Impact Bond: Start from the Beginning - Chinese Supporting Scheme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students (NCS) in Kindergarten
Stage of development: Implementation
Policy sector: Education
Social challenge: Government statistics show that one in three South Asian children in Hong Kong lives below the poverty line, lack of Chinese proficiency being one of the causes as it affects studies and future employment. The goal of the project is to perfect the Chinese as a second language pedagogy for NCS (Non-Chinese speaking) students in Hong Kong.
Intervention: The aim of the project is to improve children's language skills in Cantonese and thus their competitiveness in the long run. The project expects to narrow the proficiency gap between Chinese and non-Chinese students by half. As a charitable organization committed to creating a world without poverty, Oxfam Hong Kong created the Chinese enrichment education support program for NCS children with an aim to improve their language skills in Cantonese.It provides four seed schools and 70 network schools with advanced professional training courses for their teachers and academic support spanning six areas.
Primary SDG goal: 1,4,10
Start of service provision: 2020
Dates notes: Exact date is not stated, but it started in 2020
Target population: Kindergartens, Non-Chinese speaking students and their teachers
Targeted number of service users or beneficiaries: 1444
Targeted unit type: Individual
Service and beneficiaries notes: The project is meant to benefit 74 kindergartens, which accounts for around one-fifth of kindergartens in Hong Kong, along with 1,200 NCS students and 170 teachers, totally 1444 beneficiaries
Notes: The pandemic in 2020-2021 has led to frequent class suspensions. To overcome these obstacles, OHK and its partners had to resort to online classes, online story-telling courses and a four-week summer enrichment course through Zoom. Families without internet access and tablets can apply for free services from social welfare organizations, and are provided with Wi-Fi eggs. Zoom manuals and consultation hotline services were also provided to assist parents with e-learning engagements. 

Start from the Beginning – Chinese Supporting Scheme for Non-Chinese Speaking Students in Kindergarten’ was launched in 2015. The first stage (2015 to 2017) was co-funded by the SIE Fund and Oxfam. The SIE Fund, Credit Suisse and Oxfam supported Stage II (2017 to 2019). And Lee Hysan Foundation, Wu Jieh Yee Charitable Foundation, Credit Suisse, Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation, Van Tse Zung Charitable Foundation and Oxfam supported Pre-stage III (2019 to 2020). PwC played a pivotal role in the launch of the Pay-for-Success.