The applicant must be a local registered organisation, a statutory body or a community organisation recognised by the authority.

The proposed tour must be non-profit making.  It must not be used for political, religious or commercial publicity for any individual or organisation.

The destination of the tour should be Mainland China and the target participants should be Hong Kong youths aged between 12 and 29 who are holders of valid Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card, but those aged between 25 and 29 should not exceed 10% of the total eligible participants.  Participants should not have joined any tours sponsored under this Scheme for the past one year.  If the programme is a two-way exchange study programme, the Mainland youths visiting Hong Kong should also be aged between 12 and 29, and those aged between 25 and 29 should not exceed 10% of the total eligible participants of the return visit; if the programme can provide practical work placement in the Mainland, the target participants should be full-time Hong Kong students aged between 18 and 24 who are holders of valid Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card.

The proposed tour should aim at enhancing the youths’ awareness and understanding of their home country, fostering exchange with Mainland people and strengthening their sense of national identity.  The proposed tour should have the following elements:
(a) - understanding China’s history, political system, economic system, culture, arts, science, sports, people’s livelihood, social system, etc; and / or
      - providing practical work placement opportunities in the organisations / schools in the Mainland;
(b) fostering exchange and connection with Mainland people; and
(c) experience sharing and promoting the scheme with members of the community, the youths in particular, within two months upon completion of the tour.

Project already in progress will not be sponsored.

Whether the objective, aim and content of the tour will meet the requirements specified in point 4 above.  Preference will be given if the project is a high quality two-way exchange study programme (i.e. includes a return visit by the Mainland youths who will be received by the same group of Hong Kong youths who visited the Mainland and where possible, the Mainland youths visiting Hong Kong should be the same group of youths who received the Hong Kong youths in the Mainland); one-way exchange programme with letter of intent issued by the receiving organisation in the Mainland; the programme in the Mainland includes high quality training course/seminar on understanding China; the programme can provide practical work placement opportunities in the organisations / schools in the Mainland;

2.

The target groups and number of beneficiaries;

3.

The contents of the activities and creativity of the project;

4.

The cost-effectiveness of the project;

5.

The mechanism to promote and sustain the values and objectives of the project;

6.

Whether there is a sound assessment mechanism to self-evaluate the effectiveness of the project;

7.

The logistic arrangements and feasibility of the project;

8.

The background, expertise qualification and past experience of the applicant organisation in organising similar activities;

9.

The maximum sponsorship to be provided for each participant shall be as follows :
For study tours with destination within Guangdong Province : HK$160 per head per day
For study tours with destination outside Guangdong Province : HK$370 per head per day
For study tours from Guangdong Province : HK$270 per head per day
For study tours from areas outside Guangdong Province : HK$370 per head per day
(Each participant can receive a maximum of 14 days of sponsorship. If the proposed tour includes practical work placement opportunity and the duration of which exceeds 14 days, the amount of sponsorship will be considered separately.)

10.

Youth participant who visits the Mainland for the first time will receive an additional sponsorship of HK$100; and

11.

The maximum sponsorship for each project shall not exceed HK$300,000; if the proposed programme is a two-way exchange project, the maximum sponsorship is HK$400,000.  The total sponsorship for project proposals submitted by sub-groups from a single organisation shall not exceed HK$300,000 and HK$400,000 respectively.

The Working Group will also consider every application on the merits of the proposed tour in terms of its scope, format and contents.  The decision on the sponsorship and the amount to be granted rests with the Working Group.  The Working Group’s decision is final.

Expenses incurred for the project in respect of the activities held prior to the grant of written approval by the Working Group will not be reimbursed except for the expenses for the reservation of accommodation and/or air tickets for the study tours.

2.

The Working Group does not accept any responsibilities for any claims, demands or liabilities arising from the sponsored projects.  The organisers should take out public liability insurance and travel insurance for the projects from registered insurance companies in Hong Kong.  The travel insurance should include illness and accident hospitalization insurance cover and worldwide emergency assistance service.

3.

Applicants who intend to jointly organise/co-organise the proposed project with other organisations or apply for/accept sponsorship from other organisations in cash or in kind should provide the details under ‘Budget’ in the application form.  Under no circumstances are the organisations allowed to accept sponsorship from tobacco companies or alcoholic drinks companies.  The organisations should not accept personal donation in respect of the proposed projects.  The Working Group will not consider project proposals which have sought, are seeking or will seek funding support from other government organisations in respect of the same projects.

4.

The amount of sponsorship to be granted and the guidelines on organising activities and the use of sponsorship will be provided in the notification letters issued to the successful applicant organisations.  The approved tour should be organised according to the details as specified in the application proposal.  No changes whatsoever are allowed.  If any changes are made without the consent of the Working Group, the Working Group reserves the right to cancel the sponsorship.  If it is decided to cancel the sponsorship and the organisation has received advanced payment, the organisation is required to refund the same amount within one month.

5.

Organisations receiving sponsorship for their projects should follow all the requirements laid down in the various guidelines for organising activities and use of sponsorship issued together with the notification letter.  The successful applicant organisations are required, amongst others, to submit the activity report and financial report accounting for the income and expenditure of their tours, with the relevant receipts and information materials (e.g. publications, photos and videos) within two months upon completion of the project.  All expenses for the project must be accountable.  If organisations fail to submit the relevant reports within the specified time or if the financial reports are not compiled in accordance with the requirements laid down in the relevant guidelines, the Working Group reserves the right to cancel the sponsorship.  If it is decided to cancel the sponsorship and the organisations have received advanced payment, the organisations are required to refund the same amount within one month.

6.

The Working Group would randomly select the subsidized projects and attend their activities held in Hong Kong.

7.

Organisations receiving sponsorship are required to publicise the statements of accounts of income and expenditure of their subsidised projects for scrutiny by the public upon completion of the project.  The statements of accounts should be uploaded on the organisation’s website and posted on a conspicuous location in the notice board of the organisation’s offices for access by the public.  In the financial reports submitted to the Working Group secretariat, organisations are required to specify in the reports the date when the statements of accounts are uploaded to the organisations’ websites, and to attach a photograph of the statements of accounts posted in the notice boards of the organisations’ offices.

8.

Publications and audio/visual materials relating to the projects must not infringe others’ copyright or intellectual property rights and must not be produced for sale.

9.

Upon completion of the study tour(s), the Working Group might invite organisations receiving sponsorship to send two youth participants to attend its meeting to give a 15-minute briefing, including the preparatory work for the study tour, a video presentation (about 7 minutes) of the project, participants’ reflections and the extent to which they have benefited.  They are required to answer questions from the Working Group.

10.

To better prepare the youth participants for the study tour, organisations are required to arrange for the youth participants to attend national studies / seminars before the study tour departs for the Mainland.

11.

The Working Group secretariat will pass a copy of the application forms of the sponsored projects to Youth.gov.hk.  Youth.gov.hk is a one-stop portal that provides online services for the youths which is set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.  The website is managed by the Efficiency Unit and Radio Television Hong Kong.  Youth.gov.hk has launched a new website in 2008 to introduce the study tours to the Mainland for the youths organised by the community organisations with a view to enhancing the youths’ awareness and understanding of their home country and strengthening their sense of national identity.  The content of the new website will include tour itineraries, application details, titbits of programmes and post-activity experience sharing by participants.  Youth.gov.hk will invite the successful applicant organisations directly to provide the relevant information.