The Rooster Has Crowed!!
To our many good friends who have been concerned about new legislation in China, effective January 1, 2017, that might make it impossible for foreign NGOs to continue their important work, I have some wonderful news to share.
On Monday morning in Beijing, OneSky’s Beijing Representative Office, Half the Sky, became one of the first 20 international NGOs to be legally registered under China’s new Overseas NGOs’ Law.
The months of uncertainty are over. The registration certificate ensures that OneSky can continue to work side by side our government partners to transform the lives of China’s most vulnerable children, just as we have done for the last two decades.
This most welcome news is a great relief of course. But it’s more than that. It was an honor and a privilege to stand alongside some of the world’s most prestigious organizations – the World Economic Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Save the Children-UK, Li Ka Shing Foundation, Conservation International – as the Director of China’s Public Security Ministry’s Overseas NGO Management Office vowed to “protect the legal rights of NGOs, strengthen international exchange, and play a bigger role in philanthropic development in China.”
As I stood there on the dais among NGO superstars, I couldn’t help feeling both immensely grateful and deeply proud that twenty years ago a tiny group of concerned parents defied the naysayers and spoke with their hearts. And that China listened. And that today, her most vulnerable children have a voice and a place at the table.
The Rooster has crowed, indeed.
Join us in celebrating a new dawn for China’s children!
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
Jenny Bowen
Founder and CEO, OneSky for all children
