Notification announcement
Date：2017-08-06
Distinguished Chairman Zhang Meiying and Mr. Gregory Ross Shaw, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends,
Good morning!
Today, we are gathered at the China National Convention Center to grandly hold the “6th China International Senior Services Expo”. First of all, on behalf of the organizers of the Expo, namely China Association of Social Welfare and Senior Service (CASWSS), China Association of Social Security, and China Professionals-Workers International Travel Service under All-China Federation of Trade Unions, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Vice Chairman Zhang Meiying and Mr. Gregory Ross Shaw, who have been warmly concerned about and attend the Expo today, to domestic and foreign friends present here, and organizers, co-organizers and supporters of the Expo, and to colleagues who have long been enthusiastically engaged in the development of senior services and made unremitting efforts to improve the well-being of the elderly.
As we all know, China introduced a string of laws, regulations, plans and policies during the 12th Five-Year-Plan period to encourage the whole society to zealously participate in the senior service undertaking so as to address aging population in an active manner. As a result, the international community and the domestic social forces have shown unprecedented enthusiasm in taking part in the senior service industry construction of China, the exchange and cooperation with the Expo as a platform have yielded remarkable results, and relevant social organizations at all levels have exerted a positive role for the orderly development of the senior service industry by undertaking scientific research, services, talent fostering, and industry assessment projects of the senior service industry under the support of the “government’s purchase of public services” policy.
The National Plan of Senior Service Development and Elderly Care System Construction for the 13th Five-Year-Plan Period issued by the State Council in 2017 makes a detailed deployment and clarify development direction of the senior service industry during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period. The Opinions on Reforming the Management System of Social Organizations and Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Social Organizations issued by the General Office of the State Council in August 2006 puts forward clear requirements for social organizations to play the role of serving the country, serving the community, serving the masses and serving the industry. How to effectively exert social institutions’ role of gathering wisdom and strength, serving as a bridge, promoting exchange and cooperation, and conducting industry management is an important issue facing the relevant social organizations in the senior service area in the development context that the nation has determined to actively address aging population, speed up the supply-side reform of the senior service sector, enhance service quality and ability, and improve the well-being of the elderly.
I. Adhere to the service-orientation concept, center on the general situation, and perform the functions
Adhering to the concept of service orientation and centering on the general situation, CASWSS has conscientiously fulfilled the functions of a social organization, cooperated with the Ministry of Civil Affairs to promote the construction of social senior-service system, and carried out positive innovation practices, since it was established.
During the 12th Five-Year-Plan period, CASWSS accepted the entrusting of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to undertake the work of the Secretariat of The Professional Standardization Technical Committee of Social Welfare Service and carried out the central level welfare lottery fund project of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, i.e. the “Research on the Framework of Standardized Construction System of the Senior Services Industry”; it also undertook the research and development of the “Research on the Standardization System Construction and Standard of National Social Senior Services ”, which was supported by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology during the 12th Five-Year-Plan period; it raised social funds to carry out applied research projects of national social senior service system construction and gradually transformed the research results into standards, service guides and training materials; in addition, it established 20 pilot units for standardization construction of senior service institutions.
Entering the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, CASWSS has been entrusted by the Social Organization Management Bureau of Ministry of Civil Affairs to undertake the senior service institution standardization pilot project, a social service project supported by the central government special funds to encourage the participation of social organizations, for the year 2016 and 2017. CASWSS has currently completed standardization pilot of 24 senior service institutions in 12 provinces, and will comprehensively promote the standardization pilot of senior service institutions in 13 prefecture-level cities of Jiangsu provinces this year. Through promoting the implementation of national standards and industry standards, CASWSS plays a guiding role for enhancing quality and efficiency, and strengthening the construction standardization of national senior service institutions.
II. Prioritize innovation and carefully foster service brands
In the era of change, the huge demand for social services provides fine room for innovation and development for social organizations. During its hard work in the past seven years, CASWSS has placed innovation at a prioritized position and has carefully cultivated four service brands, achieving fruitful results:
—Outstanding achievements in senior service training base construction. The backbone talent training was held across the country, training 16,000 various talents in the seven years;
—Fruitful results in the research and development of senior service technology. With participation of experts at home and abroad, the applied senior service research projects yielded brilliant R&D results which have been transformed into service guidelines, service standard, quality evaluation system, as well as 20 kinds of practical skills training materials for backbone talents. The remote training platform has promoted and implemented on a national scale, providing intellectual support for industry development;
—Effective running of senior service informatics construction cooperation projects. The Senior Service Informatics Development Committee (SSIDC) of CASWSS takes the Expo as a platform to hold “Research Projects on Senior Service Information Technology Innovation”, guiding high technology to flow into the senior service field and providing technical support for industry development;
—Successful holding of five sessions of China International Senior Services Expo. The five sessions of the Expos were visited, guided, and highly praised by state leaders. At the five sessions of the “Forum on the Development of Chinese Senior Service Industry”, important members of the governments at home and abroad gathered together to interpret polices, exchange experiences and explore development. More than a dozen sub-forums of the main forum, which had clear themes and highlighted the practice, were packed with participants, conveying the enthusiasm of the international community and the determination of the Chinese government to push forward industry development. The site of the Expos was filled with the enthusiasm of the whole society about improving the services of the elderly, and the theme of “better care for the elderly, better life for the world” has become the common expectation of the whole society.
III. Take culture as the soul, make new attempts and enhance synergies
Over the past seven years, the official website and the journal “Welfare China” created by CASWSS have played an important leading role in mobilizing the whole society to devote to the construction of the elderly-care industry with enthusiasm; the Chinese and English official websites have been visited by 120 countries, becoming a window for the international community to learn about the construction and development of China’s social welfare and senior service undertaking; the seminars on national welfare culture construction and the activities to spread welfare culture to each household held by CASWSS over the years have made the welfare culture deeply rooted among the people of the industry.
The National Plan of Senior Service Development and Elderly Care System Construction for the 13th Five-Year-Plan Period clearly puts forward to increase featured culture service projects suitable for the elderly and support social organizations and other social forces to carry out various forms of elderly care activities. CASWSS is to launch through the Expo the first “‘Zhongfu Cup’ Photography Exhibition for the Most Beautiful Elderly” and the “Better Care for the Elderly, Better Life for the World—I Accompany My Parents to Watch the Expo” activity, which is cooperated with China Youth Daily, so as to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the elderly, make a positive attempt in promoting cultural services for the elderly, and thereby guide the community to pay attention to the spiritual and cultural needs of the elderly groups.
IV. Take the standards as a benchmark, carry out innovative assessment, and push forward industry management
The National Plan of Senior Service Development and Elderly Care System Construction for the 13th Five-Year-Plan Period puts forward to comprehensively improve the quality of service of senior service institutions, accelerate the establishment of a unified national service quality standard and evaluation system, improve the safety, service, management, facilities and other standards, strengthen the supervision of service quality of senior service institutions, establish and improve the systems for classification management of senior service institutions and senior service evaluation, and introduce third-party evaluation.”
The Several Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Fully Liberalizing the Elderly-care Service Market and Improving the Quality of Elderly-care Services also proposes to “perfect the supervision mechanism, improve the assessment system, and promote industry standardization and industry credit construction”.
During the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, CASWSS will conscientiously implement the nation policy on the establishment of evaluation system for senior services and the introduction of third-party evaluation, actively explore the effective ways for social organizations to conduct industry assessment and service certification, and contribute to the enhancement of quality and efficiency of senior services, taking its cooperating with the government departments to push forward standardization pilot of senior service institutions as an opportunity.
V. Take integration as the aim, build platforms, and share experience
Broadening the international perspective is an effective way to broaden the ideas of development while studying international experience and carrying out international exchanges and cooperation is an effective way to promote development of the undertaking. Over the past years, CASWSS has been cared and inspired by the government and has actively carried out exchanges and cooperation with relevant social organizations at home and abroad, taking the Expo as a platform. It successively took part in a wide range of exchanges and cooperation in the field of senior services with the International Council on Social Welfare, the International Federation on Ageing as well as countries such as the United States, Australia, UK, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Singapore and Japan; it signed more than 20 cooperation agreements regarding the investigation for studying abroad, the introduction of research results, and the talents, capital and service brands. In addition, it has established good relationship of cooperation with domestic 27 social welfare and senior service institutions of other provinces and cities, establishing the brand image of “integration, sharing, innovation, development” of a social organization.
The senior service industry is not only an undertaking of people’s livelihood involving the well-being of hundreds of millions people, but also an emerging industry with tremendous potential. Supported and encouraged by national policies, social organizations will be able to accomplish great deeds. During the 13th Five-Year-Plan period, we will continue to serve as a tie to connect the government with the masses, connect experts, scholars and entrepreneurs with senior service providers, connect social resources and social welfare with the senior service undertaking, connect international experience with Chinese practice, and connect the ideal with the action, so as to jointly forge a colorful chapter of China’s social welfare and senior service undertaking with people of all walks of life.
Thank you all！
