CRI听力: Beijing Government to Spend 100 Million to Purchase Social Service Projects

The Beijing municipal government will spend 100 million yuan or nearly 15 million US dollars on the purchase of social service projects. It aims to meet various needs of the public and boost the development of social organizations.

Chen Zhe has the story.

Reporter:

As many as 300 out of more than 2,700 social service projects regarding public interest have been selected and will be purchased by the Beijing municipal government this year.

Each project will receive financial support ranging from 30,000 to 300,000 yuan.

Zhang Jun is deputy secretary general of the Promotion Association for the Education of Migrant Workers' Children. A project involving volunteer teachers launched by his organization was selected into the purchasing plan.

"(57') We have organized volunteers in universities and companies to open music, drawing and psychology courses in schools for migrant workers' children. The project is now available in three schools in Beijing. We got funds from companies and individuals in the past. As we're going to get fund from the government, it will expand to ten schools this year. Six thousand students will benefit from it."

Projects focusing on poverty relief, healthcare, education and other subjects concerning people's daily life, are the main targets of the purchasing program. This is the first time the municipal government has taken action to fund social service projects in a unified manner.

"It will prompt to build a model of small government and big society as it helps streamline government organs and display the function of social organizations."
There are nearly 7000 registered social organizations in Beijing. Some of them are struggling financially.

Financial support from the government accounts for less than ten percent of the funding of the social organizations.

Famous Chinese scholar of public administration Mao Shoulong says the move is part of the efforts to transform the function of the government.

"It's a transition from an all-round government to a limited government and it focuses on enhancing the cooperation between the government and the public. It enables taxpayers to get more services from the government. It's an important endeavor for Beijing to build an effective and service-oriented government."

Professor Mao believes as society becomes more and more diverse, it will be a trend for the government to purchase services provided by social organizations.

For CRI, I'm Chen Zhe.