Who and what projects have been funded by the government? Non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong’s civic education from 1986 to 2016

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the general trend of a funding scheme of civic education over the past 30 years in terms of the number of projects and the amount of their subsidies, the targeted groups, the content of the activities and the nature of the grantees.

Design/methodology/approach

Using statistical data of sponsored projects over three decades and interviews with ten informants.

Findings

There has been a shift in the concerns and priorities of these projects. Through the incentives and by setting the themes for funding, the government has regulated the civil society’s involvement with civic education and helped to fashion the officially endorsed values. But it is no longer effective to mediate state–civil society relationship and to cope with the new political scenario.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates the changing state–civic society relationship over the years with a solid large-scale database. This study advances the knowledge about public funding projects related to citizenship education in particular and sponsorship as a means of governance in general.

Citation

Tse, T.K.-C. (2020), "Who and what projects have been funded by the government? Non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong’s civic education from 1986 to 2016", Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 39-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/STICS-05-2019-0010