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Asian families have undergone significant changes over the past decades. A sharp rise in the divorce rate, change of roles that a mother and father play in the family, and emergence of the nuclear family rapidly change the family landscape. In Hong Kong, about one-third of marriage registrations are re-marriages; the appearance of new family pattern like cross-border marriages for younger generation and transgenerational parenting is also deviant from our traditional perception to family. At the same time, the role of caregiving is heavy on families’ shoulders. Over a million people in Hong Kong, approximately 1 out of 7 people across life span, with chronic health conditions require family caregiving as revealed in a recent study. An urgent alarm for better family support is triggered as dwindling of family strength and value will also bring challenges to social harmony and coherence as well as long-term sustainable development in Asia.

To solicit joint effort and global wisdom to address these challenges, the Asian Family Summit (AFS), jointly organised by the Consortium of Institutes on Family in the Asian Region (CIFA), the Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong, the Family Council of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR), The Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the Social Welfare Department of the HKSAR Government, was held from August 19 to 22, 2018 in Hong Kong. The Summit gathers public, private, academic/professional sectors and the civil society to map out an agenda for action in Asia for the well-being of families which is closely related to the sustainable development of Asian societies. More than 550 participants gathered on the first day of AFS.

The Honourable Mrs. Carrie Lam, GBM, GBS, The Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Ms. Daniela Bas, Director of the Division for Inclusive Social Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations were the Guests of Honour kicking off AFS. The Welcoming Remarks of Professor Xiang Zhang, the President and Vice Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, marked the start of the Opening Ceremony. He was pleased to see HKU hosting this event and said “The HKU Faculty of Social Sciences has played a leading role in advocating multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration for the promotion of family well-being. This approach is aligned with the University’s strategic plans, which we call “the [3+1] Is.” That is: Internationalisation, Innovation and Interdisciplinarity, all converging on Impact.”

The Honourable Mrs. Carrie Lam, The Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region illustrated the Hong Kong SAR Government’s policies on promoting family well-being. She explained, “Family-related work is multi-faceted. The Government would not be able to do it all alone. On the provision of social services, it is important to promote cross-sector and cross-profession collaboration as well as public-private partnership to make better use of our resources and provide more comprehensive care for the needy in the society. In this process, we need a shared belief to drive actions.”

Ms. Daniela Bas, Director of the Division for Inclusive Social Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations echoed that the UN Secretary-General encouraged Member States to further recognise that family-oriented policies and programmes are integral to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in a recent report on family issues. She explained, “We all must work together towards a greater cooperation between Governments, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector to empower families through appropriate social policies so that they can fulfil their numerous functions and thus contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and targets.”

Mrs. Patricia Chu, Chairperson of CIFA cum AFS Co-Chair expressed gratitude to all supporting units at the Vote of Thanks in the Ceremony for their valuable contributions to the Summits, including 5 co-organisers and over 20 supporting organisiations as well as individual and corporate sponsors. She was particularly grateful to the support from the Guests of Honour, Mrs. Carrie Lam and Ms. Daniela Bas, in officiating the Ceremony and recognising their works for family well-being.

In addition to Ms. Daniela Bas’ keynote speech on the first day, Professor Daniel Shek, Chairman of the Family Council, HKSAR, and Professor Richie Poulton, University of Otago, New Zealand, will be the keynote speakers in the coming two days of AFS, sharing with us “Family Impact Assessment in Policy Formulation – The Hong Kong Experience” and “The Dunedin Study – Insights for Advancing Family Well-Being” respectively.

Different plenary sessions and over 76 papers and reports will be presented during the three-day Summit for intellectual exchange. Also, the Family Well-Being Expo on the theme of "You are the Spring of Family Happiness" was held on August 19 (Sunday) and successfully attracted over 1,000 public participants to promote the family well-being. The Expo covered clothing (惜衣), food & nutrition (足食), living & environment (安居) and travelling & leisure (樂行) to disseminate information on family health in all aspects of daily life. A series of Post-Summit workshops and agency visits will be organised to enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners.

For the programme rundown and details about the Summit, please visit www.socsc.hku.hk/afs

For media enquiries, please contact
Mr. Tommy Fan, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU (Tel: 3917 1204 / 9701 0777; Email: yhfan@hku.hk)

Photos in high resolution are available at www.socsc.hku.hk/afs/press