Just down the road from the Davos Congress Center, the globe's movers and shakers can be thrust into the real-life problems affecting some of the poorest areas in the world.
The Hong Kong-based Crossroads Foundation is offering World Economic Forum attendees the opportunity to experience, for a brief time, an up-close and personal encounter with poverty through its "Struggle for Survival" program.
"The old proverb says, 'You cannot understand a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes,'" said Sally Begbie, the foundation's director. "We cannot offer participants a 'mile,' but, through Struggle for Survival, we can invite them to take a few steps in the shoes of those battling poverty."
Participants are asked to attend a short briefing where they learn in detail what it is like to live without seemingly essential needs. These examples come from those who have lived it first hand.