As a fundamental component of its program, the
HSPH China Initiative organizes the China Social Development Forum to discuss
critical social policy issues with leading scholars and policy-makers in
China. As a global leader in knowledge creation and transfer, the Harvard School of Public Health has the capacity to help China effectively
address major concerns in social sector development through collaborative
research and communication. The inaugural Forum was successfully held
June 22-23, 2007 in Beijing with prominent leaders from Harvard, the Central
Party School, and Tsinghua University and other Chinese and international
organizations in attendance.
China Initiative
China Social Development Forum
Objectives
- To meet annually alternately in Boston and Beijing to develop a comprehensive understanding of the key social development issues in China, while also seeking to help inform China's public policy process by drawing on both Chinese and international perspectives and experiences. Each Forum focuses on a specific theme, and the major results of the commissioned studies are then discussed and disseminated. A policy briefing paper synthesizing major findings and recommendations from each Forum is delivered to China's top policy makers, and an edited volume of the Forum proceedings is published in both Chinese and English and then widely distributed.
-
To coordinate and support a series of
inter-disciplinary studies on a select set of social development issues in China. These studies will be carried out by Harvard
faculties, research fellows, and students in collaboration with leading Chinese
scholars. Major issues to be studied
include (but are not limited to):
- the relationship between economic and social development;
- governance structure for social development;
- achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
- aging society and social security;
- controlling major public health risks, including nutrition, environmental, and behavioral risks;
- health care system reforms;
- human capital and social capital;
- corporate social responsibilities;
- leadership development.