Overview of Care Teams
Background
As announced in the 2022 Policy Address, Care Teams will be set up in the 18 districts to support the Government’s district work.
The formation of Care Teams seeks to consolidate community resources and forces to support the Government’s district work and strengthen district networks. Care Teams will organise caring activities (such as visiting the needy) and assist in handling incidents and emergencies. Besides, Care Teams can help the Government disseminate information to the public and report the views of the public to the Government.
Organisation and Formation
With reference to the 2019 District Council Ordinary Election constituency boundaries, the Government will delineate each of the 18 districts into different sub-districts, and set up a Care Team in each sub-district. District Officers will be the commanders of all Care Teams in their districts.
District organisations will form the Care Teams through a selection process. Each Care Team will have around 8 to 12 members, including one captain and one vice-captain.
Selection Process
The selection process for Care Teams consists of two stages: (1) organisation selection stage and (2) proposal assessment stage. The Territory-wide Assessment and Steering Group on Care Teams chaired by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, and the District Assessment and Coordinating Panels on Care Teams chaired by District Officers of the 18 districts will be responsible for the selection process.
The purpose of the first stage of selection is to ensure that organisations forming Care Teams are patriotic and love Hong Kong; will support and follow the Government’s leadership; have certain level of district network and service experience; possess cross-district mobilisation capability; and are able to consolidate and will seek community resources. Applicant organisations must meet the assessment criteria in order to pass the first stage of selection.
The purpose of the second stage of selection is to assess the detailed service proposals of the applicant organisations having regard to the service needs of individual sub-districts, so as to select the most suitable organisations to become the Care Teams of the sub-districts. District Offices (DOs) will prepare service outlines for each sub-district based on local circumstances, specifying the mandatory service requirements and key performance indicators (KPIs). Organisations that have passed the first stage of selection can submit service proposals for the work of the sub-districts based on the service outlines, including the services details and the list of proposed members of the Care Teams.
Resources
The Government will provide Care Teams with some of the resources required. The DOs will stipulate the amount of funding for each sub-district in the service outlines. The total amount of funding for each Care Team for a two-year service agreement ranges from about $800,000 to $1,200,000. The Government also encourages applicant organisations to provide caring services through sponsorship, donation or internal resources.
Monitoring Mechanism
Care Teams are required to submit regular work and financial reports, and arrange independent certified public accountants to audit their accounts. DOs will also regularly monitor the work of Care Teams and review the progress of Care Teams in meeting the KPIs.
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