Hebei Elderly Care Development Project The proposed project will support the development of an integrated three-tier elderly care system (ECS) in Hebei Province through improving the quality and coverage of home, community, and residential elderly care services (ECSS) and facilities. It will be the first project for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) comprehensively addressing ECS and services development by public and private sector.
The project will have demonstration value for other provinces in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and developing countries in Asia and the Pacific facing similar challenges of aging populations. Innovative features include the development of (i) an integrated elderly care service model that links home, community, and residential care and management; (ii) pilot projects to support good practice ECS development in areas such as management, quality assurance, and new services development; (iii) a model of government and private sector collaboration that has only limited risk for government and which may be more flexible and market responsive than use of public-private partnerships; and (iv) a human resources development program at the tertiary and continuing education levels, which anticipates the growth of the sector and demand for new skills.
The impact, which is aligned with the government's goal, will be an established comprehensive three-tiered ECS (home, community, and residential). The outcome will be improved capacity of the ECS and quality of ECSS in Hebei. The proposed project will include nine subprojects covering urban and rural areas. Indicative project outputs are as follows: Output 1, improved community and home care services, will develop (i) selected community centers, (ii) services and support networks to improve and expand service delivery and quality, (iii) capacity of the implementing agencies to create sustainable home- and community-based care services (HCBC), services that meet the needs of the elderly, and (iv) information and communication technology (ICT) networks that support the elderly and service delivery. Output 2, increased residential elderly care service capacity and improved quality, will (i) provide residential care services for elderly with various types of need (i.e., nursing care, dementia care, rehabilitation); (ii) establish links to existing health care facilities and home and community care to support a continuum of care; and (iii) serve as demonstration models of government and private sector collaboration for other small cities seeking to improve elderly care quality and service delivery. Output 3, improved development of human  resources and industry capacity, will help address the human resources shortages and quality by supporting Yanshan University to develop (i) training programs and faculty capacity in emerging service areas, such as caregiving and nursing, rehabilitation, elderly care management, technology to support elderly care, and counseling; (ii) curriculum and training  materials in the priority areas with selected academic and training institutions across the province; and (iii) an elderly care training and research center, and student dormitory on the  Yanshan University campus. Output 4, improved capacity of elderly care sector organizations, will build the capacity of stakeholders and local civil affairs bureaus (CABs) in planning, elderly care management, assessment, and quality assurance and monitoring. It will also implement innovative pilot projects in priority areas, such as health and elderly care integration, new services development (rehabilitation and dementia care), HCBC, and ICT. Training and advisory support will be provided to facilitate the efficient implementation and operationalization of the ECSS.