Start Date

6-6-2013 9:30 AM

End Date

6-6-2013 10:40 AM

Description

Background: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to producing all-round graduates who are also responsible citizens and contributive members of the society. The annual campus-wide Community Service Learning Programme (CSLP) has been organized since 2004 to encourage staff and students to serve the community through the use of their professional knowledge and skills. About 800 students work on various service projects each year to serve the underprivileged groups of Hong Kong, Chinese mainland and overseas. In 2010/11, we started a new mode of service delivery with the implementation of a District-based Service-Learning Project in a relatively deprived area in HK, Sham Shui Po. We aim to organise more sustainable services by focusing the manpower and resources in serving the people in a particular district so that we can create bigger impacts and bring more benefits to the community. The Programme: Through collaboration with the Sham Shui Po District Social Welfare Office, we have successfully invited over 30 local NGOs and schools as our project partners. Together, 60 service projects of different nature and scales were planned and carried out during 2010-2012. The programme has generated a lot of synergy amongst students from different disciplines e.g. students from design schools working together with students from building services in improving the home environment of the lower income families; students from nursing school work together with social work and science students in promoting holistic health care for the elderly etc. Overall, the project has allowed us to provide more integrated services to the community people in various aspects including health care, education, improvement of the living environment and social integration. Effectiveness: The District-based Project has proven to be an effective mode of service delivery. By focusing our manpower and resources in a single district, we were more able to identify the community needs, organise larger scale and sustainable projects, and provide more integrated services to create a bigger impact to the community. During 2010-12, over 500 students from various disciplines had participated in 60 service projects and committed over 3100 service hours in total. The whole project has served more than 4,000 people in the district, addressing the needs of different target groups such as the elderly, new immigrants, lower income families, school children and the disabled.

Recommended Citation

Lee, W. Y. W. (2013, June). CSLP in Sham Shui Po (理有「深」社區服務計劃): A district-based service learning project, its mode of delivery and effectiveness. Paper presented at the 4th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning: Service-Learning as a Bridge from Local to Global: Connected world, Connected future, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.

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Jun 6th, 9:30 AM Jun 6th, 10:40 AM

CSLP in Sham Shui Po (理有「深」社區服務計劃) : a district-based service learning project, its mode of delivery and effectiveness

Background: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is committed to producing all-round graduates who are also responsible citizens and contributive members of the society. The annual campus-wide Community Service Learning Programme (CSLP) has been organized since 2004 to encourage staff and students to serve the community through the use of their professional knowledge and skills. About 800 students work on various service projects each year to serve the underprivileged groups of Hong Kong, Chinese mainland and overseas. In 2010/11, we started a new mode of service delivery with the implementation of a District-based Service-Learning Project in a relatively deprived area in HK, Sham Shui Po. We aim to organise more sustainable services by focusing the manpower and resources in serving the people in a particular district so that we can create bigger impacts and bring more benefits to the community. The Programme: Through collaboration with the Sham Shui Po District Social Welfare Office, we have successfully invited over 30 local NGOs and schools as our project partners. Together, 60 service projects of different nature and scales were planned and carried out during 2010-2012. The programme has generated a lot of synergy amongst students from different disciplines e.g. students from design schools working together with students from building services in improving the home environment of the lower income families; students from nursing school work together with social work and science students in promoting holistic health care for the elderly etc. Overall, the project has allowed us to provide more integrated services to the community people in various aspects including health care, education, improvement of the living environment and social integration. Effectiveness: The District-based Project has proven to be an effective mode of service delivery. By focusing our manpower and resources in a single district, we were more able to identify the community needs, organise larger scale and sustainable projects, and provide more integrated services to create a bigger impact to the community. During 2010-12, over 500 students from various disciplines had participated in 60 service projects and committed over 3100 service hours in total. The whole project has served more than 4,000 people in the district, addressing the needs of different target groups such as the elderly, new immigrants, lower income families, school children and the disabled.