Our Project in Hefei

Our first two days are a little bit slow and it was raining all days. On Monday we presented our findings in Fuyang to SC Anhui Regional Office. Today we discussed with Heifer International, other international NGO, on the activities they carried out across China. Based on the discussions, basically, their activities are slightly different with SC's income generation projects in Fuyang.

Heifer China is a participatory, community-based rural development organization that is highly respected locally, nationally and internationally for its achievement in development programs with strong accountability. Cooperating with both non-government and government organizations, Heifer China integrates available resources an implements projects, effectively and efficiently in 5 remote and minority regions of China. Heifer China will provide not only fund and technology, but also value-based holistic development approaches.

During our stay in Hefei, PwC will work with Save the Children to conduct an in-depth analysis of two of Save the Children’s NGO partners, Happy Family Club (HFC) and Rights into Action for Children with Disabilities (RIA) as to the sustainability of their business models and the possibility for replication of their work.

Rights into Action for Children with Disabilities (RIA). With support from SC, RIA, the non-profit organization was voluntarily founded by a group of youth with disabilities in Hefei, with providing support to children and young people with disabilities as its mission. It provides a platform of information sharing for people with disabilities and promotes social inclusion through advocacy. Apart from this, it also provides some basic services for disabled children and peers, e.g. handcrafts training for children and young people with disabilities, rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy, mentally handicapped and autism, etc.. Its successful registration in the Hefei Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau as an independent local NGO in 2006, with the Hefei Municipal Disabled People’s Federation as its sponsoring agency, is a significant breakthrough, which symbolizes a flagship of an organization initiated and managed by a group of young disabled children trying to advocate for and fulfil their own rights in China. In collaboration with local partners in different places, Save the Children is helping the replication of RIA approach in China.
Happy Family Club (HFC). The club was established by Save the Children as part of a pilot work to support community based welfare and protection of children in Sanlijie Street, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Hefei City. The club is a children’s activity centre, providing services for local children and children of migrant workers. With minimum support from Adults, children are now managing the club themselves. In 2005 the Club was successful registered in the District Civil Affairs Bureau as a local NGO. Due to its good impacts and wide recognition from the local community people, the model has been replicated to the whole street (with many neighbourhoods) by the local government. In addition, some other street offices have also learnt the experience and adopted the approach in their own streets.

Note on the photo:
(1) PwC Team, Heifer China and SC during the discussions.