He was there with Playground Ideas, a not-for-profit organisation that supports the construction of ‘DIY’ playgrounds around the world.

Mr McCormack first came across Playground Ideas when looking into the possibilities for his own idea to build public spaces in Palestine, which he visited in 2013 with World Vision Australia chief advocate Tim Costello.

While there, he was challenged to see how he could contribute to the conflict-affected region.

He noticed there were no recreational public places for children and adults, and – given his background in recreation and park management – decided he would like to work towards creating some, coming up with a concept called ‘Playscapes for Palestine’.

His idea is to create spaces not only for children to play, but for adults to come together.

“We take parks and playgrounds for granted,” he said.

While developing the concept Mr McCormack met with Playground Ideas founder Marcus Veerman and was invited to see what that organisation did.

And so he travelled to two towns near Bangalore, India, where he helped build playgrounds in a primary school and a high school.

“It was very educational, enlightening, quite inspiring for me, because I was able to see you don’t need financial resources to build something,” Mr McCormack said.

He said he now felt much more positive about his own idea, knowing that it did not take many resources to create something, just some political will.

But, he said, the biggest reward in India was seeing the smiles on the children’s faces as the empty spaces in their playgrounds were transformed.