Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1968-1969 — Page 42

98. Planning for the Lady Trench Day Nursery and Training Centre reached its final stages and the project is expected to be completed in March 1970. The Centre is designed to augment the Department's in-service training programme, especially in the fields of child welfare and youth and group work, through the provision of theoretical instruc- tion as well as facilities for practice and demonstration. The Centre was made possible by a generous donation by Sir Shiu-kin TANG, CBE, JP, a grant from the Lotteries Fund, and the promise of a donation from UNICEF. When completed the Centre will be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

POLICY AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

99. The Advisory Committee on Social Work Training, whose com- position and terms of reference are set out in Appendix 2, generally co-ordinate and offer advice to Government, voluntary welfare organiza- tions and the Universities on matters concerning social work education. It met six times during the year and considered a series of questions in connection with social work education at University level and by in-service training. In particular, it studied the use of welfare auxiliaries and the form of training most suited to their needs.

100. Apart from Government bursaries and various scholarships for social studies tenable at the Universities, the Social Work Training Fund, which was set up by the Social Work Training Fund Ordinance, Cap 1100, and which is administered by a Committee whose composi- tion and terms of reference are set out in Appendix 2, provided during the year financial assistance to the extent of some $250,000, which enabled 74 persons to pursue courses of social studies at both local and overseas Universities, as well as the attendance at two inter- national conferences by delegates representing the Colony. One of these conferences was the XIV International Conference on Social Work, held in Helsinki in August 1968.

FURTHER TRAINING

101. Social work is a comparatively new profession in Hong Kong, and like many other professions its members need to keep abreast with new developments, methods and social changes all over the world. In order to improve the quality of its staff as well as their service to the public the Department assesses the need each year for further training and selects suitable candidates from among its staff to undergo relevant studies either locally or abroad with financial aid made

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