Main Programme

As life expectancy increases, new challenges have arisen: how can we age with dignity, remain socially connected, and preserve our mental wellbeing in later life? This Impact Studio explores community-based responses to these dimensions of ageing.

Panellists will draw on real-world examples to explore how stakeholders can collaborate on holistic and scalable approaches to ageing well, moving beyond discrete interventions towards coordinated strategies that address social isolation and declining mental wellbeing among older adults.

Two Trust-Initiated Projects will be spotlighted. JC JoyAge and JC Carer Space illustrate how social participation, peer support, and psychological resilience can be cultivated concurrently among older adults and their carers, thereby strengthening individual wellbeing while reinforcing the intergenerational connections that underpin a shared sense of belonging.

In many fast-growing cities, poverty is anything but a single condition. It is an interlocking web of housing precarity, unstable incomes, overstretched infrastructure, and limited access to opportunities. Many families navigate these pressures with ingenuity, but the pathways out of poverty remain narrow, fragile, and dependent on short-term relief.

This Impact Studio explores practical urban programmes that help families move towards lasting stability. It will focus on how the Urban Graduation Approach—featuring sequenced, time-bound, innovative, targeted support with capability building that helps households develop sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance—can be effectively scaled in dense city settings. Drawing on successful local applications through initiatives including JC PROJECT LIFT and the Jockey Club Community Kitchen series, which provides extended living space and helps build social capital for underprivileged families in inadequate housing, the discussion will examine what worked, why, and how these insights can inform future urban interventions.

At its heart, this Impact Studio is about possibility—how pathways can be found from precarity to dignity, from makeshift shelter to a place one can truly call home.

As climate risks intensify, many wetlands are confronting a convergence of challenges, from extreme weather events and ecosystem stress to accelerating biodiversity loss, exposing the limitations of traditional conservation approaches.

This Impact Studio focuses on practical and context-specific responses, exploring how smart technologies can enhance the stewardship of wetlands, given their critical role in supporting biodiversity amidst the growing threats brought by the climate change. Drawing on applied work at the Mai Po Nature Reserve and global practices, the session examines how conservation is evolving from static protection toward responsive and adaptive management.

Participants will explore how ecological systems, data, technology, and regional collaboration can work in concert to deliver measurable gains in climate adaptation, biodiversity outcomes, and community resilience, and create a forward-looking response to climate pressure.

Behind every decisive “yes” from a funder lies a set of deeper questions: What change is truly possible? What evidence inspires confidence? And how clearly does an organisation understand the priorities and constraints of those it hopes to partner with?

This workshop convenes leaders of private and impact-oriented philanthropic organisations to shed light on how they read opportunities, interpret risk, and recognise work that is ready for support. Rather than focusing on tactics, the session examines the craft of making a case that is strategically grounded, emotionally resonant, and intellectually honest.

Participants will explore how to articulate purpose with clarity, frame results in ways that matter, and demonstrate progress with evidence that withstands scrutiny.

Trust-based philanthropy has gained traction as funders look to build deeper, more effective relationships with grantees. But it also raises questions about how trust can be built in day-to-day interactions, while maintaining accountability to impact and sharing responsibility when power shifts.

This workshop focuses on what trust-based approaches look like in practice, and the conditions under which they strengthen both relationships and outcomes.

Through practical discussion and shared experience, participants will examine how funders and grantees navigate the balance between trust and rigour, flexibility and responsibility. The session will surface how transparency, consistency, and realistic expectations shape working relationships over time, and how changes in funding structure and process can create space for stronger partnerships, learning journeys, and enduring impact.

Children and young people are often the recipients and beneficiaries of programmes and policies, yet rarely their “co-authors”.

This Impact Studio shifts that dynamic by centring their lived experiences and exploring what becomes possible when adults move from acting “for” the next generation to working “with” them as partners. Through real case exchanges between young people and frontline practitioners, the Impact Studio will unpack the meaning of co-creation—moving beyond consultation towards genuine collaboration and shared responsibility.

Participants will explore approaches that recognise young people as capable partners, with the insight and agency, to co-design solutions and work alongside adults to drive meaningful change in their communities.

Lasting and effective impact depends on more than good projects and programmes. It requires the implementing organisations to be strong, clearly focused, and resilient.

As funders and partners across Asia look beyond outputs to the underlying health of the institutions they support, questions have centred on the need for good governance, leadership, financial preparedness, and organisational culture to achieve long-term success.

This workshop examines what it takes for NGOs and social purpose organisations to grow in maturity—not through expansion alone, but through sound judgment, adaptive capacity, and the internal coherence that enables teams to navigate uncertainty.

This Impact Studio distils the latest shifts in China’s philanthropy sector into a clear, expert briefing through three distinct lenses: it first examines how corporate giving is evolving amid regulatory change and rising ESG expectations, before looking at how family philanthropy is professionalising as next-generation leadership redefines both mandate and method. Finally, the session explores how cross border platforms are intersecting with the charity policy environment in the Greater Bay Area to enable collaboration at new scales.

Together, these perspectives offer a coherent view of an ecosystem in motion—where policy signals, institutional maturity, and public expectations are reshaping models of giving and the terms of partnerships.

Inclusive employment is a fundamental human right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Realising this at scale requires close collaboration across government, employers, NGOs, together with persons with disabilities to co-create solutions grounded in policy, practice, and lived experience.

Drawing on experience from Hong Kong and similar regions, and the practice through the Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment, this Impact Studio will analyse how public policy, business leadership, philanthropic and NGO partnerships, together with the sustained involvement of persons with disabilities, can remove structural barriers and redesign employment pathways around capability and contribution.

Bringing together local and international insights, the discussion will identify the conditions needed to move beyond pilots toward sustained, systemic impact, and how coordinated action can unlock under-recognised talent and strengthen more inclusive, resilient, and adaptable labour markets.

As technological innovation continues to reshape societies around the world, many young people still lack access to quality education and technology resources, limiting their learning outcomes and development potential. These inequalities are particularly pronounced in under-resourced communities, where poverty, conflict, geographic isolation, inadequate digital infrastructure, and gaps in digital literacy intersect to widen development divides and constrain opportunities for growth and advancement.

This Impact Studio will explore how computational thinking (CT) education—a core foundation of modern digital literacy—can bridge the digital divide and create inclusive learning opportunities across diverse social and geographic contexts. Drawing on experiences from Cambodia, Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong, including the CoolThink@JC initiative across the region, participants will examine strategies to empower teachers, deliver quality CT education, inspire digital creativity, and achieve sustainable and impactful digital education.

The discussion will cover key topics including scaling initiatives, creating sustainable community of practice and teachers exchange, and fostering cross-sector collaboration. It will also explore how policymakers, educators, experts, and funders can work together to create more equitable learning and development pathways for students of different ages and backgrounds.

Technology is creating new possibilities for social impact—helping NGOs reach more people, reduce manual work, and make services easier to access. But successful adoption starts with a clear understanding of real-world needs. How can NGOs use technology in practical, purposeful ways, and decide when a solution is ready to scale?

This workshop is designed for NGOs and philanthropic organisations looking to strengthen their services through technology. Participants will explore how to test ideas quickly, learn from users, and manage risks before scaling.

Participants will gain exposure to practical frameworks and considerations to help identify where technology can add value, and explore approaches to testing, adapting or scaling solutions grounded in the needs of the people they serve.