Landing in Bangkok, our team arrived ready to spend time with our first BBS-sponsored NGO partner, the JUMP! Foundation.
JUMP! runs a wide range of experiential education programs for young people around the world. Their for-profit initiatives, J! Schools and J! Experiences, operate both inside and outside the classroom, primarily in private schools globally. The proceeds from these programs directly support JUMP!’s not-for-profit arm, J! Development. While all JUMP! programs are designed to foster personal growth, teamwork, leadership, and global citizenship, J! Development stands apart by offering its programs free of charge to youth in disadvantaged communities and by focusing on real, locally rooted challenges.
This year, BBS is proud to launch a new partnership with the J! Development team. Over the past six years, JUMP! has co-organized Youth Leadership Conferences in Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Senegal. With BBS’s support, these conferences will now expand to Thailand and China.
The conferences bring together young leaders aged 15–25 from rural villages and urban slum communities, selected for their demonstrated commitment to improving their communities. Working alongside peers from inner-city neighborhoods in Paris, Boston, and New York City, participants collaborate across cultures, share perspectives, and empower one another. Together, they explore how local action can address global challenges.
At the heart of each conference is a facilitation framework known as Open Space. Rather than prescribing content, Open Space invites participants to shape the agenda themselves. After initial icebreakers and an introduction to the methodology, participants propose discussion topics and project ideas drawn directly from their lived experiences. These ideas are then organized into breakout spaces inculding workshops and discussion groups that evolve organically throughout the conference.
Participants choose which breakout spaces to join and are free to move between them, sharing ideas, experiences, and solutions. Daily responsibilities, from facilitation and translation to waste management, note-taking, and logistics, are also distributed among the youth, reinforcing ownership and collective leadership.
The goal of these breakout spaces extends beyond dialogue. Through collaboration, participants develop social entrepreneurship projects aimed at solving real issues within their own communities. At the end of the conference, selected projects are presented to the wider group, and two are chosen based on impact, feasibility, and community need.
While the conference marks the end of the experience for most participants, it is just the beginning for the leaders of the selected projects. These young changemakers receive seed grants and ongoing support from JUMP! facilitators, as well as introductions to local government officials, NGOs, and advisors who can help bring their ideas to life.
By grounding solutions in local leadership and support networks, the Youth Leadership Conferences help communities build sustainable, homegrown responses to their challenges, reducing reliance on external intervention.
As strong advocates of self-sustaining impact, we at BBS are excited to support these programs and look forward to sharing the inspiring stories that emerge from this partnership.
