Tri-Sector Associates supported the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) and Oxfam Hong Kong in launching Hong Kong's first Pay-For-Success (PFS) project. The project focuses on scaling and optimizing a train-the-trainers model for early childhood education intervention to help Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) kindergarten students improve their Chinese proficiency. By closing this achievement gap, we aim to reduce the poverty and social exclusion issues faced by NCS students in the long run.
Project Partners
- Hong Kong Council of Social Services (Local PFS Consultant)
- Oxfam Hong Kong (Service Provider)
- Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund, managed by the Efficiency Office of the Hong Kong government (Outcomes Funder)
- Venture philanthropists and family foundations (Upfront Funders)
Problem Statement
The poverty issue among ethnic minorities in Hong Kong has been closely linked to poor Chinese proficiency. Since Chinese is one of the official languages in Hong Kong, a lack of proficiency results in social integration and achievement gaps. Children in NCS families face a disadvantage as they learn Chinese as a second language in school and lack exposure to the language in their home environment compared to first-language learners. This learning disadvantage begins at a preschool level and leads to further delays in all subjects of the school curriculum in later education, ultimately resulting in poor workplace integration.
Approach
In our role as the PFS Technical Advisor, Tri-Sector Associates assisted HKCSS in designing a PFS project to fund the scale-up of Oxfam Hong Kong's early childhood intervention program. Our work included conducting rigorous cost-benefit and cost-efficiency analyses to determine the value of outcomes, helping design rigorous success metrics, creating financial models, and providing technical advisory services for the creation of PFS contracts.
Impact
In September 2020, our partners successfully launched Hong Kong's first PFS project, with up to HK$30.68 million (approximately SG$5.2 million) of government funding committed to paying for outcomes upon success. Tri-Sector is providing post-launch advisory services for the project's successful completion.
