Poverty Scheme Must Be Sustainable: NGO Chief

The head of a child development NGO said on Thursday that a government scheme aimed at tackling intergenerational poverty needed to take a sustainable approach and must not be a one-off.

Speaking to RTHK, Amy Chan from the Child Development Initiative Alliance said she was keen to hear more details of the plan to support secondary school pupils from grassroots families, which was put forward by Chief Secretary Eric Chan on his appointment as head of a working group set up by Chief Executive John Lee.

Eric Chan said about 2,000 secondary school pupils would be involved in the initial one-year project, which is expected to include mentor matching, personal development planning and financial assistance.

"As a pilot scheme, we shouldn't be looking just at the number" of children involved, Amy Chan told RTHK's Kelly Yu. "It is very important that, in this pilot run, we can work out a workable and sustainable model for future operation.

"To look at the number itself, I would rather look at the quality, rather than the quantity."

She said she hoped the government would help to address the poverty gap in Hong Kong, noting that the SAR's Gini coeffeicient, a measure of wealth inequality, had risen from 0.437 in 2009 to 0.539.

The working group on intergenerational poverty was one of four announced by Chief Executive John Lee on Wednesday to come up with concrete proposals to address deep-rooted problems during the new government's first 100 days in office.

The other groups will study land supply, district affairs and the production of public housing.

Lee made the announcement in his first question-and-answer session with lawmakers, stressing that his style of governance would be about taking action, producing results and resolving issues.