The goal of the non-governmental Project Hope, sponsored by the
Communist Youth League (CYL) Central Committee and the China Youth
Development Foundation, is to support young dropouts in
poverty-stricken areas. China, a developing country, faces a
shortage of education funds, especially in poverty-stricken areas.
More than 30 million children between the ages of 6-14 are unable
to attend school or are forced to drop out, with 84 percent of the
total number of related youngsters coming from the countryside.
Each year, there are 1 million children deprived of education due
to poverty.
A group of 11 drop-outs, including Zhang Shengli in Taomugeda
Village, Laiyuan County, Hebei Province, received grant-in-aid
scholarships from the CYL Central Committee on October 17, 1989.
Thereafter, the committee responded to the severe situation in
poverty-stricken areas by establishing the China Youth Development
Foundation on October 30, 1989 in order to subsidize children
unable to go to school. The purpose of the foundation was to "help
children with funds collected from society." Subsidization methods
include: 1) establishing long-term grant-in-aid programs to help
educationally deprived young students with good character return to
school in spite of poor family conditions; 2) building and
refurbishing schools for poverty-stricken villages; 3) providing
teaching aids, writing materials and textbooks; 4) and providing
special scholarships enabling outstanding primary and middle school
students in poverty-stricken areas to receive college education.
During the year, the CYL sponsored the "Project Hope" aimed at
supporting young dropouts and promoting the development of basic
education in poverty-stricken areas.
Project Hope has attracted the attention and support of all
social circles. Deng Xiaoping wrote the inscription "Project Hope"
on September 5, 1990, to commemorate the activity. On November 12,
1991, Jiang Zemin, general-secretary of the Communist Party of
China (CPC), wrote: "Supporting Project Hope and caring for the
growth of children". An inscription penned by Premier Li Peng on
March 22, 1992, read: "Project Hope helps poor children. Properly
operating schools benefits people and future generations".
The 1990s Development Program for Chinese Children promulgated
by the State Council in March 1992 formally listed Project Hope as
one of the main measures for ensuring the survival, protection and
development of children.
Project Hope's short-term goal is to establish grant-in-aid
programs in 328 poverty-stricken counties, with the long-term
target centered on ensuring that all Chinese children enjoy the
basic right to an education as advanced by the United Nations.
The following key dates represent the development of Project
Hope:
The first Hope School opened in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province,
in May 1990.
Taiwan artist Ling Feng established the "Overseas Love Care Fund
for Project Hope" in 1991.
The China Youth Development Foundation implemented the program
entitled "Project Hope --Million Love Care Action" on April 15,
1992. The program was jointly implemented by the foundation and
project enforcement agencies at all levels nationwide. Donors
(individuals or units) are permitted to establish direct ties with
a school or provide a dropout from one of the nation's
poverty-stricken areas with financial assistance until graduation.
The funding offers two assistance programs: 1) donors are permitted
to direct grant-in-aid of 20 yuan to a recipient student for each
school term; 2) donors can provide five-year lump grant-in-aid of
200 yuan to be allocated in stages by either the foundation or the
Communist Youth League committees on the provincial and autonomous
regional level.
Poverty-stricken counties in 23 provinces and autonomous
prefectures benefit from the project, including counties in
Jiangxi, Sichuan, Hebei, Gansu, Hunan, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Yunnan,
Hubei, Shanxi, Guizhou, Henan, Guangdong, Qinghai, Anhui, Fujian,
Shandong and Liaoning provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur, Ningxia
Hui, Inner Mongolia and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous regions.
The Million Love Care Action ended in 1992, with an additional
50,000 people from both at home and abroad applying with the
foundation for participation in the "one-on-one" donation
activity.
The foundation sponsored a second round of the "Project Hope
--Million Love Care Action" in Hebei, Guangdong, Liaoning and Hunan
provinces in April 1993. The efforts provided an additional 5,000
youngsters receiving education assistance. They enabled all young
dropouts in poverty-stricken counties in Zhejiang and Sichuan
provinces return to school during that same year.
Project Hope's grant-in-aid ceilings were raised to 30 yuan per
school term in September 1993.
The first Hope School funded by UNESCO opened in Humaying
Village, Humaying Town in Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei
Province, on September 10, 1993.
The Government Work Report presented during the Second Plenary
Session of the Eighth National People's Congress in 1994 clearly
stipulated that Project Hope should continue with the support of
Chinese society.
The Project Hope National Supervisory Committee was founded on
December 28, 1994.
The six-level--national, provincial, prefecture, county, town
and school-- Project Hope network was established by the end of
1994. A short time later, the China Youth Development Foundation
established the computerized Project Hope Management Information
System to ensure a strict management system subject to annual
audits. The foundation has also introduced the Project Hope Social
Supervision Day to ensure the standardization and transparency of
the management system.
The year of 1995 was designated as the "Project Hope Management
Year". At the beginning of the year, the foundation proceeded with
the support of a number of domestic publishing houses, including
the China Youth Publishing House and the China Juvenile's and
Children's Publishing House, and organized a special working agency
to select and compile outstanding children's books published over
the past few decades. The 500-volume series entitled "Hope House of
Books" is divided into seven subject areas--famous literary works,
history, culture and arts, science and technology, ecology,
dictionaries and reference books, and practical skills. The series
was published with donated funds and has since been distributed to
schools in poverty-stricken areas. A total of 5 million volumes of
the Hope House of Books had been released by July 1996.
Project Hope's grant-in-aid ceiling for recipient students was
raised from 300 to 400 yuan on April 25, 1995, with investment
standards for the construction of a Hope School raised from 200,000
to 500,000 yuan. Local governments' donations and funds raised
locally have been used to build new Hope Primary Schools. New
donation avenues have been introduced to encourage an individual or
a unit to donate 100,000 yuan to fund repairs of a village Hope
Primary School. An individual or a unit can also donate 3,000 yuan
to provide a set of the Hope House of Books to a village
school.
The foundation stone for China's first Hope Middle School--the
Shanghai Bell Nationality Hope Middle School in Wangcun Town,
Yongshun County, Hunan Province--was laid on July 6, 1995. Shanghai
Bell Telephone Manufacturing Co. Ltd. donated 600,000 yuan to
construct the school building and gate, with the local government
allocating an additional 600,000 yuan for a science and technology
building. Educational funds received since 1996 have mainly been
used to expand the facility.
Project Hope had received a total of 692 million yuan in
donations by the end of 1995, with accumulated expenditures
standing at 396 million yuan. Related funds have helped more than
1.25 million drop-outs in poverty-stricken areas return to school,
facilitated the construction of 2,074 Hope Primary Schools and led
to the distribution of the Hope House of Books series to more than
10,000 primary schools.
The number of dropouts aged between 6-14 fell to 18.36 million
in 1995, down 14.51 million on the figure listed in the 1990
National Census. It accounted for 8.38 percent of the total
school-age population by the end of that year, down by a dramatic
18.62 percent on 1990. The number of illiterate people aged 15-19
dropped by a wide margin in 1995.
The China Administration of Posts and Telecommunications issued
a set of Project Hope Telephone Magnetic Cards in 1996. The
two-card set had a face value of 32 yuan, including a two-yuan
donation earmarked for the Project Hope. Two million cards were
issued with funds raised going for the construction of 15 Hope
Primary Schools and the distribution of 300 sets of the Hope House
of Books.
Project Hope realized its goal of establishing primary schools
in 592 poverty-stricken counties and donating 10,000 sets of the
Hope House of Books by the end of 1996.
The China Youth Development Foundation readjusted its
grant-in-aid standards for Project Hope once again in January 1997,
with the recipient ceiling raised from 40 to 50 yuan per school
term. However, the grant-in-aid standard for enabling a student to
complete primary schooling remained at 400 yuan. The new standard
went to effect on September 1, 1997.
Project Hope received a registered service trademark from the
Trade Mark Bureau of the State Administration for Industry and
Commerce in May 1997 and became the first registered Chinese public
welfare social organization with legal protected intellectual
property rights. The foundation introduced its last round of
national donation activities for Project Hope at the end of May,
with commercial banks handling donations in the largest-ever
fund-raising effort. The foundation launched the youngsters'
love-care savings deposit activity together with the Agricultural
Bank of China. Related donations were handled by the Construction
Bank of China's business network. A joint program entitled "A
Million Enterprises Donating 100 Yuan Each for the Project Hope "
was launched in conjunction with the China Industrial and
Commercial Bank.
On March 1, 1998, the China Youth Development Foundation
announced that Project Hope implementing institutions at all levels
had received total donations of 1,257,329,080 yuan by the end 1997,
with assistance outlays of 975,100,598 yuan. The project provided
assistance to 1,847,025 drop-outs and supported the construction of
5,256 Hope Schools.
The foundation will easily realize the goal of providing
financial assistance to 3 million dropouts and establishing 6,000
Hope Schools by the end of the century.
On May 11, 1998, the Project Hope National Supervisory Committee
announced that the China Youth Development Foundation had initiated
a comprehensive audit of financial assistance to more than 1.8
million children. The audits focus on the current status of areas
receiving support; establishing and improving detailed rules and
regulations for providing financial support for students deprived
of their right to an education; the effort of recipient areas to
promote and implement the management of donations; the
administration and education of recipient students; the
distribution of grants-in-aid; the management of letters of
acknowledgment of donations; and continuing supervision.
Shanghai's Qingpu County donated 2 million yuan to Project Hope
in June 1998. The youth foundation used the donation to establish a
special fund to support the construction and development of a
Project Hope National Agricultural Scientific and Educational Base.
The base will provide a solid foundation for carrying out the
strategy of "using science and technology to develop the nation"
and will promote basic education in poverty-stricken areas. The
base, which will cover 100 hectares in Liansheng Town, Qingpu
County, is scheduled to open on the 10th anniversary of the
founding of Project Hope.