Background
Ensuring good governance means safeguarding against risks, better monitoring and assurance of performance in delivering the missions effectively and efficiently. To help NGOs better understand and uphold good governance, with the support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service has partnered with GAME for Good Limited and the Centre for Civil Society and Governance of The University of Hong Kong (the Centre of HKU) again to launch the “Jockey Club NGO Governance Health Programme” (the Programme). The Programme will provide a self-assessment tool for local NGOs to measure their board governance health and examine the strengths and areas for improvement in governance practices. The assessment will generate comprehensive landscape data for reference of the sector. This is the second attempt of a sector-wide board governance health assessment for NGOs in Hong Kong and the first exercise was initiated in 2018.
Programme Contents
The Programme consists of two parts. In addition to the sector-wide governance health assessment, the Programme will also arrange debriefings, seminars, governance capacity building workshops and individual consultations for the participating agencies. Besides, tools and tips on governance practices will be developed for reference of NGO boards.
Part I: Board Governance Health Assessment
Self-Assessment Using Refined Measurement Tool: 50 NGOs are invited to take part in a board governance health assessment. At least 3 board members (Chair / 1 Office Bearer / 1 Member who has served on the board for more than 1 year), and head of the participating NGOs (for those with no paid staff, the board member with executive roles should be included) are required to go through an online self-assessment process. NGOs that had joined the 2018 exercise are welcome to have an assessment again, as a measure of good governance practice, using the refined measurement tool newly modified by the Organisers that better suits the local context.
Results & Follow Up: A Confidential Individual Governance Health Assessment Report will be given to each participating NGOs highlighting the governance strengths and challenges as reflected in the self-assessment. Agency representatives can attend group debriefing sessions and workshops to facilitate better understanding of their governance health check results and good governance practices. The Programme will analyse comprehensive data for the sector’s reference. The overall assessment results will be published as a board governance health landscape report and will be uploaded to the HKCSS website.
Data Collection & Handling: The Organisers have commissioned Social Policy Research Limited (SPR) to carry out the Assessment with the online platform provided by the Centre of HKU. Names and contact information of the participating agencies will be restricted to the designated researchers of the SPR for clarification of information only. Data collected will be treated in strict confidence. Unless with permission, no third-parties (including the Organisers) will have access to any information provided by the agencies. All questionnaire collected will be destroyed within six months upon the completion of the project.
Part II: Board Governance Health Enhancement Series (further details to be announced)
To enhance the knowledge, skills and readiness of NGO boards to tackle governance health aspects as revealed in the 2018 Programme, support for individual NGOs and workshops will be offered to the participating agencies.
Individual Consultations: To empower NGO boards to explore solutions for better governance, the Programme will provide individual coaching sessions for 8 selected NGOs.
Governance Health Enhancement Workshops: To help NGO boards to resolve common concerns and challenges, the Programme will organise workshops on issues identified in the governance health assessment exercise.
Enrolment:
Application is now open for interested NGOs to take part in the Board Governance Health Assessment and associated programmes. Please complete the online registration form by 22 November 2021 (Monday). The researchers of SPR will contact your organisation for further details on completing the online self-assessment. For enquiries on the Programme, please contact HKCSS (Tel: 2922 9242 / Email: [email protected])
Detailed Programme Factsheet
Frequently Asked Questions
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