Home > Press Releases > 2015 > “Training for Empowerment, Excel in Work” The 8th ERB “Manpower Development Scheme” Award Presentation Ceremony cum Opening Ceremony of “ERB Service Day"

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) held its "8th Manpower Development Scheme" Award Presentation Ceremony cum Opening Ceremony of "ERB Service Day" today (21 November 2015) at the MacPherson Outdoor Playground in Mongkok.  The officiating guests were the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr. Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, GBS, JP, the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Miss Annie Tam Kam-lan, JP, the Chairman of the ERB, Mr. William Leung Wing-cheung, BBS, JP, the Vice-chairman of the ERB, Mr. Yu Pang-chun, SBS, JP and the Executive Director of the ERB, Mr. Stanley Ng Ka-kwong, BBS.  The event was attended by around 350 guests.

The ERB Chairman Mr. William Leung said in his opening address that the ERB "Manpower Development Scheme" was the largest training and employment support network in Hong Kong.  Over 2.1 million training places have been offered since its establishment, assisting trainees to seek career breakthroughs and upward social mobility. 

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare Mr. Matthew Cheung highlighted in his key-note speech that to unleash latent workforce of different social groups through retraining is a key directive of the Population Policy of the HKSAR government.  To dovetail with government's policy, the ERB launched the "Modular Certificates Accumulation Scheme" and piloted the "First-Hire-Then-Train" arrangements in the healthcare sector in 2015-16.  The government is now actively preparing to introduce the "Low-income Working Family Allowance" Scheme as an important poverty alleviation measure.  All these should help unleash more latent workforce, particularly pertaining to women and homemakers.

The ERB "Manpower Development Scheme" Award Presentation Ceremony is an annual signature event of the ERB.  This year, a total of about 100 awards were presented to acknowledge the support of social partners, including employers, training bodies, instructors and outstanding trainees, for the ERB "Manpower Development Scheme".

Eleven and 10 trainees were respectively awarded the "ERB Outstanding Award for Trainees" and the "ERB Merit Award for Trainees".  They included a proactive and responsible young assistant chef who was once a non-engaged youth, a masseuse of higher age who pursued learning on a continuous basis, a mother of a single-parent family who worked conscientiously to support her children living outside Hong Kong, and a health worker who overcame the grief of losing her family members and rekindled her career. 

Mr. William Leung emphasised that all awardees have their own enlightening stories, which showcased the effect of training in promoting self-reliance and the impact of work in strengthening family bonding and mutual support among family members. 

This year, a total of 39 establishments received the employer awards. These winning establishments actively participated in the ERB "Manpower Development Scheme", offered employment opportunities for the graduate trainees, provided on-the-job training and career development opportunities for candidates recruited, assisted in the promotion of the courses and services of the ERB, shouldered corporate social responsibilities and helped the underprivileged to land on jobs.

The ERB organised the "ERB Service Day" together with the Presentation Ceremony this year under the theme of "Training for Empowerment, Excel in Work". Trainees of the ERB demonstrated about 20 types of vocational skills they acquired from different training courses by offering free services to social groups with special needs and members of the public, as a token of their contributions to the society.  These services included coffee brewing, pastry making, skincare, makeup, hair-cut, manicure, massage and photo-taking.  Twenty social services organisations arranged some 700 people to receive the free services, including persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, elderly, rehabilitated ex-offenders; new arrivals, singleparents and families on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance. Twenty-four training bodies also provided information on ERB training courses and services and accepted course enrolment on-the-spot.

The award winning lists and background of the outstanding trainees, instructors and employers are available on the ERB website http://www.erb.org/8thmdsaward.