On November 17, 2020, the launch ceremony of the " Jingchu Light – Plan for Supporting the Development of Social Organizations in Hubei " was held in Wuhan.

Launch Ceremony of Jingchu Light-Plan for Supporting the Development of Social Organizations in Hubei

    Wang Xingzhu, Executive Vice president of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation ,Hao Ruixi, Director of Charity Development Department of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation （Gates Foundation）, Liu Zhengchen, Beijing New Sunshine Charity Foundation, and Li Zhonghui, Wuhan Social Organization Development Foundation attended the event and delivered speeches.

    Officials of Hubei Provincial Social Organization Administration, Hubei Charity Promotion and Social Work Department Wuhan Civil Affairs Bureau and Professor Lu Hanwen from Central China Normal University, and representatives of more than 50 social organizations in Hubei Province attended the launching ceremony.

Hao Ruixi, Director of the Charity Development Department of the Gates Foundation, making an introduction

    Hao Ruixi, Director of the Charity Development Department of the Gates Foundation, shared the work of the Gates Foundation in fighting the COVID-19, and introduced the joint funding of 10 million Yuan with CFPA and the New Sunshine Foundation. The "Jingchu Light Plan" is aimed to continue to introduce social resources and professional capabilities to social organizations in Hubei to better serve the people affected by the epidemic.

Wang Xingzhu, Executive Vice president of CFPA, making a speech

    Wang Xingzui, executive vice chairman of CFPA,shared the history of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and our projects, and introduced the Jingchu Light Plan. The Jingchu Light Plan will discover potential seedlings among county-level social organizations in Hubei Province in the next three years. Through continuous support and cultivation, it will develop a group of professional social organizations rooted in the local area. These social organizations can rely on their professional capabilities to receive external social resources and mobilize local social resources to continue serving the local community. This is also an important exploration for CFPA to establish a long-term mechanism for solving relative poverty after winning the battle against poverty.

    Mr. Lu Hanwen, professor from Central China Normal University and doctoral tutor, hosted the charity forum "How to effectively co-finance and support the social organizations in Hubei Province". The guests gave some effective suggestions.

    Under the guidance of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and with the support of the Hubei Provincial Civil Affairs Department, Gates Foundation, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, New Sunshine Charity Foundation, and other organizations would jointly launch the “Jingchu Light – Plan for Supporting the Development of Social Organizations in Hubei.” The purpose of the Project is to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by mobilizing and coordinating public and private financial resources to provide emergency and capacity building grants to social organizations in Hubei province for the following objectives:   (1) provide critical mental health services to the most vulnerable communities; (2) improve the service delivery and general capacity of local nonprofit organizations to respond to a pandemic or similar disaster; (3) to pilot and disseminate learnings regarding a coordinated public/private funding model to address pandemics or other disasters; and (4) attract public and private sources of funding to alleviate conditions of poverty and physical and mental health challenges post-pandemic/disaster.