• Heart Alliance Autism Network
Partner Organization: Stars and Rain
Project Duration: Dec 2014 - Dec 2015
Project Status: Completed
With the financial support from MISEREOR, a German foundation, Stars and Rain launched the Heart Alliance Autism Network through a series of advocacy events in 2005. The network aims to raise the service quality for autistic people. Heart Alliance advocates for equal rights, mutual respect, care and concern and most importantly acceptance from the government and public for people with special needs, with the ultimate goal of creating a better living environment for this group of people. In addition, Heart Alliance is developing a platform for autism serving organizations to share experiences and resources.
The success of the Heart Alliance Autism Network is in part due to the unwavering support from the Beijing Stars and Rain Education Institute. At the 10th anniversary, Stars and Rain highlighted the milestones, shared the learning experiences and charted the direction for the next ten years. The Beijing Yifang Foundation is the sole sponsor of the Heart Alliance Autism Network.
Partner Organization: Stanford Rural Education Action Plan (REAP)
Project Duration: Sept 2014 - Dec 2015
Project Status: Completed
The Chinese central government has invested close to USD 1 billion annually since 2010 on teacher training in an effort to improve the quality of teachers in rural China. Apart from the government, many social welfare organizations and foundations have contributed to the cause through a variety of programmes. Despite these efforts, the results have left much to be desired. Most programmes have not been sustainable and there has been little improvement in the students’ academic performance and teaching quality. Even with these discouraging results, the Stanford Rural Education Action Plan (REAP) team undertook a one-year study to understand the fundamental issues, providing policy makers with the much-needed information to develop the most effective teacher training programme. By implementing programmes with the Henan Zhenyu Teacher Training Programme, the team prepared a report of recommendations, sharing their findings with the provincial and national level policy makers.
The Beijing Yifang Foundation, together with the Ford Foundation and the Xu Family Charitable Foundation collaborated to jointly fund the research project.
Partner Organization: 21st Century Education Research Institute
Project Duration: Mar 2014 - Dec 2014
Project Status: Completed
In 2013, the 21st Century Education Research Institute conducted policy research and advocacy to tackle the problems faced by small-scale rural schools. Due to the remote location of the schools, there was a severe lack of qualified teachers in the Chinese countryside leading to widening gaps in urban-rural education standards and inequities. The institute aimed to address these issues in 2014 by providing professional development and improving the living conditions of teachers in rural areas. Over ten months, rural education experts, the media and interested members of the public participated in the study to put together a detailed and accurate report on their findings. The research report is the basis for advocating new policies and change. The Beijing Yifang Foundation is the sole sponsor of the project.