Love Upgrading

My career at Christian Action began in 1987 with a heavy focus on job training and placements. At first, it was for Vietnamese refugees, then for Hong Kong’s factory workers. Since 1994, Christian Action has been an official partner of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB). We aim to enhance the employability of Hong Kong’s unemployed through vocational training, and therefore help them re-enter the workforce.

In October 2019, ERB launched the Love Upgrading Special Scheme. It was commissioned by the Government to support those who were out of work. This new scheme has expanded its target and now includes those who are underemployed or required to take no-pay leave due to Hong Kong’s economic downturn. Since the programme began, Christian Action has offered 88 courses, covering different industries and areas of vocational skills, such as electrical and mechanical services, beauty therapy and social services.

On 19 November 2020, we had the honour of receiving Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, GBM, GBS, JP, Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Yu Pang-chun, SBS, JP, ERB Chairman, and Mr Byron Ng, BBS, ERB Executive Director, at our Choi Wan headquarters. They were given an update on our implementation of the Scheme. Together, we toured our training courses and spoke to trainees in order to assess the effectiveness of our curriculum, the challenges learners face, and to get some feedback that could improve the programmes we offer.

I was happy to hear that during these latent times, our students were learning something helpful which contributed to their professional development. Many admitted that they would not otherwise have spent the time productively. They also found our ERB courses a good way to make new friends and enjoy the supportive learning environment at Christian Action. In addition, our honourable guests and the trainees remarked on our modern facilities. In spite of the ongoing pandemic, they generally felt safe to study here in a comfortable space.

During these tough times, Christian Action and ERB are pleased to help make the lives of Hong Kong’s unemployed and underemployed more meaningful. Although our class sizes are smaller due to social distancing restrictions, we are offering new training lessons online. That makes learning more accessible and dynamic! Our new online lectures include training as Cosmetician Assistants, Healthcare Massage, Postnatal Care Workers, Pet Groomers and Shop Assistants, and more!

In addition to having launched the Love Upgrading Special Scheme, the Government has reserved $6 billion under the Anti-Epidemic Fund to improve and develop their Job Creation Scheme. They aim to create 30,000 time-limited jobs in the public and private sectors in the coming two years. With so many exciting developments in store, I look forward to running more training courses in the future with the Employees Retraining Board to help Hong Kong’s labour force.

Honorable guests at Christian Action