Around 60 participants from UK and China attended this dialogue. Participants from the UK include representatives from leading organisations such as the Young Foundation, UnLtd, Chick Shed theatre and the Welsh Social Enterprise Collation.

You can read the report by clicking the link below..

EU-CHINA CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUE

Select here to read the full article by Meng Zhao.

The first China-US Strategic Philanthropy Workshop was held at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Aug 14-18, 2011.  Fourteen participants from China and sixteen from the US attended this workshop.  The Chinese representatives from public and private foundations, research institutes, nonprofit support organizations and social investment funds, represent the summit of the philanthropic sector in China. US participants included representatives from private and family foundations with special interests in China, community foundations, nonprofit consulting companies, donor advisory groups and experts on China-US philanthropy exchanges. GLI worked together with the East-West Center from the very beginning to make this event possible.

With increasing activities and interest in China-US exchanges in the philanthropic arena in recent years, the workshop was regarded by participants as an historic event, especially given the timing, level of participation, depth of discussion and the action plan developed at the end of the workshop. The US participants were surprised by the rapid development of the philanthropic sector in China over the past two years. Nonetheless, Chinese participants confirmed the need to learn from the US model, and the benefits from collaboration that would enhance the capacity of the nonprofit sector in China. Both sides agreed that while the focus of US-China exchange and collaboration at present and in the near future is still very much China-driven, the resources needed to support such initiatives will have to come from both sides. With the rapid growth of the philanthropic sector in China, the focus will eventually go beyond bi-lateral relations: together, China and the US can play a greater role in promoting positive social change globally.

Key findings from the workshop

1. Philanthropy has been growing astronomically in China since 2008.  Significant changes are happening in the US as well, led by the advent of new forms of philanthropy in which donors are becoming more engaged. However, philanthropy is not having the desired impact in either country for different reasons.

Dynamic economic growth and the increasing wealth disparity gap have stimulated the rapid growth of the philanthropic sector in China: charitable giving nationally rose from RMB ¥37 billion in 2007 to RMB ¥70 billion in 2010. Some 1141 non-public foundations have been established since the new foundation law was enacted in 2004.  In the US, the role of philanthropy is becoming more expansive and is driven increasingly by individuals, many of whom have created great wealth at younger ages than in the past. While trends are diverse, today’s philanthropists tend to be more engaged, hands-on, and businesslike in their orientation, and new market approaches such as venture philanthropy have brought considerable value to the sector.

However, philanthropy is not having the desired impact. One common issue identified by both sides is that social problems are growing more complex and, as a result, demand collective action by a cross-section of stakeholders, rather than isolated efforts by single organizations.  In China, all participants agreed that the broken, unbalanced philanthropic chain is the biggest obstacle to efficacy. Resources are flowing into the philanthropic sector rapidly, but without a system to distribute them in an effective way.  Many wealthy people want to give but don’t know how, or simply find it too much trouble.  Within the philanthropic sector, some 10,000 charitable organizations monopolize 90% of China’s annual giving; most of this going for construction, such as building schools and hospitals. Donations frequently wind up back in the government sector because nonprofit organizations don’t have the capacity to absorb resources. Foundations are growing much faster than nonprofit organizations, and are not providing them with sufficient support.  Grassroots organizations are not well-recognized by the public and still rely heavily on grants from overseas.  As a result, the direction of philanthropy in China is still in a confused state, with low public understanding, and the sector is highly susceptible to scandals.

2. Foundations in China operate quite differently from foundations in the US. Most Chinese foundations are not grant-making organizations and are not providing enough support to nonprofits, especially ones that are not registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs. US participants were surprised to learn that money is the least concern of foundations in China.

In China, most public foundations are not grant-making institutions, but are more like big charities with lots of money and staff members.  The rise of non-public foundations in China brings new blood to the philanthropic sector.  Some suggested that compared to traditional public foundations, non-public foundations generally have better governance and are more motivated to spur innovation. However, most non-public foundations are still operating foundations and are reluctant to support grassroots activities.

At the workshop, all Chinese foundation presenters said that money is the least thing they need right now, which is a big contrast to the situation in the US.  Chinese foundation leaders identified their most pressing concerns as human resources, donor understanding to support grassroots organizations, and lack of a supportive legal framework.  Chinese foundation leaders are urging the government to lower the amount of minimum spending for charitable purposes that is required each year. By contrast, in the US, foundations face increasing pressure to spend more during difficult economic times.

3. US participants were inspired by the innovative approaches adopted in China to encourage donations from the public and to distribute donations more effectively to grassroots organizations. While more people in China are willing to give, philanthropy in China needs to shift from a rich man’s club to civil engagement, and to move beyond mere giving to promoting positive social change.

Chinese participants stressed that assistance with project design and staff professionalization is urgently needed.

US participants commented that the “1RMB, 10RMB” giving project initiated by the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation in partnership with the Bank of China is a model worth studying. They were also interested in Shanghai’s Nonprofit Incubator model, and what new public foundations such as the Shanghai United Foundation are doing to create innovative channels for supporting grassroots organizations more effectively.  They cautioned that in the US foundations, such as Packard and Ford, and the Hawaii Community Foundation, have invested heavily in capacity building, and have discovered it is not a problem to be solved, but an on-going need.

4. The “China Red Cross-Guo Meimei” scandal that occurred in June did severe damage to China’s philanthropic sector. Behind the crisis of trust is the urgent need for innovation and reform of the social system. The emerging need for transparency and accountability is a reflection of the rapid growth of and expectations for philanthropic responsibilities in China.

The latest scandals involving the China Red Cross and China Charity Federation are undermining the faith and trust of the public in philanthropy, bringing it to new lows.  However, some Chinese participants think this could create a good opportunity to reform the philanthropic sector.  New regulations on foundations and a charity law are under discussion by the State Council and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.  However, large GONGOs are comfortable with the status quo and not eager to see changes.  China faces many of the same issues it faced 20 years ago when it started to reform the State Owned Enterprises.

While all agreed that transparency and accountability are a top priority for the philanthropic sector, some Chinese participants worry that there is no practical index to ensure that transparency and accountability for organizations and the sector are at a reasonable level. It’s difficult to tell how much transparency is enough to meet public expectations: many Chinese believe that every penny they donate has to be spent directly on people in need.

5. Solving social problems demands the cooperation of governments, business and civil society that goes beyond mere partnership or networks. Four key elements to ensure collective impact include:

• shared measurement,
• mutually reinforcing activities,
• continuous communication, and
• backbone organizations to bring people together.

Chinese regional governments are becoming more open-minded and positive about support of service-based nonprofit activities. The challenge is for the government to develop a unified understanding of the role of the philanthropic sector.

6. The key lesson for US foundation-supported initiatives in China from past decades is that such efforts have to be China-led, not remote-controlled from distant headquarters.  Traditionally US-China initiatives are very much focused on the flow of funds from the US to China. With the dynamic growth of the philanthropic sector in China, the relationship needs to go beyond funding and make training, capacity building and collaboration a higher priority.

Scaled exchanges among philanthropic leaders between the two countries have been increasing since 2008.  Initiatives such as the China Foundation Center are a direct outcome of this kind of exchange.  Nevertheless, most US workshop participants were surprised to see how much China has improved and changed. Chinese participants confirmed that they still need to learn from the US model to enhance the capacity of the nonprofit sector in China and will benefit from doing so.  Models such as intermediary organizations, community foundations, donor advisor groups and social venture funds are of great interest to the Chinese.

7. Both sides agree that while the focus of US-China exchange and collaboration at present and in the near future is still very much China-driven, the resources to support such initiatives will need to come from both sides. With the rapid growth of the philanthropic sector in China, the focus will eventually go beyond bi-lateral action. Together, China and the US can play a greater role in promoting positive social change globally.

Conclusion and action plan

Participants from both sides commented that the workshop was timely, informative and effective. Hawaii and the East-West Center are ideal places to host such a dialogue. The next workshop can include different participants and focus on specific topics.  The Platform also recognizes the importance of supporting direct collaboration between leading organizations on issues of mutual interest.

A China-US Philanthropy Exchange Platform was established at the end of the workshop in order to promote and facilitate communication, exchange and collaboration between and among the philanthropic sectors of the two countries.

The platform is currently supported by seven backbone organizations. They are:

• Beijing Normal University-One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute
• Tsinghua University Social Innovation Center
• Sun Yat Sen University Philanthropy Center
• Mercy Corp China
• Global Links Initiative
• China Foundation Center
• East-West Center

The Chinese participants identified the following five priority areas in the philanthropic sector. The proposal was largely agreed to and echoed by the US participants. Joint working groups were launched shortly after the workshop with leaders from both sides to address these issues as soon as possible.

1 Establish standards of excellence and promote accountability and transparency in the philanthropic sector in China.

2 Build a supportive legal framework.

3 Build capacity for the philanthropic industry chain, including human resources, area and issue-focused training.

4 Promote social enterprise, social investment and social innovation.

5 Nurture support organizations for donors and nonprofits, such as intermediaries (i.e. United Way, Community Foundations), consulting firms (i.e. FSG), professional donor advisory groups (i.e. RPA), etc.

YANG Xiao Lin(right) from Fu Ping Development Institute presents a Robin Rowland award to Mr. Yue Yiping in front of his office.

Mr.YUE Yiping is the 38-year-old Founder and President of Spring Shoot Melon cooperative in Suning county, Hebei province.
SuNing county includes 6 towns, 3 villages with a population of 330,000. The county is a traditional agriculture base of Hebei province. The per capita income of local farmers is only around 5711 RMB (£570). 
Reason for the award:
Mr.Yue is a rural community leader who dedicates himself to improve living standards of local farmers. In 2005, Mr. Yue left his job in the city and went back to his hometown. After thorough research and discussion with local farmers, he decided to introduce melon planting to the village.  He provided free training and market information to local farmers.  By 2011, more than 2,000 families from 45 villages are planting melon, the melon farmers’ income has increased over 160 RMB per acre. 
Mr.Yue was inspired and encouraged by the farmers in Japan during the study tour last year organized by Fuping and GLI. After coming back to China, together with members of cooperative, Yue built up 40 greenhouses as experimental labs to grow organic melon.
The Robin Rowland Award will be used on organic melon plant training.

Ms. BAO Xuri from Fuping Development Institute presents a Robin Rowland Award to Mr.Sun.
Mr.SUN Shen is also known as “China Pear King”. Mr. Sun currently serves as General Manager of Pear Production and Sales Cooperative in Zhangziying county, a suburb of Beijing.
Reason for the award:
Sun led the local farmers to practice organic planting methodology and technology and promote the conception of farming for trust and face-to-face connection with the consumers.Sun started to grow pears in 2003. With two years of dedicated practice, he successfully cultivated new species of pear and made his breakthrough in planting organic pears. Growing pears organically is considered to be very difficult even in Europe or Japan. As General Manager of the local Cooperative Sun developed training course to help the local farmers to master the technology.  Sun participated in the study tour to Japan last year. He is very honored to receive an award from the founder of GLI, the organization that makes the exchange possible. The award will be used to provide training on organic farming to the local farmers.

This competition seeks market-based innovations that are developing employment opportunities for vulnerable populations. The best entries will be those that have demonstrated impact, are prepared to scale-up, and have sought partners to expand their reach. The top five solutions will each win US $50,000. The deadline is June 15, 2011.

For details and entry please refer to http://www.changemakers.com/economicopportunity.

More information is available at http://www.impactshanghai.org

Application

Applicants may apply to join Impact from any country in the world before the deadline on May 13th, 2011. Applications will be evaluated based on their level of originality, innovation, feasibility, demand, and of course, ability to address an environmental and/or social problem. Short-listed candidates will receive notification by May 15th.

Pitch Stop

All of the short-listed candidates will receive the opportunity to create their own portfolio-profile on the Impact crowd-funding platform. This provides an innovative way to raise support for their participation fee while at the same time promoting their venture, outlining their goals, and explaining who they are as an entrepreneur. The first 25 to raise €7000 will be invited to join Impact.

Mentorship

During the first 5 weeks in Shanghai, Impact participants will receive one-to-one mentorship and guidance from an international panel of social entrepreneurs and change makers.  Each mentor will work alongside the participants during their time in Shanghai, providing their skills, experience, and networks to help develop the participant’s ventures.

University & Media Tour

In the 6th week, Impact participants alongside a select group of mentors, will begin a University & Media tour across Shanghai. Participants will visit some of China’s most highly-acclaimed universities, meeting with local students, professors and budding entrepreneurs. By speaking to a variety of audiences, Impact participants will have the opportunity to promote sustainability and inspire a new wave of young entrepreneurs.

Investor Tour

During the final week, participants will embark on an investor tour. Each participant will have the chance to pitch their projects to large groups of potential investors and philanthropists. After six weeks of refining their concept and strategy, the investor tour presents participants with the ultimate opportunity to raise capital investment and build important financial networks.

The term “civil society” means different things to different people. It can be generally defined as a body of voluntary citizens’ groups which aim to protect or extend their interests and values vis–vis the market or state.
In the West, we commonly describe such groups for what they are not – non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In China academics are more inclined to see these vanguards of organized society for what they are – civil society organizations (CSOs).
The role that civil society plays in the public affairs of the state can vary markedly from East to West, often widening the gulf of misunderstanding that lurks between the two. Depending on one’s point of view, civil society can also be understood as a particular set of institutionalized relationships between state and society based on the principles of citizenship, civil rights, representation and the rule of law.
Europeans who visit China are sometimes astonished, and subsequently irritated, by the extent of the cooperation between civil society and the government. Immersed in a Western perspective, they expect civil society to be critical of the government, holding its actions up to the highest scrutiny.
While this is indeed a crucial element of Western society, it is an idealized portrayal. When Chinese visit Europe they are often surprised to see that NGOs have forged strong links with those in power and have secured access to high levels of government funding.
This interaction with their European counterparts enables Chinese CSOs, for whom state funding is minimal, to be aware of the avenues potentially open to them and press for government funding in future.
It is all too easy for Europeans to underestimate the achievements of civil society in China, which is still in the early stages of development. Yet it has managed to achieve significant results while striving to retain a balance between ensuring it remains a legitimate actor in the functioning of Chinese society and making a meaningful contribution to social and political development.
The need to address these existing misconceptions is behind our move at the University of Nottingham’s School of Contemporary Chinese Studies to establish an EU-China Civil Society Dialogue on Participatory Public Policy, backed by a 1 million grant from the European Commission.
From 2011 to 2013, the program will foster durable and sustainable links between European and Chinese civil society stakeholders in eight policy areas, including climate change, labor relations and social entrepreneurship, with the aim of encouraging public participation in China’s experimentation-based policy making process.
On a practical level, it is hoped that increased engagement between European NGOs and Chinese CSOs will tackle an obstacle that should not be underplayed: the language barrier. Many groups both in China and the European Union (EU) have expressed a wish to work together but simply find it impossible to communicate their ideas. The program is also designed to ensure European NGOs look more favorably on the accomplishments of Chinese CSOs.
Chinese CSOs have widely encouraged philanthropy in the country and spurred the establishment of an increasing number of charitable foundations. In many cases, the Chinese government has been supportive of CSOs, particularly in policy fields such as community services, empowerment of women and environmental protection.
While Chinese officials are inclined to keep a rein on the growth of Chinese CSOs, they are keenly aware of the need to mobilize communities and encourage active public participation to solve some of society’s most pressing problems.
There is a growing interest among local officials – providing there is no conflict with central government edicts – to engage with CSOs as part of their efforts to meet objectives passed down from the top. But for all the progress that has been made, there have been setbacks on the road to developing a more participatory civil society in China and the situation varies wildly from region to region.
Civil society success stories in China are concentrated around Beijing and the north, and the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. But the development of CSOs in the richer provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang has lagged behind, mostly because of the prevailing business culture and the dominant preoccupation with making money.
The EU represents cultures, thoughts and agendas of vastly different countries but this diversity will be an advantage when it comes to promoting civil society values and ethics in China. If China is to become a more open and plural society, it will benefit from tapping into ideas from European civil society which can offer a set of innovative solutions to common problems.
The author is a lecturer at the University of Nottingham’s School of Contemporary Chinese Studies.
(China Daily 03/05/2011 page5)

Located in the central-north of China, Lankao County is one of the key areas for national poverty alleviation and development. The annual per capita net income of Lankao is only 3,200 RMB (about US$500).

With a population of 760,000 and 156,502 acres agricultural land, Lankao is also a national commodity grain base and it is rich in wheat, corn, soybean, peanut, cotton, apples, grapes and jujube.

Wang is a social innovator who believes that working together is the only road that leads to a poverty free community. In 2001 Wang led the villagers in Huzhai to establish a collaborating system in farming planning, agricultural production and marketing. 10 years later, Wang’s work has encouraged over 1,900 farmer families in the neighbourhood villages to form 13 cooperatives. These cooperatives became community centres in the villages and bring people together. Cooperatives not only help the families to increase income dramatically, they are also places of entertainment, care programs for elderly people and farming technology training.

In December 2010, Wang was selected by Fuping Development Institute to join a study-tour to Daichi organic farming company in Japan co-organised by GLI. Wang was deeply encouraged by the success of Daichi which is based profoundly on the trust between farmers and consumers. The management and business model of the Japanese farmers association was also a great reference for Wang’s own cooperative in Lankao.

The award was presented by Jaff Shen, the CEO of Fuping and Mr. MAO Yushi, founder of Fuping

Wang expressed his deep gratitude to Robin Rowland and GLI at the award ceremony in the office of Fuping on Jan 26th, 2011. Fuping is a leading NGO in China in the area of rural development and has been a close partner with GLI since 2006. The prize of £2,000 will be mainly used on training courses for local farmers in the area of organic farming technology and farming standards. Part of the prize would also be used to expand the new technology lab, a greenhouse to test and demonstrate new varieties of vegetable planting.

The first Robin Rowland award

From December 5-11, a delegation of Chinese farmers visited Japan to observe and share experiences of organic, eco-friendly farming in the two countries. The study tour was jointly organized by Daichi (Tokyo) and Fuping Development Institute(Beijing) as an important step towards a joint-venture initiative in China. As a partner and coordinator of the initiative, three members from GLI joined the tour.

27 farmers and rural leaders from Sichuan, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Beijing and three media representatives joined the delegation. All the farmer participants are the leaders of regional farmers’ group of over thousands of members; most of them had never been abroad before. Daichi warmly welcomed the delegation with a full schedule. The Chinese delegation visited contract farmers of Daichi in three prefectures and featured intense interactions and discussions. The study tour was a big success: Chinese farmers achieved a first-hand understanding of the model and concept of Daichi, as well as the current status of organic farming in Japan. At the same time, Japanese farmers were surprised and impressed to realize they share far more common values with Chinese farmers than they expected.  The study tour further confirmed the possibility and importance of joint efforts between leading social enterprises such as Daichi and FDI.

The Chinese delegation started the tour with a visit to Daichi’s headquarters in Chiba on December 6. After listening to a lecture on Daichi’s history, development and its production standards, the delegation was guided to Daichi’s logistics center. Chinese delegates observed the processes of sample testing and packaging with great interest. The manager of the logistics center explained that the Center is one of the most important parts of Daichi’s quality control management.

On December 7, the delegation arrived in Gunma Prefecture to visit the ‘Kusabuchi farmers group’ in Kusabuchi city. The Kusabuchi farmers group was established in 1988 by three farmers who wanted to practice “no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers” farming.  In 2000, the group established a business partnership with several consumers group and organic companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area.  In 2001, the group was the winner of an environment-friendly agriculture competition sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture. The group has promoted the organic JAS certification system among its members for ten years. The delegation was guided to spinach farms as well as operation rooms where spinach was examined and packed for next day delivery. Later, Chinese farmers enjoyed dinner with core members of the Kusabuchi group. Both sides commented that the aging problem in rural areas is becoming a big issue for China and Japan. There is an emerging need to encourage young people from cities to explore agriculture as a new lifestyle.

The next day, the Chinese delegation traveled to Kanraku city to meet with a local organic farming group. The group was formed in 1986 with 28 participating farmers. In 1989, the group started organic product delivery services to Tokyo. In 1996, the group also launched a recycling project with primary schools in Kita-ku, Tokyo. Leftover food and other waste were collected and made into organic compost.  The delegation visited kiwi and green vegetable farms owned by the group members.  Later, officers from the local county offices joined the delegation and introduced a new initiative, a weekend farm project. The idea is to encourage people who live in the cities to rent a small piece of land in Kanraku and to experience farming and enjoy the natural beauty of rural Kanraku over the weekend.

That evening, Daichi hosted the delegation at its own restaurant located in Roppongi. The delegation enjoyed great Yunnan food with staff members and board members of Daichi.

On December 9, the delegation paid a visit to the Sangbu Vegetable Network in Chiba Prefecture. The network has 48 farmer members and its annual revenue reached 4 million pounds in 2009. The principles of the Sangbu network are:

1. No use of herbicides or soil fumigation machines.

2. Use compost from mother natural instead of chemical fertilizers.

3. Promote crop rotation to protect the soil.

4. Members of network must work together on the planting plan.

5. Food safety and the relationship with consumers are the two most important priorities.

A round table meeting was arranged at the end of this exchange visit at Daichi’s headquarters. Three members from the Board of Directors of Daichi, including Mr. Fujita, attended. The Chinese delegation expressed its great gratitude to Daichi for the hospitality and excellent arrangements. The tour and exchanges with Japanese farmers helped Chinese farmers understand the core values of ‘the Daichi model’, that organic farming reflects a long commitment to honest farming, care for the environment and responsibility for the health of farmers and consumers.

Improving the quality of soil is a key element of organic farming that requires hard work for years, if not decades. Chinese farmers were deeply impressed by the detailed quality control throughout the farming process. All of them promised to share their learning with other farmer groups in China.  In his concluding remarks, Mr. Fujita, founder and CEO of Daichi, expressed his wish to improve the living standard of Chinese farmers and to narrow the wealth gap in China through Sino-Japanese cooperation in organic agriculture.

On the last day of our visit to Japan, the delegation visited Daichi’s shop and Deli in the famous Ginza Mitsukoshi department store. The shop and Deli were opened only two months ago as the first step of Daichi’s new business strategy.

This is a pioneering project in mainland China, focusing on developing youth capability through challenging adventure to remote locations. In remote areas of China, Raleigh China has launched three relating projects, entitled “green building”, “community building” and “field exploration”, aiming at guiding young people discover their potential.

In 1978, the British Isles, Prince Charles initiated and sponsored a youth expedition. Young people of the team embarked on a brave journey to carry out navigation, exploration, landing, scientific investigation, research and protection of animals and plants. As a result, they harvested extensive knowledge, developed skills accumulated experience, and broadened their horizons. Their service also benefited the environment and communities they passed. The event was well received, and extended to all over the world. Raleigh currently has 250 projects in more than 40 countries.

Lu Feng, CEO of Raleigh China, was born in 1978. Raleigh China’s expedition in 1998 attracted 120 young people and Lu, who was a university freshman at that time, was one of them. For the first time he found himself being able to walk under strong sunshine for tens of kilometers, and it was for the first time that he was aware of his capability of doing something for poverty-stricken areas’ local environmental protection and construction.

“At that time, our backpack were borrowed from the army, sleeping mats were foldable grassmats, climbing shoes were just travelling shoes. We accepted harsh training first, including safety and discipline, first aid, communications, camping skills, instruments of labor, and finance. When expedition officially started, an unforgettable story began.”

Ten years have passed, but that expedition still left strong influence on Lu. After years of living abroad, he deeply realized the difference of thinking perspectives between Chinese and foreign youth, and their different value orientations of the future.”Chinese youth needs to be more independent and more open-minded, so as to fit themselves into the globalized future world, which is unavoidable. They also need to develop more on sports, sensitivity towards the nature, their courage and confidence, their automatic imagination, their ability to balance team-work and personal benefits, etc. If I can be one of the organizations which can bring them enough inspiration and help, and help them to lead a life that they want, and let them bravely challenge their own limits, I will be more than honored, and Raleigh is one of this kind of organizations,” said Lu.

In 2008, he and his good friend made their mind leaving high-paying jobs, and founded Raleigh Youth Development Plan (Raleigh China).

“Raleigh International expedition is a pioneer activity in this kind, and it has great experience and professional operational skills in youth education. What we need to do is to talor-made this project into China, and localize these experience and skills,” said Lu, explaining the relationship between Raleigh International and Raleigh China. In fact, Raleigh China has independent finance and administration. After two years of business development, Lu has owned a reliable team and a promising career.

However, at the early days of start-up, Lu encountered many problems, such as project proposals and financial management.

But Lu is confident. “I love challenges, since they are always accompanied by fun. All real fun and a sense of accomplishment are born from hard work and efforts,” said Lu.

In the past year, Lu is most proud of the Gansu Expedition 09A’s successful organization. Columbia was introduced as sponsor to this event. It proved that Raleigh’s model and philosophy was understood, loved and accepted by Chinese youth. Raleigh expedition team build kindergartens, activity centers, clinics, clean water systems in remote communities; and they also established towers, walking trails, feeding shed, small wooden bridges in the deserted protected areas; they even grew seabuckthorn in Dingxi, Gansu, to study desert change. Their efforts contributed to local community development and environment protection.

“Raleigh is a new life style for public goods, which leads youth all over the country develop themselves in voluntary services. It will become a brand new public fashion,” said Lu. He is confident in Raleigh China’s future.

Translation: Yolanda Ma    Check: Yang Tang

“Beijing is too small”, a high school student wrote on a piece of paper. I was shocked when I saw the words. At that moment, I realized that Beijing in their minds is different from the one we actually live in.

When I was working for a newspaper in 2006, I heard of school “Dandelion” providing education for the children of migrant workers. .I visited the school out of curiosity. The teacher of class 2 year 1 happened to be sick on that day.  I followed the principal’s recommendation and substituted the teacher.  There was no time to come up with a plan. I gathered all the students and interacted with them on the topic “My Beijing”.  I asked them to write their feelings of Beijing on papers.  Some of them said the Beijing is magnificent and some mentioned that Beijing residents are not very friendly.  Anyhow, these were not beyond my imagination.  However, that very note drew my attention – people are living in a crowded “urban village” full of small primitive houses, and some children even have to sleep behind their parents’ bed……

Though so many years passed by, that note is still in my mind. I feel I have to do something for them.

In 2008, I retired from China Youth Report with lots of options, such as joining big company or training enterprises.  Ms. Du Shuang, the corporate partner of GrowingHome (Ms. Du is Business Director of GrowingHome Education and Counseling Center) retired from the Center at that time.  She has more than 10 years’ experiences on psychology consultancy and was working as a part-time consultant in top colleges.  As a trainer for raising global career planner, she has helped thousands of college teachers and HR professionals and is quite popular among her students.

Coincidently, Ms. Du and I decided to venture in the public service area.   Since Youth Hotline in 1991, I’ve worked with dozens of volunteers.  I saw the glamor of public service through them and quite enjoyed the happiness of the teamwork. With over ten years’ experiences of operating the Hotline, we have owned a number of resources.

We are trying to create a new way to provide public services. Therefore, we two together with Zhang Dangqin, a fresh graduate from college, started our own non-profit organization.  We named our organization “GrowingHome” and we really love this cool name.

All of us have experiences as volunteers or as leaders of volunteer teams. However, it is much more difficult to run a non-profit organization. We were perplexed by what should we do and what are our goals.

The most difficult thing for us is that there are too many things to do.  We observed lots of social demands; our professional experience over ten years and ,creative thinking made us always feel that we can do  a lot of things and  there are plenty “opportunities”.

We followed our heart and finally started the first project.  However, at that time, we always felt worried. An organization has to have its own direction, strategy and development plans. It is easy to encounter obstacles if we mess around.  I am glad that we caught up with the good time to start business.  There is an organization called NPI who is specialized in non-profit organization generation.

Fortunately, GrowingHome is one of the first generated organizations.  Besides training, consultancy, micro-financing, offices, NPI also provided us with a group of cute boys and sweet girls as business guides. Gradually, our strategy became much clearer. The process of determining strategy is painful for us.  You have to put off what you’re doing and spend a lot of time on these things that are very important but not urgent. Moreover, you may have to give up something you want.

Until the second half of 2009, we new what we wanted to do and what kind of organization we   wanted to be. Instead of a psychological consulting organization, we defined ourselves as an educational organization for growing youth. After all, psychological consultancy is only a remediation to problem in comparison, the education which may prevent problems before they rise from the water.  We value professionalism. Our belief is “be professional, innovative and become an educational NGO with powerful influence”.  With these two standards – specialization and innovation, we started our own career.

After the foundation of GrowingHome, I’ve talked with Ms. Du Shuang about the relationship between kids of migrant workers and cities.  When I worked at Youth hotline, I had contacts with some college students from countryside.  They did not fully prepare for the cross-culture reformation. They have no idea about standing behind the “one-meter line” in the bank. They cannot find the flushing button at the public toilet.  People are looked down upon because these trivial things made them feel ashamed.  For those kids, we could probably design a program to help them get to know the city better, enable them to have the capabilities of  live well in the city and to have better future, as most of them are so eager to stay in the city.

“To learn and explore the city with kids of migrant workers”, is the very first program that we opened up. This idea is derived from my past experience.  The initial project was very simple; we designed five roots and volunteers can show these kids around and finish series of task with them as well.  It was hard for volunteers.  They had to set out early in the morning from inner city to the school located in suburban area in order to take them into the city and then shared their stories with kids back to the school.  After the kids went back to home, volunteers got together and communicated with each other and gave their feedbacks and suggestions to each other. They could only enjoy very short naps on the city bus on their way back.  Kids were excited about this activity. Volunteers felt rewarding by leading this small group even though it was really tiring.  However, we are not satisfied with this accomplishment.

It is a huge subject to help those kids to   adapt to city life and get involved into the city life and we are not even close to get to know it.  Fortunately, we are a team who loves learning. We read books, collect relevant research papers and also visit those researchers. If we treated psychology as our major in past; now our attentions extend to sociology, education, cultural anthropology and other fields.  We know how to create activities from academic researches.

Programs are changed and improved along with learning and reflection. The subject has changed from “be involved in city” to “learning and exploring city”; the way of teaching has changed from “simple field visits” to a more complicated method, which  includes 10-hours interactive indoor program,  “city adventure” training, field visits and brochures called <city life ABC>. By now, we are still constantly improving our projects……

Translation：Cameron Xu   Check：Wenddy Wen

Thare Machi uses cheap reliable DVD technology and connects with community groups at grass roots level to produce 50 audiovisual lessons in the languages of the world’s poor.

The Goodwill Social Work Centre, led by Dr Christopher Daniel and Kala Daniel, will be leading the dissemination of the lessons in the Madurai region and will be helping Thare Machi to gather feedback on the usage and impact of the lessons. Dr Christopher and Kala are running a workshop for their staff at Goodwill in the use of the extensive range of Tamil lessons. They are then running a workshop for the first tranche of 16 new partners who were signed up on Clive and Katie’s recent trip to India. On top of all of this amazing work, Kala and the staff at Goodwill have just completed new translations into Tamil of three important, but difficult topics – Becoming a Man, Becoming a Woman and Safer Sex for Teenagers.

From September 6-11, 2010, a delegation of eight people from Daichi (Protect the Earth) Japan visited Beijing and Yongji, Shan’xi Province upon the invitation of the Fu Ping Development Institute (FDI). During the visit, Daichi representatives shared their stories and experiences of developing environment-friendly farming with over 40 rural farmer leaders from all over China Daichi also visited local organic farming groups in Yongji and Shan’xi. GLI coordinated the visit with FDI.

On September 6, the ‘Organic and Eco-friendly Farming Seminar: The China and Japan Experiences’ was held in Zhaizi Village, Yongji. Over 40 rural leaders from 17 provinces in China attended the seminar to learn from Daichi’s experience as well as to share their own work in China. At the seminar, Mr. Fujita, founder and CEO of Daichi, introduced the history, mission and core values of Daichi: to create a healthy relationship between farmers and consumers as well as to project the agriculture of Japan. Later, Ms. Yoshihara and Mr. Takahashi gave two presentations regarding Daichi’s product standards, how it developed partnerships with farmers, the Daichi logistic and sales system, and how to promote exchanges and trust between consumers and farmers.

As the CEO of Fruits Basket, a company under the Daichi brand, Mr. Kato told the story of its establishment and its main products. Fruits Basket makes jam, juice, etc from apples, oranges and other fruits grown by Daichi farmers. The fruits are fresh but couldn’t be sold to consumers through regular channels due to nature disasters or similar reasons. Mr. Hasegawa, one of the three founders of Daichi, concluded the introduction by showing photos and video of Daichi 35 years ago. Farmer leaders from all over China were inspired by the success and the courage of the founding members as they told of how they struggled to overcome difficulties during the past three decades.

On September 7, the Daichi delegation visited three local projects run jointly by the Zaizi village community center and FDI: a women’s handcraft group, a micro-credit company and an organic farming corporation. Han Lei is in his late twenties and leads one of the local organic farming groups set up by young farmers. He joined FDI’s visit to Daichi in May. Han was very proud to show the Japanese delegation his organic cotton field and vegetable farm as both enter the beautiful harvest season of early September.

On September 8, the delegation arrived in Beijing and visited Zhangzi village in Daxin District. Zhangzi village is famous for being the first eco-village in China: many villagers practice organic farming using biomass as their major source of energy. The delegation visited Changxin Pear garden and was welcomed by ‘the Pear King’, Mr. Huang. All the pears in Changxin are organically grown, and most of them are sold to the high-end market in EU countries. Daichi was surprised to see the advanced farming techniques in Changxin. Partly due to the weather and geographic restrictions, no farmer in Japan has yet been able to grow organic pears or peaches. Daichi suggested that they should organize a delegation of Japanese farmers to visit and learn from Changxing. Later, the delegation visited vegetable farms and pig farms in the village. All the farms are built around the biomass station to get the greatest benefit from the clean energy.

In the evening, Daichi visited three supermarkets in downtown Beijing that sell organic products. Compared with Japan, the price of organic products in China is often two or three times higher than that of non-organic ones. At the same time, consumers have less trust in and knowledge about labels such as ‘green food’, ‘ environmentally friendly grown’, etc.

From the 9th till the 10th, the Daichi delegation had two days of meetings at FDI’s office regarding the joint initiative. Both sides reviewed the progress of the past three months and discussed details of the upcoming December visit to Japan by a Chinese farmers delegation.

At the farewell dinner on the 10th hosted by FDI, Daichi expressed their gratitude for a wonderful learning journey to China. They noted that most media reports about China’s agriculture are very negative, while the high-level of farming and the passion of Chinese farmers are not known by the Japanese at all.

FDI responded that although the market for organic products in China is still in its infancy, the collaboration of FDI and Daichi will allow the two to explore a new model that could create a win-win relationship between consumers and farmers.

200 solar lanterns (100 Kiran S11 and 100 Firefly) have been delivered to the rural communities in Inner Mongolia.

Individuals in the communities do not have access to electricity and have previously relied on candles for light, for which they spend $8.80 on average per month. Now villagers have the option of paying about $16 for a solar lantern which provides a more cost effective, safer and brighter source of light. In addition, by making this investment in a low-cost solar lantern, the community will save money and eventually improve its economic situation and future prospects. It is planned that the money collected from this initiative will be reinvested to promote the solar lantern to other villages in China. This will ensure the project remains sustainable and has an ongoing benefit reaching as wide an audience as possible. Mr Se, who was featured in the Kopernik July newsletter, recently paid a visit to observe how the villagers are using and benefiting from this new technology. The solar lanterns are already having a big impact on the lives of many and the feedback received so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Kopernik News

The Trustees are impressed by the breadth and scope of the provision made by Goodwill under the terms of its partnership agreement with GLI, and is grateful to Christopher Daniel and his colleagues for their untiring efforts, and the extent to which they make such efficient use of the funds GLI is able to make available.

Mr. Li Xiaodong, who is the mentor of Architecture School of Tsinghua University, together with over 100 students, has built a bridge school between the two ancient roundhouses. Most of the building materials were collected from the neighborhood. This architecture has two amphitheaters and a library in small space. More than an elementary school, this place has become a public cultural center for residents nearby.

The newborn bridge school has brought fresh air to the community, and shown us the engineer’s great concern regarding environmental issues.

The designer Mr. Li Xiaodong’s initial inspiration was the idea that “a bridge, over the river and be the connection between roundhouses.”

He designed the classroom, library and community activity area all together on the bridge. The side hallway of the classroom can lead you to the central library, and there are doors at both ends of the classroom facing the two roundhouses.

One side of the classroom is designed as a revolving door; the other is a sliding door. This makes it possible to convert the classroom into a stage for residents’ use after school.

The architecture has become a great public square for the village by connecting the two roundhouses and the surrounding open space. There is a roundhouse at one side of the square and a fine concise stage at the other side. Every evening and night, residents in the village come here and play around spontaneously. The design not only provides children with schools and classrooms, but also works as a communication center for the entire village.

Underneath the school, there is a Z-bridge suspended by steel wire which the children use when going to school.

The entire architecture was built under the steel frame structure. The inner space of steel frame is used as classrooms and a public space has set up between the two of them. Outside the classroom, there is a corridor which is covered with wood bars and fixed by steel keels. The design can cut off the outside interference but the distant landscape can be enjoyed at the same time.

Architecture design sometimes falls into two extremes when dealing with traditional environment, one is to exaggerate the expression of modern technology; the other is to linger in the form of nostalgia. As to the blueprint of bridge school, Mr. Li Xiaodong has found a balance between these extremes by using local materials.

It was not easy during the process of designing and building the bridge school. The sudden financial crisis reduced the budget to half. The government funded the remaining parts after the engineer’s great efforts in persuading the government and this kept the construction plan alive until the construction was finished. The whole project costs six hundred and fifty thousand RMB upon the completion.

Chinese designers are working hard to improve the space quality of village communities and update their life styles.

Source: http://www.abbs.com.cn/usd/read.php?cate=11&recid=28738

Author: Ye Li

Editor: Yifan Ding Translator：Cameron Xu

The Lamas searched for survivors with bare hands, chanted and prayed for deaths, which wasn’t contrary to the modernized rescue given by Chinese government and army.

Jiegu Temple: Another Rescue Centre

In Yushu, Qinghai Province, the earthquake had taken over 2,000 lives. At night, the sound of chanting raised from everywhere and people living on the street began to pray.

It was the first meal for living buddha Danba of Jiegu Temple and his 550 disciples since the quake happened two days ago（The reincarnation of holy men, or “Living Buddhas,” is a unique form of succession in Tibetan Buddhism）.

The temple was crushed and a lot of people died which was the most terrible time for Jiegu Temple since it was built up several hundred years ago. Dead bodies sent from the foot of mountains were put in the temple for the blessing from Lamas; the young living buddha has never seen so many deaths before.

Most of the residents in Yushu are Tibetans and almost all the Tibetans are devout Buddhists, which made the Jiegu Temple become one of the rescue centers in Yushu after the earthquake.

Fortunately, all the lamas in Jiegu Temple were alive after the quake. They rushed to the debris at the foot of the mountains searching for survivors with bare hands.

The strong quake almost destroyed everything in Yushu. Amongst the ruins, the professional rescue team and a group of monks were striving for the same goal.

When the rescue team used machinery and life detection systems to determine the location of survivors, some lamas were drilling the debris and risking their lives to search and pull out the survivors and the dead.

The rescue army assigned by the government couldn’t search and rescue refugees smoothly because of altitude sickness and language. The soldiers stopped for breath after a short amount of digging and so the lamas took over the tools and continued digging.

But both of them were unable to communicate for incomprehension of language.

Saving life is a very hard mission because life is extremely fragile. In the ruins along the riverside, tears streamed on a young lama’s face for not finding a survivor in the ruins.

Government and Lama : Complementary Rescue

After the quake, the temple and the government started the rescue activities with their own approaches, occasionally they worked together.

At the downtown plaza of Yushu City, the monks set up a tent to pray for the deaths. Opposite their tent is the army relief goods distribution spot. The television at the distribution spot was repeating the news of the outcomes of disaster relief.

Meanwhile lamas from all over Tibet were heading to Yushu, most of them probably wouldn’t be able to get to Yushu for the rescue. However, for the buddhists in the quake area, blessing from lamas was as same important as relief supplies.

On the road from Jiegu Temple to remoter areas, people gathered around the road side and waited for the relief vehicles to arrive everyday. Lamas became the main force to distribute the goods. The government brought lamas in to show the fairness to the people.

Lama Pencuo from Jiegu Temple is in charge of goods distribution. “We transported the goods to the remotest disaster areas that are still out of reach from government and volunteers. I think this will make the relief works more effective. We’re working under the principal of our own practices, we don’t want any credit.”

Living Buddha Danba commented that “It will be the best if we can cooperate with the government.”

The partners of lamas were not only government, but also private foundations. One Foundation, set up by Chinese famous Kongfu Star Jet Li, invited a living Buddha for rescue goods distribution. People responded actively and orderly since they wanted to see the face of living Buddha while receiving the goods.

After three days of the quake, the rescue mission of Jiegu Temple shifted from physical rescue to spiritual relief. The local government authorized the temple to be in charge of cremation of the victims.

As a living Buddha, Danba introspected himself whether if he can do more for the survivors to recover from the shock of losing families.

On the second day after the quake, an over 70-year-old blind woman stopped Danba ,bowed down to him and said “Living Buddha, I’m very sad. I’m so old and couldn’t see anything. Why didn’t I die but my grandson died.”

“I said to her, you can do a lot of things for him like chanting and praying. You shouldn’t cry or consider suicide because they are great sins, your grandson wouldn’t be able to go to the heaven if you do so.”

“We chose the third day after quake for cremation and hope souls of the deaths would raise to heaven. As Buddhists, we think salvation of the deaths’ souls is the final rescue.” Danba said, “From the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism, one’s life is continuously repeating in a big life cycle. Everybody will experience countless lives and death is not the end.”

Translated by: Yifan Ding

Written By: Chen Jiang

Quote from Southern Weekend : http://www.infzm.com/content/44165

They will join The Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor and Mrs Timothy Coleridge, with FOCUS K&C, the Mayoral Charity for 2009/10, to celebrate the launch of a new permanent Inclusive Theatre project for Kensington & Chelsea on Wednesday 28 April at 7 pm. Keynote speaker will be Chickenshed supporter James Murdoch.

The event, to be held at The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NN, will include a spectacular cabaret performance by members of the internationally respected Chickenshed Theatre Company and a reception for members of the local community, supporters, donors and charities based in the Royal Borough.

All funds raised through FOCUS K&C will go to establishing Chickenshed’s model and practice in Kensington and Chelsea.  Chickenshed will be working with local schools and youth and community groups, harnessing the creativity and energy of children and young people and setting up an Inclusive Children’s Theatre, Youth Theatre and Young Adult Company which will become a model for inclusive theatre activity in the area.

Working in partnership with local stakeholders, such as Westway Development Trust, Chickenshed will be engaging with children, young people and adults in theatre workshops.

They will offer local young people the opportunity to train with them in the inclusive theatre process, which Chickenshed has developed over the past 36 years, to create a lasting, successful theatre company.

Chickenshed will be working to ensure all the activities are fully inclusive, exciting, creative and sustaining and that they provide a model of best practice.

FOCUS K&C, the Mayoral Charity for 2009/10, is a local charitable foundation set up by local people to support local charities. It aims to strengthen the local community, engage residents in supporting local causes and foster local pride and social responsibility – all principles that have created a successful partnership with Chickenshed.

They have joined forces with the Madurai District Legal Service Authority and the Madurai Bar Association to launch the Legal Aid Clinic.

The scheme will be available to all the 150 mentally ill residents in the region.

Lawyer BN Raja Mohammed said the clinic will improve all facilities for the mentally ill and encouraged the general public to support rehabilitation efforts.

“One in five people in India suffer from mental disorders,” said psychiatrist Dr S Nambi. “These can be attributed to social, political and economic factors.”

The venue is The Old Chapel, Albaston and as well as food there will be a quiz, games and drumming – all for just £3.50!

Proceeds go to support various Tamwed projects in South India.

More details on 01822 617457 or email info@tamwed.org.