Leaders’ Message

It is the shared responsibility of the Government and society to take collective actions to make Hong Kong fit for our children. There is an urgent need to have a total review of our child-related system from policy, strategic planning, organization and services provision levels using a right-based, life-course and ecological approach. Playright’s mandate to advocate children’s play is firmly rooted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. Children’s play should be non-compulsory, driven by intrinsic motivations and undertaken for its own sake. Through our services and programmes, we demonstrate the value of play that is led by children. Nevertheless, to make play advocacy sustainable and scalable, empowering adults and professionals, as well as building partnerships are essential. We are glad to see wider recognition of play. I hope more people and groups will join us to make Hong Kong a better place for our children.

We are driven by our vision to “Build Hong Kong as a Playful City,” a vision set out on our 30th birthday. The basic principles behind the Playful City Framework are that every child is recognized as a valued, respected citizen, and every child is engaged to express or participate in decisions to play.

We want to inspire our community to focus on four areas: namely, Playable Space, Play Provision, Play Time and Playful Adult. We are excited about these initiatives and we are grateful to our long-term and new partners who share our vision and support our work. We will work together with all stakeholders, learning from international best practices, in advocating the landscape of play in Hong Kong.

This is not only for children; but also for ALL children and citizens of all ages—meaning you and me.