources, the survey also reveals that technology plays an integral role in the way NGOs operate with most showing extensive use of IT for communications and back-office support, Microsoft said.
But the use of IT applications in advanced functions such as frontline service training (66 percent), customer relations management (55 percent) and knowledge management (60 percent) are significantly lower, the company added.
"The survey reveals that there is a gap between what they should be doing and what they are doing. IT isn't a luxury but a necessity to NGOs, which need help to obtain high quality ICT products and services in order to improve what they are delivering," said Christine Fang, Chief Executive of HKCSS.
In a separate development, Microsoft jointly launched TechDonation with HKCSS, which makes it easier for Hong Kong and Macau NGOs to acquire the latest IT software. The software firm will also provide software licenses to all 1,500 computers and laptops under the government-led District Cyber Center pilot scheme.
