Field Trip to First OMO Chain of Charity Shop in China
2018/4/3 17:14:44
On Wednesday March 28th the class ofChinese NGO-NPO Management and Study class taught by Prof Lu Yungpin has madeits first field trip. We went to visit Buy 42in Jiangning Rd, the first OMO (Offline Merging Online) chain of charity shops in China. The field tripwas aimed to make students understand how Chinese NGOs-NPOs are operating in the local society.
We walked into the bright and cosy shop, to be welcomed by Jian Shujie in a large room in the back of the store. Buy 42 was born from the idea ofShujie – BA in Communication and Journalism at Tsinghua University, MPA in New York University – together with the Shanghai local government. The mission of the shops is to covera range of social problems: give inclusive job possibilities to people with disabilities and helpthe local communities to solve their issues (i.e. the shop in Jiangning Rd focused on children education). The motto of the chain is “Each has a value”, which derivedfrom the research and discover of Shujie of her employees, each of them with his/her own potential waiting to be revealed and exploited. The name Buy 42represents the idea of buying in order to sustain people and ideas: when you buy here, you are not only acquiring something, but you are also giving the chance to someone or something else to exist and cover an active role in the process of shaping a more sustainable society.
In China, there are 86 million people with disabilities officially registered. Although the Chinese Government puts a lot of efforts in promoting an equal life for people with disability, the number of unregistered people still very high due to the fear of social stigmatisation. Among the policies to improve the hiring of people with disabilities, there are economic benefits for Chinese firms. However there are many firms which refuse to hire people with disabilities and buy the certificate which declared that they have hired them, but in reality those people stay home without do any real work.
Shujie is an example of how ambition and desire to make the difference can perfectly combine: Buy 42at the moment has 8 stores and other 9 are planning to be open soon. Every store has been retail to satisfy diverse needs, and each of them tries to create social impacts.
The collaboration between the local government and entrepreneurs allowed the local cadres to find suitable solutions to the problem of the unemployment of people with disabilities. The local government gives free room for the charity chain, which involved all effortssustaining the local community and finding new people with disability to hire.
The worldwide path toward social equality is still long, but examples like Shujie show that a change is possible with the right amount of efforts.
Author: Noemi Capelli
Photos: Kim Jinkwang