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“Everyone should do this”, is what Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, said after joining an impactful simulation programme organised by Crossroads Foundation to raise awareness for the hardships of the people they serve. In this episode, you will hear from the person behind this eye-opening simulation programme: Meet David (DJ) Begbie, Director of the Global Xperience programme at Crossroads Foundation, a humanitarian aid and development organisation based in Hong Kong.
This episode was recorded at Crossroads Foundation’s Fairtrade Café, located at a former British Military Army base at the Gold Coast, Hong Kong.
His love for the theatrics and “the weirdness of who he was”, as DJ puts it, could be of very good use in these simulation programmes because they realised, communication alone does not result in behavioural change.
For the past 10 years, Crossroads Foundation has been organising Refugee Runs at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The list of famous participants in this simulation programme is long, from Sir Richard Branson to Ban Ki-moon. “…there’s simply nothing I’ve done that’s carried such impact”, a participant tweeted.
photo credit: Crossroads Foundation
In this episode, DJ shares the beginnings of Crossroads Foundation when his family received a phone call about a flood in China. “We were just a family and in our free time we helped,” he says. Fast forward 20 years and they impacted the lives of 625 000 people in 2014/15 alone.
The idea for Crossroads Foundation’s simulation programmes came by accident. It has a lot to do with Crossroads Foundation being a “crazy charity”, DJ explains. Hear why in this episode.
You will also meet “young DJ” and hear about his mini-midlife crises and how he ended up flipping Big Macs at Mc Donalds close to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
He shares why he enjoys working with his parents, who founded Crossroads Foundation, and how he made his way to the organisation. He lets you in on his biggest challenges, who inspires him most, how to measure short- and long-term impact and what change should look like.
#MENTIONED in this episode
- The people running Crossroads Foundation are all volunteers. Their dedication is incredible and seeing them working around the collection points, the office, in the Fairtrade shop and café when I visited on this sunny spring day was a humbling experience.
- Their partnership with the UN is very fruitful, they even built their business.un.org platform, that links corporates to UN programmes and was inspired by Crossroads Foundation’s in-house Global Hand matching platform.
- They run their simulation programmes not only at the World Economic Forum in Davos but also in Hong Kong and other places around the globe.
- If you are based in Hong Kong make sure to stop by their gorgeous Fairtrade Shop. They offer gorgeous wooden toys for small kids and so much more. Don’t worry, if you are listening from outside of Hong Kong, they also run a Fairtrade online shop.
- Their Fairtrade Café serves hands down the most delicious Chai Latte I had in my life.
Follow Crossroads Foundation on Facebook, and make sure to check out their global experiences simulation menu.
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