Winning with Technology without Losing Our Humanity (Panel Discussion)
Serving communities in new ways
Technology is important, but it still needs guidance and leadership to be used effectively, said Daniel Lai, program director of CoolThink@JC, an initiative that teaches young people how to think like a programmer.
“Technology can create great value and prosperity and enhance the quality of living and efficiency once it is applied properly,” Lai said, “But in adopting technology, we need talent, leadership, and vision to drive development and create appropriate solutions, especially in the social welfare sector.”
The pandemic rewrote the rules on tech
Technology played a critical role in serving communities during the pandemic when social distancing measures and other health concerns made face to face interactions untenable. During the pandemic, many organizations were forced to find solutions rapidly.
Choi-ying Tong, Programme Director of Home and Community Care Service at the Christian Family Service Centre in Hong Kong, shared how her organization used tablets to reach elderly people living alone with Alzheimer’s and dementia. “The pandemic pushed us to take a big leap using technology,” she said, although her organization still values face-to-face interactions.
Tech can help but not replace services
Just as Tong found limits in working with tablets, Ernest Leung, Group Chief Operating Officer at WeLab, said it’s important to remember that during non-pandemic times, technology is meant to enhance, not replace, services.
Similarly, he said, it’s not always tech that’s the catalyst for disruption, but rather the beneficiaries and customers who disrupt the nonprofit sector. As a board member of the Make A Wish Foundation, which fulfils the wishes of critically ill children and teens ages 3 to 17, he said the organization’s clients are all digital natives.
During the pandemic, many “wishes” were granted through tech or online due to pandemic precautions, but for some recipients like teens, this was also their preferred method to connect.
“Engaging with children and catching their wishes through an online meet is exactly how they would like to engage. Some of them will need more handholding and physical presence,” he said. “ But for efficiency and for some of the teenagers, that’s their preferred mode of engagement. So are we really disrupting that model, or are we supporting it because they are anyways beginning to expect that?”
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About The Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation provides resources and programs to help the city’s NGOs, nonprofit leaders, and social entrepreneurs do their best work. Operated by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Programme offers a range of opportunities, including scholarships, social entrepreneurship workshops, and trainings for NGO boards of directors and board members.