Background

In recent decades, China’s civil society has witnessed tremendous growth as increasing civic participation decisively changed the pattern of welfare management in the country. Social innovations, mostly initiated by everyday citizens, are now a critical force in resolving social tension. At the same time, the explosive growth of internet gave rise to a new generation of young leaders who begin seek to address social problems in China not through official channels; instead, they seek to enact social change by seeking creative solutions from the grassroots level. Through their work and by their spirit, they are sowing the seeds of change in China.

During such transitional period of China’s civil society, it is critical therefore that these young professionals and emerging leaders form meaningful connections with their international peers. Theories and practices of civil society in Western countries took more than a century to develop; they represent intellectual heritage of generations of scholars, activists, and organizations. As China assumes a more prominent role on the world stage today, its social boundaries also transcend national boundaries and require collaborative solutions.  It is with such hope of expanding knowledge and friendship that the China Citizenship and Social Innovation SEED Community at Harvard, together with the NGO Research Center at Tsinghua University and Philanthropy and NGO Support Center, have decided to enter a strategic partnership to host the SEED Forum on Citizenship and Social Innovation.

What we do

SEED Forum on Citizenship and Social Innovation seeks to foster constructive dialogues, discussions and interactions among leading scholars, social entrepreneurs and civic-minded individuals and organizations from both China and abroad. The goal is to create opportunities that facilitate academic debates, inspire social innovations and nurture young talents.

Based at Harvard University and Tsinghua University, SEED Forum seeks to become a leading platform on Chinese social innovation. The acronym, SEED, stands for our core values – Social Responsibility, Empathy, Empowerment and Dedication. It is our hope to cultivate such “seeds” of social change in China.

SEED forum is also an integrate part of the SEED Camp, whose goal is to educate, inspires and develop a network of young Chinese civic leaders at home and abroad. SEED forum provides an overview of the theoretical notions and real-life practices to the participants in SEED Camp, facilitating further training on individual projects.

AGENDA

09:00 - 09:20    Opening Address

09:20 - 11:40    Keynote Speeches

• 09:20 - 10:00    From Social Reform to Political Reform by Dr. WANG Ming （Tsinghua University）
• 10:00 - 10:40    Citizenship Education by Dr. LIU Jianhua （Independent scholar/investor）
• 10:40 - 11:00    Tea Break
• 11:00 - 11:40    Citizen Participation（TBC） by Lily TSAI （MIT）
• 11:40 - 12:20    Social Entrepreneurship in the 21^st Century by Georgia Levenson Keohane （Roosevelt Institute）

Lunch Break

13:30-17:25    Panel Discussions

• 13:30-14:45    Nature of Modern Civil Organizations by Xijin JIA （moderator）, Yanbing ZHANG, Peifeng LIU, Qiusha MA
• 14:50-16:05    Social Enterprise by Ming WANG （moderator）, Chao WANG, Haoming HUANG, Yong LI
• 16:10-17:25    Government-Nonprofit-Private Partnership by Junkui HAN （moderator）, Jianhua LIU, Yongchen WANG, Lily TSAI

17:30-18:00    Closing Remarks

SPEAKERS

Dr. Ming WANG（王名）, Professor at School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, President of the NGO Research Center, Tsinghua University, Editor-in-chief of The China Nonprofit Review
Areas of interest：NGO, civil society, social entrepreneurship, environment and NGO.

Mr. Jianhua LIU（刘建华）, President of Beijing Wisdom Consulting Center
Areas of interest：civil society, citizenship education, social entrepreneurship.

Lily L. TSAI is an Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT.
Area of interest: accountability, governance, and political participation in developing countries with a particular emphasis on Chinese politics.

Georgia Levenson KEOHANE is a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and holds a BA from Yale University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, recently published "Social Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century".
Area of interest：economic policy, including poverty and inequality, employment and job growth, and social entrepreneurship and the role of firms in society.

Dr. Xijin JIA（贾西津）, Associate Professor at School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University.
Areas of interest：civil society, social entrepreneurship.

Dr. Yanbing Zhang（张严冰）, Assistant Professor at School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Areas of interest：political science, international political economy.

Dr. Peifeng LIU（刘培峰）, Associate Professor of law at Beijing Normal University, Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Beijing Normal University.
Areas of interest：theory of human rights, NGO management, NGO law.

Qiusha MA 

Dr. Chao WANG（王超）, Chief Operating Officer of World Wildlife Fund（China）.

Mr. Haoming HUANG（黄浩明）, Vice Chairman and Executive Director at China Association for NGO Cooperation, Research fellow of the NGO Research Center, Tsinghua University.

Dr. Yong LI（李勇）, Director of Philanthropy and NGO Support Center（China）
Areas of interest：Law, NGO management, philanthropy and civil society.

Dr. Junkui HAN（韩俊奎）, Associate Professor of philosophy and sociology, Beijing  Normal University
Areas of interest：NGO management, anthropology, sociology.

Mr. Yongchen WANG（汪永晨）, Senior journalist at the China Central Television, Founder of “Green Earth Volunteers”, an environmental NGO.

ORGANIZER

• Harvard SEED on Citizenship and Social Innovation

Harvard SEED on Citizenship and Social Innovation seeks to create a community of outstanding young Chinese students in China and abroad. It advocates civic engagement by encouraging innovative solutions to social problems. Based at Harvard University and in collaboration with China’s premier nonprofit organizations, SEED runs interactive and hands-on training camps in the U.S. and China to select, encourage and support potential social entrepreneurs in their social innovation projects and future career. It is our goal to build an innovative and cross-border community of SEED fellows. The acronym, SEED, stands for our core values – Social Responsibility, Empathy, Empowerment and Dedication. It is our hope to cultivate such “seeds” of social change in China.

SPONSORS

• NGO Research Center, Tsinghua University

The NGO Research Center（NGORC）was founded in October, 1998 as the first research center on NGOs in China. The Center’s research focus on policy and management issues related to NGOs. Its mission is to provide training for senior managers in NGOs, to promote research on Chinese NGOs, to contribute to effective formulation of related public policy, and to help build the capacity in NGOs and civil society. The Center has worked on projects related to legislation of NGOs in China, the creation of an evaluation system of NGOs, professional management of NGOs in the market economy, and the creation of community-based NGOs. Its overall aim is to advance the construction of laws and political systems related to NGOs and to drive the realization and development of civil society.

• Philanthropy and NGO Support Center

Philanthropy and NGO Support Center（PNSC）launches a variety of non-profit social services to support the capacity building of the social organization, to build public projects sharing platform, to enhance the credibility of the social organization, to promote social management innovation and building a harmonious society, to achieve doing charity for the public and doing good for the world. Center is dedicated to practical research, application and promotion of public welfare projects, to enhance the effectiveness, transparency and standardization of the Chinese society organizations public projects, strengthen accountability mechanisms and capacity building of the social organizations to promote the exchange of ideas of scholars, to promote the construction of academic platform.