Novel Funding Paradigm for Social Work Services in China: Reflections on the Guangzhou Experience

Three decades of Chinese economic modernization created wonders that transform the living of the population. Yet economic affluence also spawns juggernauts of new social ills, and mounting social tensions emerge from widening inequalities between the wealthy and the less privileged. Local governments are under intense pressure to identify new approaches to addressing new social problems such as rising unemployment, elderly neglect, and juvenile delinquency through social management. This article recapitulates some of the experience of non‐governmental organizations through collaborating with the authorities, in pioneering social work services using new mode of public funding mechanism.