A national conference was held in Beijing on October 11 to further promote the implementation of the "Spring Bud Project - Dream of the Future Action" initiative and mark the arrival of the 12th International Day of the Girl Child.

Shen Yueyue, president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), attended and addressed the meeting. She said that the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) must thoroughly study and implement important instructions made by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, fulfill its political duties to foster talent for the Party and the country, and take the Spring Bud project's winning of the UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education as an opportunity to continuously support the education of disadvantaged girls, pool the strength of more charity-minded people, expand the availability of health, digital and scientific education among schooling girls, help them achieve personal dreams and make higher contributions to the high-quality development of the work on children.

Shen said that the important discourses by General Secretary Xi have charted the course and provided fundamental guidance for further advancing the work on children in the new era and that the address by Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan, also UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls and women's education, at the awards ceremony of the 2023 UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education has injected new vitality into the innovative development of the Spring Bud project. She asked the CCTF to deepen the implementation of the "Spring Bud Project - Dream of the Future Action" initiative, carry out the charitable program in the once-impoverished areas and those inhabited by ethnic groups, enrich its assistance content, adjust to social development and new requirement for girls' all-round development, integrate material assistance with spiritual caring and love toward teenage recipients, shoulder its responsibilities in fostering virtue through education, adhere to standard management approaches, bring together more social forces for better growth of girls, help them feel the love and warmth of the Party and the country, and cultivate them into leading force for building China into a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.

Huang Xiaowei, secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and vice-president and first member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, presided over the meeting. She said that the women's federations at all levels and the CCTF must follow the leadership of the CPC, stay true to their original aspiration, act on important instructions by General Secretary Xi and specific requirements of the CPC Central Committee in the whole-process implementation of the "Spring Bud Project - Dream of the Future Action" initiative, align their overall work with the service availability of girls and the expectation of their families, incorporate spiritual guidance into the cultivation of talent, earnestly carry out the guiding principles of the speech by Peng at the awards ceremony of the 2023 UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education, focus on the education toward health, digital and scientific sectors, help more girls make their dreams come true, add the work on girls' and women's education to the overall work of the women's federations, build the Spring Bud project into a top charitable brand, lead and guide the public to strengthen the cultivation of a positive social environment for girls' and women's growth.

Zhan Chengfu, vice-minister of civil affairs, Ma Yongsheng, Party chief and chairman of China Petrochemical Corporation, and officials from the Ministry of Education attended and addressed the meeting. They said that their departments or enterprises will continuously support the "Spring Bud Project - Dream of the Future Action" initiative, help the Spring Bud girls feel the love and caring of the society, and encourage them to chase personal dreams.

 

The meeting also presented awards to role models from the Spring Bud girls nationwide and called on them to make their exemplary stories better known and carry forward the spirit of the charitable project.

Those in attendance of the event also included Zhang Xiaolan, vice-president and member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, Chen Xiurong, president of the CCTF, and officials from the functional departments of the ACWF.

As of the end of 2022, the Spring Bud project had raised fund of 2.91 billion yuan (about US$ 398 million), provided financial assistance to over four million schooling girls nationwide, offered 527,000 girls vocational education, and delivered one-on-one accompany services to 131,400 girls.