Beijing Community Dinners (BCD) organize dinners with speakers on social issues in China for those who are interested in discussing related issues at different restaurants, donating to charity, and meeting like-minded people. Sounds pretty great to us. They have two interesting events coming up this month: One on Saturday, November 14, and one the week after on Saturday, November 21.
The November 14 event will be held at Beijing Vegan Hut with Jason Lee, who will discuss rural development in China, and the issues that arise as a result of rural development. Jason co-founded RISE while doing his master’s at Tsinghua University. He is now working at the Tsinghua University Centre for Circular Economy Research, while trying to expand RISE to other universities across China.
RISE was founded in 2011 as a student organization in Tsinghua University. They consist of both graduate and undergraduate students, primarily from Tsinghua’s School of Environment. The goal of the organization is to promote rural development within the university and also provides a forum for students to interact and acquire hands-on experience working towards helping rural areas prosper. Their first project was in the field of clean water and sanitation and have since worked with numerous villages in Ningxia, Shanxi, and Gansu and distributed over 1,500 low-cost water filters.
To RSVP for this talk, click here. It kicks off at 7pm.
On November 21, BCD has invited Lisa Qin to talk about the left behind children in China at Tianchu Chaoxiangsu Restaurant in Chaowai Soho. China has around 61 million children whose parents migrated to urban areas to find work, leaving the child with a relative or on their own. Some of these girls and boys who are left behind do not receive sufficient emotional support or live with limited household income that hinders access to education and other services, and are often at greater risk of injury, human trafficking, violence, abuse or neglect.
Qin is a consultant in China to UNICEF and the Asian Development Bank. She is an Australian-qualified lawyer and teacher with international experience spanning development, teaching, law, and auditing. Her focus is on addressing educational disadvantage to improve outcomes for children.
UNICEF China’s work includes partnering with the Ministry of Education since early 2000 on a Child-Friendly Schools model, as well as a Social and Emotional Learning Programme in five western provinces across 250 rural schools. These programmes are targeted towards helping the most vulnerable children, such as those that have been left behind or come from disadvantaged, ethnic minority backgrounds.
To RSVP for this talk, click here. It starts at 7pm.
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