CT: You’ve worked with World Vision in Cambodia and Italy. How do you see that experience feeding into your new role at the helm of World Vision UK?
JB: I am passionate about the mission World Vision has. We can and do make an extraordinary difference to children facing poverty and injustice in some of the toughest places in the world and we are in an amazing position to be able to link around 120,000-plus people with children and communities all around the world. I want to see more and better of that. I want us to grow the connections between the UK and children in communities elsewhere and make a bigger and better difference to their lives. And as a Christian organisation, I’d love to see us witness and bring honour to God by doing that.
CT: Your work with children really seems to resonate with churchgoers in the UK.
JB: I think that resonates with people in general and within the church it is very easy to see the special place that Jesus had for children. That’s a jumping off point for us in many conversations. We have been in the UK for nearly 30 years now but there are other organisations that have deeper and stronger roots in the church than we do and I would love to see us working collaboratively with other organisations to strengthen and deepen our relationships with the churches and Christians, and people in general.
CT: And that would link in with your new campaign Child Health Now?
JB: Yes. I think no one organisation can change huge things like the fact that almost 9 million children are dying every year almost all of preventable diseases but we believe that working with others, we can bring influence to decision makers and policy makers not only in the UK but worldwide. We have an incredible grassroots network of people working in 100 countries around the world and we work in 17 of the G20 countries and all of the G8 countries – places of power and influence in the world. If we can get the voices of children to speak more clearly to those in power then we believe that enormous things are possible. We want to be part of ending the deaths of 6 million children each year from preventable diseases. We hope the Child Health Now campaign will do what it says on the tin and bring child health now.
CT: It’s interesting that you say you want to strengthen the voices of children because usually NGOs speak for the children.
JB: Yes. Our role is to bring the lives of those we serve closer to the people here. I’ve been so incredibly fortunate and blessed to work in and amongst children and communities in more than 30 countries of the world so I’ve been able to see and touch and hear it and that’s the fuel that keeps me on fire for the work but most people in the UK don’t get to see that. If we can find a way to get those voices into the eyes and ears and minds and hearts of the people here … that’s what we want to do.
CT: 2010 is going to be a big campaign year for many NGOs working in development with only five years left to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals (goals set by governments to halve global poverty). What will your big message be in 2010?
JB: We are nearly two-thirds of the way towards the MDG target date so we will be focusing on child health and MDG 4, to reduce child mortality. We work across all the MDGs and there are other organisations, not only Christian ones, working towards the same goals so we want to work with everyone together. Focusing and magnifying the voices will make the biggest difference.
