【HER Hub - Knowledge Exchange: Women’s Leadership and Organizational Development in the Community】

Women’s rights and welfare, especially those of the marginalized communities, have long been neglected by government policy and mainstream philanthropic concern. The mainstream society does not understand the needs and rights of the women in marginalized positions. There are inadequate resources for the capacity development of marginalized women in grassroots and mutual-help groups/organizations. Limited channels and support shrink the opportunities for women’s social and civic participation and leadership development in order to raise their social status.

HER Fund established “HER Hub Capacity Building Programme” (hereinafter “HER Hub”) in 2017 in order to address the needs of marginalized women in building their leadership. Subsequently, on December 8, 2017, HER Fund and Professional Practice and Assessment Centre of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Co-organized “Knowledge Exchange: Women’s Leadership and Organizational Development in the Community” to launch HER Hub. The event invited Prof. Alfred Chan Cheung-ming, SBS, JP, Chairperson, Equal Opportunities Commission, Porticus Asia, scholars and representatives of local grassroots organizations to discuss how capacity building can be promoted and applied in Hong Kong community in order to enable grassroots women to organize themselves to redress social problems and fill policy gaps. 

In the morning session, Judy Kan – HER Fund’s Acting Executive Director, Philip Booth – Porticus Asia’s Regional Director, Karen Ling – Member of the Executive Committee, Association of Women with Disabilities HK, Pauline Chan – Teaching Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Judy Siu, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University presented and dialogued on the theme, “How important are women’s leadership and organizational capacity building to social change?”, to discuss how capacity building can increase the status of women and sustainability of the civil society.

In the afternoon session, Gwen Faure – Consulting Director, PwC Hong Kong and members of JJJ Association, Tin Zi Zok Wai, Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Union turned themselves into four human books to share their personal experiences on how different forms of capacity development help empower them, raise their voice, increase their social status and encourage them to participate in the society.