Family well-being key to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals

John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting families in the opening address video. 

“The Hong Kong SAR Government attaches importance to enhancing the well-being of families, and strives to build a harmonious society for all,” Lee said. 

Recent initiatives from the Hong Kong government and the Family Council include expanding family education projects and planning the Hong Kong Excellent Family Awards, to be launched in 2025, to promote positive family values. 

“We have tasked the new District Services and Community Care Teams, set up by the current term of the Government, to provide more support to families and carers,” Lee added. “This could help identify, at an early stage, the social welfare needs of elderly persons, their carers, and families, facilitating referrals to suitable services.”

Hong Kong families may be particularly affected by the aging population, said Annie Tam, Vice-Chairman, Connecting Hearts and President of the Connecting Hearts Academy. Connecting Hearts is one of the co-organisers of the AFS.

“Longer life expectancy is a happy problem,” she said. "But there are implications for healthcare, social welfare, and mental health of families. Although many senior citizens are able to engage in active aging, their longevity increases the burden on public expenditure." 

New technologies may not be immediately accessible or affordable to senior citizens, Tam said. Even when they are, using new technologies raises their anxiety. 

“The elderly might worry that the technology would replace in-person visits from their loved ones,” she said. 

The Asian Family Summit emphasised collaboration across government, civil society, academic and private sector stakeholders. Renata Kaczmarska, Focal Point on Family at the UN’s Division for Inclusive Social Development, said that policymaking needs to focus on strengthening the family in order to tackle social issues holistically.

“In some countries, policies tend to focus on individuals as a unit, and not families,” said Kaczmarska, who is also advisor to the AFS. “When addressing child poverty, children’s well-being depends on the well-being and resources of families.” 

“It is important [for public policy] to treat families not just as beneficiaries, but to help families deal with the problem themselves,” she added. 

Several Asian countries have applied a family-oriented approach in developing indices to track family well-being, Kaczmarska said. Aspects of urban planning, gender equality, education, and other policy outcomes are all assessed, as they are all essential to enabling families to thrive. 

“When pursuing development indices, they have to consider many indicators, [including] not just income, but also mental health, physical health and the strength of family ties,” she said.

Another approach is to empower families to articulate their needs and make decisions about local spending, such as in participatory budgeting, Kaczmarska said. 

“It’s very important to ask families what they need,” she said. “If there is budget for some project in the community, let the families vote on projects that serve their needs. Families should be asked, consulted.” 

“Providing new evidence and sharing academic knowledge are also important, to ensure that policymakers are aware,” she said, adding that the UN Secretary-General's reports have referenced CIFA’s work. 

CIFA also contributed to the drafting of the Civil Society Declaration and being a signatory of the Declaration, which has been submitted to the UN on the International Family Day on 15 May 2023.