Recent trends of manpower and human resources in the social welfare sector have drawn NGOs’ concern over recruitment and retention of existing practitioners as well as future leadership of the sector. Coupled with the increased pressure to adapt quickly to evolving service needs and new regulations in the post-COVID era, NGOs and the sector face many challenges to maintain quality service delivery, organisational management as well as governance.

In light of these challenges and the changing talent development needs of the sector, The Council has partnered with The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to launch the “JC InnoPower Social Welfare Fellowship” (the “Programme”) in early 2024. The Programme aims to broaden the exposure of senior management in the social welfare sector and develop their future-readiness and adaptive leadership for enhancement of organisation capacities and for a sustainable ecosystem.

The Programme is a 12-month journey comprising 30 days Leadership Development spreading across 6 months, and followed by a design and implementation of a Staff Development Fund Project in the ensuing 6 months. During the entire journey, there will be a one-week intensive adaptive leadership programme at Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fellows selected will be learning the adaptive leadership framework, and developing mindset and skills to address their organisational challenges. Moreover, there will be a short programme at Tsinghua University, Beijing, where Fellows will be introduced latest national development trends to broaden their horizon and exposure. Upon successful completion of the Leadership Development, each Fellow will receive a Staff Development Fund of HK$200,000 to support the implementation of the Staff Development Fund Project within their organisation to put what they have learnt into practice for both their organisational development and, in the long run, sectoral change.

The applications for the second cohort of the Programme are now open, with a deadline of 12:00 noon on Monday, 3 March 2025. We warmly invite your organisation to nominate a team of 3 to 5 senior management members to participate in this Programme. For small-sized organisations, a team of 2 senior management members will also be considered.

The online application procedure is as follows:

1. The organisation contact person should create an account for the organisation at https://innopower-enrolment.hk/intro.php.
2. The agency head and nominated team members must fill out the online form in their personal accounts after receiving the login information.
3. Nominated team members need to submit the online form for review by the agency head.
4. The agency head must submit all forms from the nominated team members along with his/her own form before the deadline to complete the application.

We firmly believe that by working together, we can nurture sector’s leadership pipeline for a healthy and strong talent ecosystem that can withstand multi-faceted complex challenges while driving sectoral development.

For more details about the Programme and the application process, please visit our website: https://jcinnopower.hk/en/fellowship-initiatives/social-welfare-fellowship/highlights. Should you require any further information, please feel free to contact Ms. Joyce LEUNG, Senior Manager of Talent Development at 2876 2463 or via email at [email protected].