Initiatives
Every year, the Foundation organizes special events to share and promote the knowledge and experiences that the Foundation has amassed in the areas of reading and philanthropy and to respond to societal needs. The Foundation initiates special support programs including training courses, conferences, promotion of publications and funding initiatives, in order to contribute to industry development.
The First Inclusive Play Space in Hong Kong - Tuen Mun Park Inclusive Playground
We are pleased to announce the first inclusive play space at Tuen Mun Park which was officially opened on 17 December 2018. It was a big milestone for all stakeholders.
Playright Children’s Play Association (Playright) is a non-profit organization that advocates for children’s right to play. Established in 1987, Playright helps people of all sectors appreciate the value of play. Playright has partnered with CYSFF since 2004, for sharing the same vision and value, play is a crucial part of children development process.
“Playright UNICEF Inclusive Play Project” was organized between 2012-2016, which concluded in 2018 with the opening of the first inclusive playground in Hong Kong. It took several years to raise public awareness about inclusive play in public playgrounds. Inclusive play means that with and without disabilities children, and youth can play with each other or alone as they wish, in a rich environment that supports their play needs.
The Inclusive Playground at Tuen Mun Park (Playground) signifies a movement for Better Playgrounds in Hong Kong. Playright believes that a well-designed and well-managed play environment that puts children first is fundamental to child development, and benefit the family and community at large. The Playground has demonstrated the essence of a well-designed play environment, by providing diversified play opportunities with the level of challenges, engaging community stakeholders especially children. As the expert in Play, Playright has employed their knowledge in playground design and safety, and worked closely with the landscape architecture team of the Architecture Services Department as the Play Consultant, to ensure the original intent of the inclusive play concept is well preserved for All Children.
The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation funded Playright to implement two key projects in the process, including:
1. Inclusive Play Space Design Ideas Competition – invited professionals to design a harmonious play space with Tuen Mun Park as a blueprint;
2. Junior Playground Commissioner Incubation Programme – invited the most important stakeholders, children in this community, to participate in the design and planning stages;
Who are Junior Playground Commissioners? How did they participate in the design of the inclusive play space? What role did they play? The following videos show the whole process, and we are proud of their efforts and achievements.
-
(1) July 2012 to June 2013: Direct Playground Experience – inclusive play opportunities were provided to over 1000 children with special needs, parents and teachers at different public playgrounds and on Playright’s playday
(2) July to November 2012: Play Space Education – inclusive playground workshops were organized for a total of 126 parents and teachers from partner schools and a “Play for All Symposium” held for 145 professionals.
(3) October 2012 to July 2013: Playground Users’ Needs Survey – a qualitative survey was conducted by Playright with 126 parents and a quantitative survey was conducted by The Social Sciences Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong to collect parents’ ideas on inclusive play at public playgrounds.
(4) April 2012 to December 2013: Guideline Development – the first local playground guidelines were drafted based on other international inclusive play space guidelines, users’ needs survey results, the options from focus group workshops and reviews from an overseas expert group. Two focus group workshops were successfully organized in late November 2013, joined by 40 delegates.
