Child Welfare NGOs in Hong Kong: Does Advocacy Work?

Background and Purpose:

In Hong Kong, non-government organizations (NGOs) collaborate closely with the government to respond to social needs. Social welfare nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Hong Kong are primarily service-oriented, although many NGOs work beyond service-oriented boundaries. To date, little scholarly attention has been paid to non-profit advocacy among these organizations. This study examined advocacy strategies and barriers of nongovernmental organizations in the child welfare sector in Hong Kong.  

Methods:        

This study used an in-depth case study approach to examine the questions (1) to what extent and (2) how do child welfare NGOs engage in advocacy work in Hong Kong. We adopted a purposeful sampling strategy identifying a list of child welfare NGOs from an open directory available online. A total of seven NGOs were selected from listing of primary service delivery and advocacy NGOs (interviews n=10). The cases were chosen to diverse child welfare organisational type. The semi-structured interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. Codes generated from the data were categorized into emergent and cross-examined by the authors independently to improve overall data reliability.

Results:          

Our findings suggest that secondary advocacy, what we term passive public advocacy is the dominant strategy. This type of advocacy includes actions that do not stand alone, but rather are add-ons or an extension of the work they are already doing. Examples include sharing research on their service users, and hosting press conferences, where they highlight achievements. While these activities have merit, they have little impact beyond the individual agency or the niche constituency they serve. While social workers acknowledge the principle of advocacy as a key professional value, to a large extent, they face significant difficulties in operationalizing advocacy efforts. In particular, the ambivalent political environment and the subvention system defining the existing relationship between the Hong Kong government and NGOs appears to restrict the social work profession’s mandates toward advocacy on behalf of marginalized children groups.

Conclusions and Implications:      

Globally the social work profession is facing mounting challenges to sustaining social justice as mandated by professional ethical guidelines. This case study offers insights into tensions inherent to defending a rights-based agenda within the confines of constricting space for civil action with universal implications for policy advocacy practice. The study has three primary practice and policy implications. First, legal reforms that define what is permissible advocacy work by nongovernmental organizations while protecting their right to do so are urgently needed. Second, there is a need to develop an independent department or commission to oversee child welfare issues. Third, there is a need for review of social work curriculum to improve training in culturally relevant advocacy practices.