Sharing sincerity: Financial Secretary Henry Tang meets a youngster during his visit to the Single Parents Association.

Financial Secretary Henry Tang has visited the Single Parents Association to better understand the services it provides.

He today met with a group of single parents who explained how they made use of the support and assistance available to them in rebuilding their self-confidence and supporting their families.

"I have great respect for these devoted mothers and fathers," Mr Tang said. "They have tried their very best to ensure that the needs of their children are well catered for. More importantly, they have demonstrated to their children the power and importance of self-reliance and mutual support in the community."

The association's Chief Executive Jessie Yu, a member of the Commission on Poverty, said the most useful support the body can provide is to empower single parents to help themselves and encourage them to help other people where they can.

The organisation provides support services to single parents and organises training and employment assistance programmes for them. These include the New Dawn Project under the Intensive Employment Assistance Projects, designed to help single parents return to work.

Mr Tang also met participants of the Capacity Building Mileage Programme. The programme is organised by the Women's Commission in partnership with the Open University and Commercial Radio to encourage self-learning and capacity enhancement among women.