7. Jason Yip - Battlefield Humanitarian & Director MWYO - a podcast by Asia Society Hong Kong Movers & Shakers Podcast
from 2019-11-26T04:23:28
Today's Podcast is with Jason Yip, community Director at MWYO a Think and do tank in Hong Kong. Previously he was Regional Head of Market at the government affairs and donor relations division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). During his time at the ICRC, Jason has worked at the Geneva headquarters to develop dialogue and mobilize resources with member states in accordance with the Geneva Convention, and has been stationed in Palestine, Afghanistan and Myanmar as an ICRC Delegate. Jason has been responsible for developing and implementing ICRC’s humanitarian initiatives in the battlefield and engaged in emergency relief. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, and speaks fluent English, Mandarin, French, Japanese and Cantonese. In 2018, Jason was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Hong Kong SAR Government and selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons by JCI HK.
Like many youngsters in Hong Kong, Jason Yip grew up in public housing estates more interested in hanging out with friends than studying. With a late burst of effort from Form Six onwards, he was accepted by HKU, and upon graduation landed a job with an investment bank in New York providing financial security and achieving the “Hong Kong dream” of property ownership. However, four years later he made a life-changing decision that parents and friends thought insane. He changed career, moving into humanitarian aid. Jason Yip is the one of the very first Hong Kongers at the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross to be hired as an on-the-ground delegate and has been dispatched to conflict zones including Palestine, Afghanistan, Jordan, Syria and Myanmar. There he upholds the ICRC mission - protecting civilians during fighting, helping locate those separated from families, and assisting in rebuilding a post-war infrastructure. Jason has been involved in numerous life-threatening scenarios including negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan for the release of 33 kidnapped schoolchildren and their teachers and delivering letters from prisoners in the mountains of Myanmar to their families. Join Jason Yip on how he went from being a lackadaisical, fun-loving kid to an adult filled with unswerving belief in the value of humanitarian work in a world full of tension, and why Hong Kongers should get more involved in international organizations.
Further episodes of Asia Society Hong Kong Movers & Shakers Podcast
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