The Department of Social Work and the Joint Forum for Social Work and Social Development (Joint Forum) jointly organized the symposium on ‘Social Work Practice and Policy: Poverty and Poverty Alleviation’ on 4 June on CUHK campus. The event attracted over 60 participants from the government, NGOs, social enterprises and universities.

A total of 10 presentations were made in the symposium. Issues facing disadvantaged groups (e.g. ethnic minorities, women, children, the poor), and measurement and evidence-based intervention (e.g. community economic development, human and social capitals development, anti-oppressive and anti-social exclusion practices) in alleviating the situation of the poor were discussed and debated in the symposium.

The Joint Forum is formed by six departments of social work in local universities, Hong Kong Social Workers’ Association, and the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. The symposium was one of the symposium series initiated by the Joint Forum to explore issues related to social work practice and policies such as poverty.