Overview of ESR
The Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership (ESR) Programme has been established under the Home Affairs Department since 2006 in response to an initiative of the Commission on Poverty to reinforce its work in preventing and alleviating poverty through a district-based approach.
Objectives of ESR
The ESR Programme seeks to promote sustainable poverty prevention and alleviation efforts at the district level that help enhance self-reliance, targeting socially disadvantaged groups, by providing seed grants for eligible organisations to set up social enterprises(the “SEs”). Instead of providing welfare or short-term relief, the ESR Programme aims at increasing the skills and capacities of the socially disadvantaged, providing them opportunities to upgrade themselves and enabling them to be effectively integrated into the community.
The ESR Programme serves as a funding scheme enabling the plurality of SEs with diverse social objectives, plurality of business models and diverse services, targeting at socially disadvantaged groups.
In order to meet the objectives of the ESR Programme, SEs funded by the ESR Programme are expected to –
- achieve the social objectives of helping enhance the self-reliance of socially disadvantaged groups and their integration into the community by –
- creation of job opportunities, upgrading their skills and capacities; and/or
- provision of products and / or services to meet their specific needs;
AND
- become commercially sustainable following the expiry of ESR funding.
Amount of Grant and Funding Period
Each approved project will be funded up to three years at a maximum amount of $3 million.