HKU Project Mingde
HKU Business School is currently collaborating with HKU Project Mingde on a new student learning experience enhancement project – Renovation and Improvement of Saint Barnabas’ Society and Home, at Kennedy Town (https://www.sbsh.org.hk/). SBSH is an NGO providing charity services for the poor and homeless people in HK.
It is a cross-faculty initiative real-life project led by student volunteers and supervised by professors/lecturers from respective disciplines on both hardware and software, including but not limited to Business, Architecture, Engineering, Education, etc. Our goal is to help SBSH to improve its operation, service and future development, by applying design thinking through the research and innovation process. The project is similar to some case competitions - but a real-life one in which your input will be tested and implemented by working directly with the key stakeholders, including the management and users. It would be a fruitful learning experience, as well as business and leadership training for all HKU Business School students.
Students of all years of studies are eligible to join Project Mingde as volunteers and will be assigned to work in three different teams, i.e. Busines Model, Service Re-design and Community Relation.
Application
If you are interested in joining this meaningful project, please complete the application form and upload your latest CV here. Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact Mr. Rodgers So at fbe.ugenrichment@hku.hk.
Scope for HKU Business School
Our project is to carry out the following research, and based on which, proposal and prototype with SBSH, regarding their future development and improvement:
- How their services could be improved and more people could be benefited from their services.
- Developing assessment indicators to evaluate their projects/programs.
- Carrying out market surveys of locating their target service users and of bringing their services to the attention of their target service users.
- Carrying out marketing/promotion of their services among the public and the government so as to recruit volunteers and material supports and raise financial supports and so that the government is less likely to terminate our lease and repossess the day centre.
(this will be done through further discussion and collaboration with SBSH) - Long term plan for sustainability of their services to the poor and homeless – recruitment of volunteers, raising of funds and material supports and securing the use of their day centre on a long term basis.
Introduction of Saint Barnabas’ Society and Home
- Saint Barnabas’ Society and Home (“SBSH”) is a Christian charity in Hong Kong. SBSH was established in about 1988. In about late 1991, SBSH leased the premises of its drop-in day centre (situated in the Western District) from the Government at a nominal rent. Since then, by way of its day centre and regular outreach visits, SBSH has been providing needy free services to the poor and homeless people in Hong Kong.
- Our day centre is of two storeys (G/F and 1/F). The G/F is for serving the poor or homeless adults and the 1/F is for providing services to children from low income families. We call the 1/F Kids’ Learning Club. Currently, about three to four hundred people receive our services at G/F and through our outreach visits, and we provide services to about fifty children and their parents at the 1/F (Kids’ Learning Club). On average, we prepare and distribute about 43,700 meal boxes per year (about 140 meal boxes a day for a 6 days week).
- We are providing holistic services to our service users to satisfy their needs:
- Physical needs – we provide food, hot showers, clean clothes and other daily necessities.
- Psychological needs – we build up relationship with people coming to our centre or visited by us during our outreach visits so that we understand root causes of their problems and try to provide counselling and find ways to help them. We try to be a conduit or a bridge bringing people from the low points of their lives to somewhere brighter.
- Social needs – through gatherings, activities/programmes at our day centre, we try to create a small community or large family setting at the centre so that people (who are often living in isolation) coming to our centre can communicate/relay with one another.
- Spiritual needs – we have lunch time bible study of God’s words, fellowship group meetings on weekdays and worship time and teaching of God’s words on Saturday.
- Over the years, we have always endeavoured to improve our services to the service users so that better quality services would be provided and more people benefited.