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Guiding Social Organizations' Participation in Primary-Level Governance

Luo Wen

"As members of social organizations, why should we learn the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee? My answer is: Only after we have a thorough understanding of the spirit can we find the position of the social organizations' development in the overall situation of the country, better understand our goals and give full play to our professional value," says Luo Wen, director of the Social Innovation and Development Center of Suzhou Industrial Park, in Suzhou, in East China's Jiangsu Province.

"Our world today is undergoing profound changes, unseen in a century. What should social organizations do? How should social organizations keep growing? We can find answers to these questions by learning the spirit of the plenum," she adds.

Serving Community

"My mission is to promote innovation in primary-level social governance, so that society becomes much better because of the participation and action of every citizen," Luo says. Luo has been dedicated to promoting the development and growth of public-welfare forces and social organizations.

In 2006, after she graduated from university, Luo moved from Northwest China's Shaanxi Province to settle in Suzhou, and she began her career as a social worker in the city's Fifth Element Community.

At that time, most of the residents barely knew each other. "It would be nice if residents became familiar and friendly with each other," Luo thought to herself. She decided to do something to help people meet, and to feel the warmth of the community.

Luo quickly learned that many of the residents needed furniture, and they needed to decorate their homes. Therefore, she helped them buy furniture, in nearby Shanghai, and she encouraged them to visit each other during the decoration process, so they could learn from each other.

She also established groups on QQ (an instant-messaging and social-media platform), where the residents could share their hobbies, child-raising experiences and various other useful information. Such groups helped the residents become friends, and help each other solve their problems. For example, if one resident's electric appliance broke, another resident, who knew how to make the repair, could lend a helping hand. That inspired Luo. She organized a team of volunteers, who were willing to serve the community. She also worked with volunteers from universities, and employees of banks, schools and hospitals, to organize various activities in the community.

Making Society Better

Luo watched as groups of residents, with certain interests, formed teams of volunteers, or professional-service organizations, and participated in primary-level social governance. That helped her realize the great potential of the development of social organizations.

In February 2014, Luo established the Social Innovation and Development Center of Suzhou Industrial Park, a hub-like social organization with the goal of nurturing social organizations, and encouraging them to effectively participate in primary-level social governance.

The center focuses on supporting social organizations, operating an entrepreneurial service center, evaluating social-service projects, cultivating social workers and offering social services.

In the beginning, the center selected 11 teams, and it helped them develop into social organizations.

During the past seven years, the center has established a mature pattern of selecting, recruiting, evaluating and fostering social organizations. The center has also organized numerous social-entrepreneurship competitions, service-innovation competitions and other relevant competitions, and it has offered guidance and training to contestants during the competitions.

Through such competitions, the center accurately selects entrepreneurs who stick to their original aspiration, who are vigorous in action, and who have great development potential. Such events also provide participants with valuable learning opportunities.

The center provides tailor-made training programs to social organizations, at different stages of development. Luo says the center's work is to keep improving its services to meet the needs of the social organizations.

Luo says promoting their effective participation in social governance is the ultimate goal of cultivating social organizations. With her assistance, many social organizations have provided high-quality services to subdistricts, communities, schools and enterprises.

The center has worked with civil departments, culture and tourism departments, trade unions, women's federations and the Communist Youth League to build social-service platforms, and to encourage various segments of society to participate in the provision of social services.

To date, the center, as a hub-like social organization, has cultivated 418 social organizations in various fields, including science and technology, culture and sports, community governance, family building, environmental protection and social security. The center has supported social organizations as they have implemented more than 1,500 social-service projects, which combined have involved the recruitment of more than 300,000 volunteers, and served more than 1 million people.

Through studying the CPC's history during the past year, Luo, a CPC member, has gained a deeper understanding of the Party's original aspiration and mission. "As members of social organizations, we should also adhere to the same original aspiration and mission, find our right position in front of the national strategy, and do our work well," Luo says.

"Bearing in mind the overall situation of the country, we will continue to guide social organizations, to help them participate in social governance in a more standardized, capable and effective manner, give full play to the value of social services and contribute to realizing the Second Centenary Goal and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation," she adds.

Luo Wen at work

Photos Supplied by  the Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly January 2022 issue)

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