Shandong Women's Federation, in East China's Shandong Province, in 2017 established the Network Information and Social Service Guidance Center. The center is a provincial-level platform that provides services to enhance development of, and communications and cooperation among, women's social organizations. 

Learning Organizations' Needs 

Chen Ying, Deputy Director of the Network Information and Social Service Guidance Center, under Shandong Women's Federation, says the center's work related to women's social organizations has developed in three phases: Primary development, in 2020; exploration, in 2021; and, formation of the center's work mode, in 2022. 

Since the beginning of 2020, the center, in collaboration with Shandong Women's Federation's organization and liaison department, and some colleges and universities in the province, has conducted field research 23 times and compiled 11 reports on the development of women's social organizations in Shandong. The research has covered various topics, including "the establishment of women's organizations and women's social organizations among social organizations," "women's federations' contacts with and cultivation of women's social organizations," and "the service mode of social organizations' participation in the building of families." 

While conducting field research, the center's workers realized there was a lack of communication between women's social organizations and grassroots women's federations. Some of the women's federations needed professional support to operate various programs. Meanwhile, many of the women's social organizations had good programs and teams, but lacked resources, such as funding, work space and sufficient staff. 

Based on the research, the center has cooperated with Shandong University, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, and Shandong Women's University to offer a series of courses. Through the courses, the universities' experts provide guidance on how to build and develop women's social organizations. Shandong Women's Federation now publishes columns on its website and app to provide policy consulting service to women's social organizations in the province, showcasing the organizations' achievements and helping enhance their communications. 

Enhancing Guidance Through Activities, Competitions 

Since the beginning of 2021, the center, in collaboration with Shandong Women's Federation's organization and liaison department, has conducted an annual activity, "Looking for the Most Popular Social Service Programs among Women and Children." In 2021 and 2022, some 220 programs passed the primary selection process, and 131 of those were children's service programs. In addition, 71 were named "outstanding programs," and 45 of those were children's service programs. 

"We promoted the good practices of 'outstanding programs' via our WeChat account and app. We established online-communication groups for leaders of those programs, we helped the programs gain funding, we organized training sessions for the programs' workers, and we recommended outstanding social organizations to women's federations willing to cooperate with those organizations," Chen explains.

In 2022, the center, in collaboration with Shandong Women's Federation's organization and liaison department and Shandong Development Foundation for Women and Children, raised 320,000 yuan (US $45,714), which was provided to charitable programs aimed at providing services to women, children and their families. Some 126 candidates participated in a venture-capital competition, during which they underwent the process of primary selection, an online vote, introducing their programs and answering questions posed by the judges, and evaluations based on visits to their workplaces. 

The program, "micro-love for Mom's companionship during child growth," was one of the 10 winners in 2022. The program mainly serves girls, between ages 6-15, from families living with difficulties, especially girls who lack companionship from their mothers. Yang Yuli, who is in charge of the program, says, "We have seen remarkable changes occurring in both the children in difficulties and our volunteers. The children have become more confident and more willing to communicate with our volunteers, who serve as the children's 'mothers.' Our volunteers have attended regular training, provided by professional social workers. As a result, our volunteers are able to provide better services to the children." 

'1+3+N' Mode 

In recent years, the center has developed its "1+3+N" work mode, to enhance women's social organizations' development, and to improve services for children. 

The "1" stands for one core of the center's work: Providing solid services to benefit women and children. By giving full play to women's social organizations' initiatives, the center guides the organizations as they become an important force in social governance, at the grass roots, and as they provide targeted services that benefit women, children and their families in Shandong. 

The "3" refers to three platforms: Platform of resource support, platform of information communication, and platform of contact and service. The center efficiently combines resources from Party and government departments, and people's organizations and social groups, and it provides policy, funding and professional-technique support to women's social organizations. 

The center has adopted new media techniques to facilitate communications between women's federations and women's social organizations. Moreover, the center established a coordination network, to improve its quality and efficiency when providing services. 

The "N" refers to the provision of numerous service programs that help improve children's physical and mental health, raise children's awareness of safety and self-protection, care for children whose parents work away from their hometowns, and protect children's rights and interests. To date, the center has provided services to children via 51 specially planned programs. 

"Women's federations, at all levels in Shandong, have worked based on reality, and have actively explored measures to cultivate women's social organizations, and to launch and operate various programs," Chen says. 

"For the next step, our center will continue studying hard to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress. Under the leadership of Shandong Women's Federation, we will enhance communications with, and services provided to, women's social organizations, advance high-quality and healthy development of those organizations, and continuously strengthen our force in serving women, children and families in our province."

(Women of China English Monthly June 2023 issue)