Capacity Building Initiatives

Through initiatives in Capacity Building, we strive to foster the development of the social innovation ecosystem, the work of which includes nurturing social entrepreneurs, augmenting the capacity of the sector, facilitating cross-sector collaboration, as well as enhancing public awareness and understanding of social innovation and entrepreneurship.

The SIE Fund will directly fund capacity building projects. We welcome the community to lodge proposals to the Task Force Secretariat. Interested parties may refer to "Notes to Applicants - Submission of Capacity Building/Research Proposals" or "Notes to Applicants - Submission of Sponsorship Proposals" for details about submission and assessment of proposals. Capacity building projects funded by the SIE Fund and major initiatives directly launched by the Fund are listed below.

Gerontechnology Platform

Gerontechnology is widely recognised as a key to addressing the challenges and tapping the opportunities arising from the ageing population. The SIE Fund has appointed a collaborative coalition of ten organisations led by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service as an intermediary to design, develop and operate an inclusive one-stop Gerontechnology Platform to promote the development of the gerontechnology ecosystem in Hong Kong. The Gerontechnology Platform is the second flagship project of the Fund. The project will last for three years until end December 2023.  Read more


CharityToday

Launched by St. James’ Settlement, CharityToday aims to set up a new charity operating model to enable different types of assistance schemes to disburse their assistance through a user-friendly approach so that the beneficiaries can enjoy convenience, dignity, flexibility and diversity of choices. A centralised online platform integrated with Stored Value Facilities (SVFs) is built to connect different stakeholders, including funders, corporates, service operators and service users, of the charity ecosystem. The project comprises two phases. Completed in Q2/2024, Phase I focused on food assistance with Octopus Card as the SVF. Rolled out in Q3/2024, Phase II aims to expand the impact of Phase I to cover other areas of assistance with more SVFs to join. Read more about the project: Phase I / Phase II


Social Hackathon

Launched by Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service, the project aims to build the capacity of social service providers and their users to prototype ideas and develop adoption plans in the delivery of social services by co-creation in a Social Hackathon adopting the design thinking techniques.  Read more


Food Support Flagship Project

The SIE Fund engaged St. James' Settlement (SJS) in June 2016 as its intermediary to launch the Food Support Flagship Project. The Project aims to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall food support service in Hong Kong. SJS launched the FOOD-CO platform in May 2017 for different stakeholders of the sector to coordinate information sharing on the demand and supply of food items and related services. The first phase of the Project was completed in May 2019 and the second phase “FOOD-CO 2.0” was launched in July 2019 to further enhance the capacity of the food support service sector and step up advocacy for food surplus donation.  Read more


Community Housing Movement

The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS), as the intermediary for the project, launched this innovative project in September 2017. The project brings in the joint efforts of landlords, non-governmental organisations, social enterprises and professional bodies to provide affordable and decent transitional social housing to the grassroots to improve their living environment and quality of life. The SIE Fund and the Community Chest have jointly provided a grant for the three-year operation of the intermediary.  Read more


Impact Intermediaries Capacity Building Hong Kong

Launched by Hong Kong Impact Data Consortium Limited, this project aims to help impact intermediaries and social purpose organisations (SPOs) enhance efficiency and effectiveness in impact measurement and management through co-created and customised impact data management systems. Through the train-the-trainers approach, participating intermediaries will acquire knowledge on impact management for disseminating to subsidiary SPOs. Intermediaries and SPOs will share a uniform and deeper understanding of impact management. It will facilitate the analysis and evaluation of the social impact of their projects and services. The data collection process will be swifter and more accurate, reducing the operational cost for impact management.  Read more


Social Entrepreneurship School Education Programme

Having been funded by the SIE Fund since September 2015, the Programme is jointly run by the Fullness Social Enterprises Society Limited and the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It aims to enrich the understanding of secondary school teachers and students on social innovation and entrepreneurship as sustainable solutions to social problems.  Read more


Social Innovation Design Lab

Launched by Enable Foundation Limited in 2017, it is a training programme that aims to train young designers to become enablers for social innovation in Hong Kong. The Programme was conducted through engaging young designers to co-create with senior citizens, community groups, service providers and design professionals to address three social issues in Hong Kong, namely Fine Dying, Dementia Going and Productive Ageing.  Launched in 2020 with further funding from the SIE Fund, Phase II of the Social Innovation Design Lab is a 14-month programme to extend and further develop social innovation upon the foundation laid in Phase I. The selected topic of the programme is "Dementia Going". It will facilitate co-creation and design thinking between young students, elderly and coummunity groups to devise products and services for persons with dementia, as well as to enhance public awareness of the disease.  Read more about Phase I and Phase II of the project


Nurturing Global-minded Changemakers

Launched by Hong Kong Baptist University, the project consists of five credit-bearing courses and one case research covering the themes of "Social Innovation", "Capacity Building", "Network Development" and "Entrepreneurial Marketing Case Research". It aims to cultivate university students’ intellectual capacity for social entrepreneurship via relevant courses and practicum, transfer social entrepreneurship and marketing knowledge via “train the trainers” initiative and global field study, and foster the development of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem via case research.  Read more


Golden Age Fellows 2019

The Golden Age Fellows 2019, launched by the Golden Age Foundation Limited, aims to engage and train Golden Agers (generally people aged 45 or above) with different education and economic backgrounds to become the new power of social innovation, and inspire them to develop innovative ideas to address social problems through a series of curated seminars and workshops, site visits and experiential learning sessions, self-directed sessions, job shadowing and coaching sessions.  Read more


Asian Venture Philanthropy Network Conference 2016

Headquartered in Singapore, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) is a collaborative platform that brings together philanthropies and social impact investors in the region. In 2016, AVPN held its annual conference in Hong Kong, the first ever in its history, with the SIE Fund as the Lead Partner. By taking part in the conference, the Fund was given the opportunity to understand the latest development of social impact investment in the region and to share with the impact investment community on successful cases.  Read more


Social Enterprise Summit
(funding for CB activities)

Social Enterprise Summit (SES) is a cross-sector platform for joint efforts in promoting innovative entrepreneurship for creating social impact. It comprises a series of district programmes, international symposium, workshops and visit programmes, etc. Since its inauguration, the SIE Fund has been a keen supporter and participant of SES, cherishing the platform to exchange views with social innovation practitioners and promote the Fund’s work.  Read more


Golden Age Expo & Summit
(funding for CB activities)

Golden Age Expo and Summit engages people from different cities and all walks of life to create an inclusive smart ageing city with the goal to facilitate a purposeful, healthy and quality life for Golden Agers (people aged 45 and above). By participating in the event, the SIE Fund was able to publicise its work in the subject area and strengthen the relationship with stakeholders.  Read more


Shared Value Initiatives

The SIE Fund encourages corporations to apply the Creating Shared Value (CSV) approach in their business strategies for addressing social needs while exploring new business opportunities. We kick-started our initiatives with a forum in 2015, followed by three workshops. A second forum and a series of activities have been launched in 2017.  Read more


SI CEO Competition for Tertiary Students

The SI CEO Competition for Tertiary Students co-organised with Youth.gov.hk was launched in August 2016. Students were invited to develop and implement innovative business plans to tackle social issues, specifically around elderly care, food support and social inclusion.  Read more


Social Innovation Jam roadshows

To showcase the winning ideas of Social Innovation Video Competition, a series of roadshow was held from April to May and September to November 2015 in shopping malls and tertiary institutions.


Social Innovation Video Competition

The Social Innovation Video Competition co-hosted by the Fund and Youth.gov.hk was organised in 2014-15 school year to arouse students' awareness and invite ideas for poverty alleviation. Talks, workshops, guided tours and a contest were held to inspire thoughts and actions.


Hong Kong Social Innovators

As part of the work to nurture new generations of social entrepreneurs, the “HK Social Innovators” (HKSI) was launched in May 2016 at the SIE Fund website. It features seasoned and budding social innovators with the aim of inspiring new ideas and encouraging a wider participation in social innovation. A weekly column was also launched on am730 by which HKSIs share their thoughts and aspirations.  Read more