Hong Kong Poverty Links
Official Websites
Commission on Poverty
The commission has been established December 1, 2012. It dedicated to examine conditions and causes of poverty in Hong Kong, review existing policies and formulate new policies to improve livelihoods, and provide a safety net to better help the disadvantaged and prevent social exclusion, etc. Some research papers (Chinese version only) are available to download.
Community Care Fund
All details of the assistance programmes covering education, home affairs, medical and welfare areas for target beneficiary groups, including children, the elderly, the persons with disabilities, patients, new arrivals and ethnic minorities can be founded here.
Central Policy Unit
The main functions of Central Policy Unit are conducting policy research, drafting CE’s annual Policy Address, analysing and assessing community concerns and public opinions, etc. Various aspects of research reports are available to download.
Labour Department
The Labour Department “aims to provide comprehensive employment services, foster harmonious labour relations, promote and safeguard employees’ rights and benefits as well as work safety”.
Labour and Welfare Bureau
The Labour and Welfare Bureau “is committed to implementing various important policies for the benefits of the grassroots and the underprivileged with a view to improving their livelihood”. Press release and publication, consultation paper, reports and others, Replies to LegCo and Panel Paper can be found.
Minimum Wage Commission
The Commission is an independent statutory body established under Part 3 of the Minimum Wage Ordinance. Press Release, publication and relevant materials are available to download.
Social Welfare Department
Core welfare services including social security, family and children welfare services, medical social services, services for people with disabilities, services for elders, service for young people, etc. are provided this department.
Non-governmental Organization
The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong [Chinese version only]
This organization mainly concern about the balanced development of children and youth. Some surveys about low-income families have been published.
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS)
The HKCSS is now with around 400 Agency Members that provide over 90% of the social services for those in need in Hong Kong. Free collection of Researches and Statistics [Chinese version only] concerns about social development and welfare services are available.
Oxfam Hong Kong
Oxfam is the main organisation working with people against Poverty. Through Oxfam publications, learn the stories and situation of vulnerable people in communities near and far, and how Oxfam is helping them.
Society for Community Organization (SoCO)
The SoCO “firmly believes that everyone should be entitled to equal rights. Equal opportunity for participation and fair distribution of social resources is the foundation of human rights”.The SoCo produces research reports [Chinese version only] in various aspects including poverty, inequality and social exclusion. It also run projects in the form of electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording to raise the public awareness on specific issue.
Useful Programs:
RTHK TV series: Rich Mate Poor Mate II
This is a reality video show exploring the economic gap between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong. In this program, it put wealthy people in the shoes of the poor, with the film crew closely following them around the clock to see their experience of poverty
TVB Sunday Report: Children living below the poverty line
This TV program demonstrates the living condition of two children from poor families.
UK Poverty Research Links
Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research
This website is dedicated to multidisciplinary research on poverty in both the industrialised and developing world. It is one of the World’s largest websites about poverty research and contains a wealth of material.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in the United Kingdom
The PSE website is part of a major research project, Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE: UK), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. This website reports research into poverty and social exclusion, both in the UK and internationally. It gives facts and figures on a wide range of aspects of material and social deprivation and looks at the impact poverty has on people’s lives, prospects and well-being. It provides evidence as to the underlying causes of poverty and the key events in people’s lives that can leave them vulnerable to poverty. It tracks and assesses the impact of current policies on the poor.
Bradshaw, Professor Jonathan, University of York
This website provides many free unpublished research papers on child poverty, including several papers on the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey of Britain.
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), London School of Economics
CASE focuses on exploration of different dimensions of social disadvantage, particularly from longitudinal and neighbourhood perspectives, and examination of the impact of public policy. There is an excellent collection of free publications on social exclusion and poverty.
Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP), University of Loughborough
CRSP is an independent research unit conducting high quality work in the field of social policy. See their Poverty and Social Exclusion page in particular.
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS): Inequality, poverty and well-being
The distribution of income, consumption and wealth continues to be a central area of IFS research. Amongst the many aspects of their work in this area, they seek to chart, explain, and understand changes in inequality in wages, earnings, incomes and consumption, in the UK and other countries; they also seek to examine the effectiveness of a wide range of policies aimed at reducing poverty — including taxes and benefits, and other types of policy interventions — both in the UK and abroad.
Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex
ISER specialises in the production and analysis of longitudinal data – evidence which tracks changes in the lives of the same individuals over time. Research at ISER focuses primarily on the life-course of the individual and the changing nature of society. Work to date has examined the family; labour markets, income and poverty, social disadvantage and public policy. ISER is home to the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change, an interdisciplinary centre with a prestigious team of staff with a wide range of expertise in social science disciplines, including economics, sociology, demography, geography and statistics.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Lots of free summaries of research on poverty, social exclusion and related issues (requires registration). Some of the key issues they work on are poverty and social exclusion and child poverty.
Minimum Income Standard for the UK
is an ongoing programme of research to define what level of income is needed to allow a minimum acceptable standard of living in the UK today.
New Policy Institute (NPI)
Think tank that produces the annual report on Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. See also their statistics page.
Personal Finance Research Centre (PfRC), University of Bristol
Some excellent research work on financial exclusion.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland
Provides data that allow Northern Ireland to be compared with the results of the British Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey.
Scottish Centre for Research and Social Justice (SCRSJ), University of Glasgow
SCRSJ sought to integrate research and develop new research capacity in the field of social justice. The SCRSJ was established in January 2002 and aimed to:
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Reveal patterns of social injustice;
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Explore the processes involved in its emergence and persistence;
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Inform policies which can alleviate inequalities and exclusion; and
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Contribute to wider debates on the nature of social justice.
Also visit their research page to find out more about completed research projects.
Social Disadvantage Research Group (SDRC), University of Oxford
These researchers were responsible for developing the new Index of Multiple Deprivation for the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions. The SDRC also produced a similar Index of Multiple Deprivation for Wales and a deprivation Index for Northern Ireland. A list of their research projects can be found here.
Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of York
SPRU is part of the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York and researches into social policy, especially health and social care, poverty, social security and social work. See research on Social Exclusion, Income and Poverty.
Welfare Reform on the Web
This is a free monthly digest by the British Library’s Social Policy Information Service (SPIS) of the vast range of material published on welfare issues in research reports, government consultation and policy papers, academic and trade journals and quality newspapers.
Comparative Poverty Research Links
Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP)
CROP is a response from the academic community to the problem of poverty. It was established by the International Social Science Council (ISSC). The CROP Secretariat is currently based at the Centre for International Poverty Research, University of Bergen, Norway. Members of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research edited and helped CROP produce The International Glossary on Poverty as part of the International Studies in Poverty Research book series published by Zed Books. Download CROP’s Strategic Plan 2010 – 2011, Mobilizing Critical Research for Preventing and Eradicating Poverty as a PDF.
Gapminder
Gapminder, a Stockholm-based non-profit. Their extraordinary interactive graphs help you visualize complex global trends like the distribution of poverty, in different regions of the world, over time. The raw statistics would bore you to tears; the web graphs — dynamic, colorful and clear — are utterly compelling. June Cohen, TedBlog, 2005
Worldmapper
A comprehensive website of global maps of social phenomena, such as poverty, inequality and related subjects. This website contains 696 maps, with associated information and PDF ‘poster’ file.