2017-2018 Annual Report
About the Founder
Mr. Robert Yet-Sen Chen (1929-2003)
About the Founder

Mr. Robert Yet-Sen Chen was born at the beginning of China's new Republic, survived the civil wars and the Sino-Japanese War, lived on four continents, and established a thriving international business enterprise. Through it all he never forgot his roots, his boyhood years in rural China. He dedicated much time, energy and financial contributions in the later part of his life to helping the less fortunate in his home village in Qidong, Jiangsu Province, China.

Mr. Chen was born in 1929. At the age of 14, he left his hometown to study in Shanghai. In 1948, he left China for Hong Kong and eventually went on to attend university in England. In 1957, Mr. Chen returned to work in the family business in Hong Kong. He established the company's presence in West Africa by setting up factories in Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Like many of his generation, Mr. Chen experienced personal loss, war and hunger in his youth which was to prepare him for the rigors and challenges of doing business in uncharted territories. His positive outlook on life and his uncanny ability to see to the core of issues, coupled with his unfailing diligence, contributed to the ultimate success of his personal and professional endeavors. His diligence and sound financial investment strategies paid dividends for the family business.

The elder, Mr. Chen Zao Men, taught his son about the importance of philanthropy - of giving - from an early age. The Chen Zao Men College in Hong Kong was the first charitable project supported by the Chen Family in 1972, and the genesis of a tradition of community service. Mr. Robert Chen built on this legacy of good works by building and supporting six schools, a community hospital, and undertaking much-needed public works in the family's hometown of Qidong. His lifetime of philanthropic work culminated with the creation of the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation in October 2003, prior to his unexpected and premature passing on November 29, 2003.

Mr. Robert Chen was a successful businessman, a caring family man, a generous benefactor and a respected citizen. Compassionate and generous, he cared deeply about educating the younger generations in whom he saw unfulfilled potential to excel. His spirit lives on in the Foundation that bears his name.

View More
About us

Established in 2003, The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation is a hybrid charitable institution with a strategic focus on improving early childhood literacy, through the development of libraries and reading programs. The Foundation also supports experiential out-of-classroom programs which aim to improve personal development of children.

Geographical Interest

The Foundation is a grant-making institution that supports organizations for innovative, cost effective and high impact programs in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Mainland
China
Hong Kong
Mission Statement
To nurture the potential of the next generation by building, supporting & sustaining innovative approaches that enhance learning & personal development.
Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee, consisting of 7 members, meets twice in a year, normally in April and November, to approve grant applications and to review the Foundation policies.
  • Chairman
    Mr. James Chen
  • Vice-Chairman
    Mr. Guangshen Gao
  • Treasurer
    Mrs. Daisy Chen
  • Member
    Mrs. Su Chen
  • Member
    Mrs. Justina Leung
  • Member
    Mr. Alan Wang
  • Member
    Mr. Vic Li
    (From November 2017)
  • China Special Program Manager
    Ms. Cindy Qin
  • Senior Program Manager
    Ms. Shelly Lu
  • Hefei Program Officer
    Mr. Charlie Xue
  • Administrative Secretary
    Ms. Amber Tse
    (From December 2017)
  • Administrative Secretary(Part Time)
    Mrs. Blesila Tse
  • Chairman
    Mr. James Chen
    Vice-Chairman
    Mr. Guangshen Gao
    Treasurer
    Mrs. Daisy Chen
  • Member
    Mrs. Su Chen
    Member
    Mrs. Justina Leung
    Member
    Mr. Alan Wang
    Member
    Mr. Vic Li
    (From November 2017)
  • China Special Program Manager
    Ms. Cindy Qin
    Senior Program Manager
    Ms. Shelly Lu
    Hefei Program Officer
    Mr. Charlie Xue
    Administrative Secretary
    Ms. Amber Tse
    (From December 2017)
    Administrative Secretary(Part Time)
    Mrs. Blesila Tse
Message from the Chairman

Welcome to the Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation’s 15th annual report.

2018 marked a new milestone for the Foundation’s operation in Hefei as it celebrated 10 years of partnership with schools in the city. Since the Foundation’s first program in Hefei known as ‘Good Books for All’ in 2008, many partner schools in Hefei have been further developing and building on the reading culture within their schools by implementing new ideas and innovative approaches to bring the love of reading to more children.

It was 6 years ago in 2012 that 15 schools collaboratively set up the Stone Soup Happy Reading Alliance (SSHRA) as a Hefei special project. Since then, they have been attending professional teacher-librarian training programs in order to develop a unique curriculum that is able to be used at their schools to promote reading in a more systemic and comprehensive way. After 4 years of learnings from some failures and many successes, we are pleased to announce that the SSHRA’s ‘My Library Lesson’; a library curriculum development book, was published in September 2018, as part of the Foundation’s effort to build capacity among teacher-librarians in the Chinese speaking world.

With the proven success and impact delivered by the Hefei special project, we hope to replicate and scale up the project in other parts of Mainland China so that more students and teachers can benefit from this most positive experience. To formalise this, we engaged an external consultant to conduct an eight month review of the Hefei project to create a replicable program model that promotes ‘happy reading’. The review and subsequent report provides recommendations for the future replication model, highlighting the importance of being flexible in our strategy.

In addition to the strategic review, the Foundation also engaged an independent research team to conduct a small-scale survey with schools to map out and analyze the needs of local schools in promoting on-campus reading. This initiative is in line with the Mainland Chinese government 2010 work report which aims to achieve ‘reading for all’.

Having collated the results of the survey and report, the Foundation is now able to identify with greater clarity on the objectives of our work in China in order to build a ‘reading for all’ ecosystem in China. This includes:

1) to create a replicable reading promotion model through collaboration so as to instill the concept of ‘happy reading’ into more schools, community and families;
2) to advocate the concept of ‘happy reading’ and its impact on children’s early education development.

Over the past 10+ years, in addition to developing our domain expertise in early childhood education, the Foundation has been an advocate of ‘free play’. Since 2004, the Foundation has strategically partnered with Playright Children’s Play Association (Playright), and supported Playright in fulfilling a “Child’s Right to Play” in Hong Kong and China, and implementing play projects at schools and in communities.

In 2016, we supported the promotional video directed by Adam Wong Sau Ping, showcasing the “Inclusive Play Space Designing Ideas Competition” for an outdoor playground to be built in Tuen Mun. The competition was co-organised by Playright, the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF and the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects. The purpose of the video is to raise public awareness of the benefits of inclusive playgrounds so that children of all physical abilities can have easy access to play equipment to develop their creative and physical learning by learning, growing and playing together.

After months of discussions with the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Architectural Services Department, we are pleased to announce that in December 2018 the Hong Kong’s first ever inclusive playground in Tuen Mun Park was opened to the public. The new playground is the first barrier-free play space for children which incorporates two natural elements; water and sand in its design. The Foundation is tremendously proud of its achievements and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Playright in meeting the play needs of every child -- at policy, planning and provision level.

2018 marks the third year of Collective Impact Hong Kong. I am pleased to announce that the Foundation has co-funded its first project with Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund (SIE Fund) and the Peter Bennett Foundation on a research study conducted by The Zubin Foundation. The study focused on the local kindergartens and specifically focused on whether there were ethnic minority students attending these kindergartens. The results of the study showed that there is a lack of structured teaching materials and resources available for kindergarten teachers and recommends that this gap be filled as a matter of urgency. The study was released at a launch event on May 7 with the presence of Mr Jeff Sze, representative of Education Bureau. In addition, the report also garnered significant media attention highlighting the challenges of kindergarten educators in teaching Chinese as an Additional Language to Non-Chinese Speaking children.

More broadly, we are pleased to share that Oxfam’s ‘Start from the Beginning’ Phase 3 is being selected as one of the recipients of the pilot ‘Pay For Success’ social impact bond to be launched in 2020. Phase 2 of the project was co-funded by two of the Collective Impact HK funding members, SIE Fund and Credit Suisse which have significantly contributed to the scale-up phase that will benefit 18,000 NCS students.

Last but not least, we welcome our new Board Members, Mr Vic Lee and Ms Su Lee Chen, to the Foundation. We believe their invaluable experience in both the commercial and nonprofit sectors, specifically in early children education, will bring innovative ideas and perspectives to support the Foundation’s work in reaching out to more beneficiaries across Greater China.Despite challenges that lie ahead of us, we look forward to working with our Board members, staff and consultants to reach new heights of achievements.

James Chen
Chairman, The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation

View More