Established in 2014, Healthy Seed is a charitable organization that fills up the service gap in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) in Hong Kong. It is entitled to tax exemption under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Ref. No.: 91/13871). Healthy Seed believes that positive energy can be instilled into society through nurturing children’s good attitudes and values. With this in mind, it is dedicated to the provision of ECCD services for children aged 0-6. Healthy Seed strives to promote ECCD by providing practical information through its interactive resource platform and professional training courses relating to parenting education. As of December 31, 2022, Healthy Seed’s services have reached over 510 institutions and its training courses have benefited over 62,700 recipients, including but not limited to children, parents, social workers, educators and related professionals.
Healthy Seed, initiated and funded by the Lo Ying Shek Chi Wai Foundation, upholds the values and beliefs of the Foundation and aspires to pass them on through its services for the public.
The Foundation is a charitable trust established in May 2010 in accordance with the wishes of Mr. LO Ying Shek (1912-2006). Mr. LO hoped the Foundation could bring positive changes to children through education. Its missions are to support the children in pursuing their dreams regardless of their social classes, instill positive values in them and build their good character.
Mr. LO named the Foundation “Chi Wai” (慈慧), which means “benevolence” and “wisdom” in Chinese. The name also implies “giving with kindness and brightness”. These virtues have become the cornerstone of the Foundation and Mr. LO hoped that they could be passed on to the future generations.
The Foundation believes that the early years of children (aged 0-6) are the golden period in unleashing their intelligence as well as shaping their character and social behaviors. Its primary focus, therefore, is on the provision of ECCD services to facilitate the holistic development of children through early intervention and to help nurture them into young individuals with good character and mental health.
In 2012, the Foundation funded a 3-year research by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and The University of Hong Kong to develop a parent education program for those with children aged 2-3. Consequently, the Hands-On Parent Empowerment-20® Program (HOPE-20®) was initiated, becoming one of the first locally-developed and evidence-based parent education programs in Hong Kong. This aims to educate the public about proper parenting skills and knowledge and to facilitate parents in nurturing their children’s positive character.
In June 2014, the Foundation funded the establishment of its service arm, Healthy Seed, to conduct the HOPE-20® program for the public. Healthy Seed also fills up the service gap in ECCD through the launch of other training programs, including “Train the Trainer”, the “Mentorship Program”, “Parenting Workshop” and “Parents’ Talk”, which guide parents and stakeholders in unleashing children’s potentials.
Apart from organizing ECCD training programs, Healthy Seed provides multimedia parenting information. To ensure the trustworthiness of the information, professionals from different industries are invited to share their advice and expertise with parents. Articles, videos and multimedia programs are integrated into a comprehensive resource databank and being disseminated at various media channels, including radio, television, newspapers, magazines, social media and websites, with the aim to create an interactive resource platform where members of the public can access both online and offline parenting information with ease.
To ensure children’s healthy growth, Healthy Seed also collaborates with organizations from different sectors to carry out ECCD-related projects in environmental protection and healthcare, including the “Music Cradle @ Sham Shui Po” program and the “Say No to Plastic!” campaign.
