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Fifty-seven private and public organisations were awarded prizes for their enthusiastic support of employment for people with disabilities at the Support the Employment of People with Disabilities Award Presentation Ceremony 2006 cum The Parade of Quality Services & Products held today (November 24).
Speaking at the ceremony, the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Paul Tang Kwok-wai, thanked the organisations for their remarkable contribution to the employment of people with disabilities.
"Your unfailing support has brought great encouragement to the people in the rehabilitation field," he said.
Organised by the Social Welfare Department's (SWD) Marketing Consultancy Office (Rehabilitation) (MCO), the award presentation ceremony was held to recognise the tremendous support of government departments as well as public and private organisations in enhancing the employment of PWDs.
During the ceremony, six categories of awards were presented to 57 organisations of different scales and nature of business. These organisations had contributed in various aspects, including awarding job orders and service contracts to rehabilitation organisations; creating training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities; facilitating the establishment of social enterprises; offering promotional support, sponsorship and professional advice as well as teaming up with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the MCO to roll out new initiatives.
The six categories of awards were "Outstanding Partnership Award", "Exemplary Business Support Award", "Distinguished Employer Award", "Valued Support of Social Enterprises Award", "Devoted Sponsorship and Promotion Award" and "Professional Advice and Consultation Award". Please see annex for a list of awardees.
"The Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprises Project run by the SWD has been well received by the rehabilitation organisations since its launch. As at September of this year, the project has supported 39 social enterprises operated by 20 NGOs, creating over 360 job opportunities for people with disabilities," Mr Tang said.
Mr Tang added that the SWD has recently published jointly with The Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities and The Hong Kong Council of Social Service a set of special reports called "Casebook on Social Enterprises in Rehabilitation" and "Social Enterprise in Rehabilitation" with a view to sharing the development of social enterprises in the rehabilitation field with the community.
"We hope that through these special reports, more people can understand better the social enterprises and the value of it can be established," he said.
Mr Tang encouraged people in the community, business sector and NGOs to team up to assist people with disabilities to be more self-reliant and integrate into society by providing more training and employment opportunities for them.
Also present at today's ceremony were Chairman of the Sub-committee on Employment of the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee, Mr Herman Hui Chung-shing; and Chairperson of The Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities, Mr Cheung Kin-fai.
The Parade of Quality Services & Products was held after the ceremony to showcase the working capabilities of people with disabilities. Guests toured the display booths of rehabilitation organisations to learn about the quality services and products, including catering, cleaning, pest control, laundry, one-stop household services, massage, floral design, printing services, various handicrafts, souvenirs and bakery products.
Ends/Friday, November 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:01
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