CRI听力:Red Cross Society of China Reforms

The Red Cross Society of China's Executive Vice President Dr. Zhao Baige is leading the charge in pushing for structural reform within the organization.

The latest plan is for an inspection committee made up of independent experts to be established to monitor the organisation's management structures.

The society, which is the leading humanitarian organization in China, will choose three provincial branches to pilot the program.

Dr.Zhao announced that the reforms are based on two basic principles at a press conference.

"This is a push to innovate the systems within the Red Cross, to achieve this we have two goals, one is that the reform has to be based on the socialist market-economy system, the other goal is that the reform has to be in line with international humanitarian principles."

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had facilitated a voluntary self-assessment process at China's Red Cross national headquarters.

The Red Cross Society of China has now taken over this assessment process, in order to implement it at the provincial branch level.

Eight provincial Red Cross branches are to be assessed this year, with ten more in the pipe line.

Martin Faller is the Head of the East Asia Regional Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescents Societies.

He says that there is a lot of structural change ahead for this country's Red Cross Society.

"I think this assessment has the potential to change a lot in the China Red Cross, at headquarter, national level but also at provincial level because it really looks into every corner of a Red Cross Society and is analyzing all aspects of a Red Cross Society. The way it works, the way it manages and the way it relates to others and organizes itself."

Faller adds that they are going in the right direction, and the organisation's relationship with the public also needs change.

"I think that they all realize that their relationship with the people that need their help and the people that believe in the Red Cross and want to work with the Red Cross, they have to be more open, more transparent, have to work closer with them. But also what has to change in combination with this is certain processes, management relations, which have to be organized in a way that decisions are taken faster, that they're closer to the people and to have more lean management structures."

Last year's scandal did severe damage to the public perception of the organization among the Chinese society.

In June 2011, Guo Meimei, a 20-year-old woman falsely claimed to be a manager within China's Red Cross boasted about her extreme wealth on her micro-blog.

Dr. Caroline Reeves is an Associate Research Fellow at Harvard University's Fairbanks Centre and is an expert on the Red Cross Society of China.

Reeves says that the Chinese people's non-apathetic reaction to the controversy is refreshing and a driver for change.

"I think that the Chinese feeling of human compassion and humanitarian compassion charity is really a hallmark and a characteristic of the Chinese people. And I think that's why the Chinese people have been so involved in these Red Cross Scandals and these new movements towards transparency within the Red Cross organization is really a direct result of the Chinese peoples' involvement."

Reforms within the Red Cross of China will continue to be rolled out in the provincial level over the years.

For CRI, this is Alexandra Blucher.