From China: Expanding Programs for Migrant Women Workers to Beijing
Beijing is home to more than 4 million migrant workers, over 25% of the city’s population. Unlike migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta clustered in industrial communities, workers in Beijing are scattered throughout the city and often lack any social support networks. Recognizing this, the Boeing Company has awarded a new grant to The Asia Foundation to expand its longstanding programs to support migrant women workers, now targeting Beijing’s migrant worker community.
The one-year pilot program, “Enhancing Economic and Social Opportunities for Migrant Women Workers in Beijing,” will create economic opportunities and social benefits for migrant workers in Beijing. The program will include training on establishing small businesses, provide seed funds for those interested in starting their own businesses, and create mutual-help groups for migrant workers.
Since 1999, The Asia Foundation has supported migrant women workers in China’s Pearl River Delta through a series of groundbreaking activities to address their most critical needs: education and counseling, occupational health and safetly training, HIV/AIDS awareness, legal services, and vocational skills training. Foundation programs have provided services for more than 700,000 migrant women workers in more than 200 factories in 22 cities and districts along China’s Pearl River Delta. In 2006, The Asia Foundation began expanding its programs to Zhejiang and Jiangsu, in China’s Lower Yangtze River Valley.
The Asia Foundation and Boeing have partnered on a number of other initiatives, including the Boeing Distinguished Visitors program, which is designed to promote understanding, exchange, and dialogue between distinguished senior Chinese officials and U.S. counterparts.
