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GDP - The Global Development Primer

GDP - The Global Development Primer

By Dr. Robert Huish

The Global Development Primer. The podcast about all issues in International Development. Your host is Dr. Bob Huish, broadcasting from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The podcast covers a wide range of issues in International Development, while featuring the work of researchers and practitioners from around the world.

This is your podcast to learn more about International Development and to stay in touch with important global issues.
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1.3 billion and not out: How India is faring through the COVID19 Pandemic.

GDP - The Global Development PrimerSep 08, 2020

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Right Now, We Need You: A Story of Advocacy From a Father and Son Living with Autism

Right Now, We Need You: A Story of Advocacy From a Father and Son Living with Autism

In so many parts of the world children with intellectual disabilities are excluded from education opportunities. Once they are shunned, they are stigmatized. Once stigma sets in, entire families can fall victim to various acts of hatred. It is why inclusive education for persons with physical and intellectual disabilities needs to count. The Honourable Mike Lake (PC MP) travels widely to tell audiences about the story of him and his son Jaden, who lives with non-communicative autism. Mike and Jaden's story is touching, inspiring and revealing. Revealing in how people who learn and work with Jaden gain a great deal from him when they begin to understand the world from his perspective rather than try to drag him into theirs. It's a powerful message that extends well into politics, and one that Mike Lake joins us today to discuss.

Mike is the six-term Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Wetaskiwin, first elected in 2006. In both 2019 and 2021, he received the highest vote total of any federal candidate, for any party, in Canada.

Mike served for eight years as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry and was appointed to the Queen’s Privy Council in 2012. He has served as Shadow Minister for Youth, Sport, and Accessibility; International Development; and Mental Health, Addictions, and Suicide Prevention.

Prior to entering federal politics, Mike worked for 10 years with the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club where he served as National Accounts Manager, Director of Ticket Sales, and Group Sales Manager.  Mike holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with distinction) from the University of Alberta.

Mike has two adult children, his son, Jaden, and daughter, Jenae.  The Lakes have been active supporters of autism organizations, families and neurodiverse individuals across the country, and around the world, while sharing their story of life with Jaden, who has autism.


Follow Dr. Bob on "X": @ProfessorHuish

Check out Mike's "X": @MikeLakeMP

 

Mar 26, 202426:24
Live with the Tension: Rethinking Development Politics

Live with the Tension: Rethinking Development Politics

How many times have we pursued Global Development Projects, from agricultural technology to power grids, with the promise that it will all be okay, and then it falls short? All the time. How many times have Global Development Theories encouraged a change in discourse to rest upon idolized examples that mask over important complexities? All the time.

This time Dr. Ilan Kapoor and Dr. Gavin Fridell have written a provocative book Rethinking Development Politics. Where they confront an often invisible, but active unconscious fetish for perfection and simple solutions in Global Development. Whereas mainstream development politics is organized around stability and rationality, psychoanalysis points to disharmony and irrationality, helping to explain the development subject’s often self-defeating behaviour — for example being seduced by growth and shopping, despite being aware of the inherent perils of inequality and climate crisis. From Sweatshops to E-Vehicles, can we grow beyond these fetishes?

Ilan Kapoor is Professor of Critical Development Studies at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto. His research centers on psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory/politics, and ideology critique. He is the author of seven books. 

Gavin Fridell is a University Research Professor and Chair of Global Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University. His research focuses on fair trade and free trade, global political economy, and critical social and psychoanalytic theory. He is a member of the Trade and Investment Research Project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.


Follow Dr. Bob on "X" : @ProfessorHuish

Follow Dr. Kapoor on "X": @ilankapoor

Follow Dr. Fridell on "X": @gavinfridell

Mar 19, 202434:23
Soledad: What life is like for imprisoned asylum seekers in the United States
Mar 12, 202422:10
Is Development Dead? Far from it: Get Ready For A New Era of Global Development Education
Mar 05, 202433:23
The "Multilateralverse": What Multilateral firms do for development, and how you can join them.
Feb 27, 202431:04
To the bankers: Better community-based savings and financing could lead to a more peaceful planet.

To the bankers: Better community-based savings and financing could lead to a more peaceful planet.

2024 is turning out to be deadly for many. Expanding war in the Middle East, the war of attrition continues in Ukraine, and now gangs are trying over run Ecuador. How do we answer the question "Why is this happening"? To some degree the answer lies in understanding why young men, and they are mostly men, are willing to enter into high risk deadly combat in the first place. What's drawing recruits into gangs and mercenary armies? Kate Schecter reminds us that a lack of opportunities at the community level is a big factor. While mercenaries promise cash for your life, community development can offer better opportunities that lead to savings for your future. Check out this conversation about the role of better finance for a more peaceful planet.

Kate Schecter, Ph.D., joined World Neighbors as the President and CEO in June of 2014.  World Neighbors is a 71 year old international development organization that works with rural isolated communities to help find solutions to permanently lift these communities out of poverty.  Dr. Schecter is responsible for managing World Neighbors’ programs and operations in 14 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  In her previous position, she worked for the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) for 14 years.  As a Senior Program Officer at AIHA, she had responsibility for managing health partnerships throughout Eurasia and Central and Eastern Europe.  She worked with over 35 partnerships addressing primary healthcare, chronic disease management, hospital management, maternal/child health, Tuberculosis, blood safety and HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Schecter holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and an M.A. in Soviet Studies from Harvard University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Board of Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. from 2010 to 2018.

Follow Dr. Bob on "X":  ⁠@ProfessorHuish

Follow GDP on Instagram: @globaldevelopmentprimer

Feb 20, 202429:18
Think getting your grandparents connected to new technology is tricky? Try 3.7 billion people. Digitalization and International Development.

Think getting your grandparents connected to new technology is tricky? Try 3.7 billion people. Digitalization and International Development.

If you think it's a real chore getting your parents or grandparents connected to new technology? Try 3.7 billion people! That's the digital divide we're facing today on a global scale. Industry wants to see this happen, and as we've seen in the past, there are ethical concerns about getting connected too quickly. Where are governments on this in terms of providing effective aid? Is the development sector missing out? The Canadian Association of International Development Professionals (CAIDP) will be holding a 3 day conference in Ottawa at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. CAIDP Board Member Evan Due will be there, and he will be moderating a panel on the digital divide.

Evan Due is an executive fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, a sessional lecturer at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, and a senior advisor to the China Development Research Foundation in Beijing China.  He has over 30 years of experience in international development cooperation, public policy, international trade, and project management.  He has held positions with the International Development Research Centre of Canada in Singapore and India, Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, New Delhi, and Islamabad, and has served as a consultant to the United Nations and the Government of Sri Lanka.  He represented Canada at the OECD Development Assistance Committee, and in various multilateral forums.  He obtained his doctorate from the University of Sussex, U.K.

Check out CAIDP here: https://www.caidp-rpcdi.ca/

Follow Dr. Bob on "X": ⁠@ProfessorHuish

Feb 13, 202427:58
Special Feature: Why Ukraine Is Running Low On Ammunition & Support on the Bill Kelly Podcast.

Special Feature: Why Ukraine Is Running Low On Ammunition & Support on the Bill Kelly Podcast.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON THE BILL KELLY PODCAST.

Nearly two years into the war in Ukraine, is the west still paying attention, notably the United States? If funding or support from Washington wanes, will Ukraine be able to win a war of attrition against Russia? For this special issue of GDP, Dr. Bob is interviewed by legendary radio personality, Bill Kelly. Bob and Bill get down the brass tacks of what's needed in Ukraine, and why this matters for global stability

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON THE BILL KELLY PODCAST.

Bill Kelly is born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, has a prolific background in media. He has five decades of broadcast experience, including but not limited to hosting a daily, nationally broadcast, interactive political talk show for five years on CHTV, hosting a leading news talk radio show on CHML from 1988-1997 and working as a stadium announcer for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for 13 seasons.

Bill also held a council seat in Hamilton for 9 years from 1997-2005, and is a graduate of Mohawk College where he founded Mohawk’s first student radio network. He was honored as one of Mohawk College’s Alumni of Distinction. Now, he’s working hosting his new podcast where he’ll get to dive more in depth into all the topics he knows and loves.

Follow Bill Kelly on "X": @ThisisBillKelly

Check out the Bill Kelly Podcast here: https://kite.link/the-bill-kelly-podcast

Follow Dr. Bob on "X": @ProfessorHuish

Follow GDP on Instagram: @globaldevelopmentprimer

Feb 06, 202402:58
El miedo en el medio del mundo: Gang Violence Takes Ecuador.

El miedo en el medio del mundo: Gang Violence Takes Ecuador.

Ecuador has tumbled into a state of fear and peril. In early January 2024 armed men stormed a popular evening television show in Guayaquil. It was a brazen visualization of growing gang violence across the country. Under state of emergency, Ecuador is now facing declared internal conflict. Why? In part due to the changing geography of narco-trafficking in the region, in part due to economic instability and increasing poverty across the country, and in part due to broader global economic trends. Maria Gabriela Palacio Ludeña joins us to bring some clarity to the crisis, and to explain why this is occurring and what we need to consider to bring Ecuador back from the this grip of fear.


Maria Gabriela Palacio Ludeña is an Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the Latin American Studies Programme - Institute for History. She contributes to the programmes BA International Studies and MA International Relations. She teaches courses on a variety of topics such as (global and regional) political economy, social policy, nation-building processes in Latin America, neoliberalism, informality and labour segregation, and social reproduction. Her courses engage in dialogue with various literature streams, namely political economy, anthropology of the state, and development studies. While her work primarily focuses on the Latin American region, she welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with students whose research focuses on other regions but deal with issues of social exclusion, inequality, poverty, labour economics, gender and queer methodologies and/or social policy.


Follow Maria Gabriela on X: @palaciomg

Follow Dr. Bob on X: @ProfessorHuish

Jan 30, 202429:33
So you want to work in Global Development? Here's how.

So you want to work in Global Development? Here's how.

So you want a career in Global Development? You asked your professor about what to do next, and their response was underwhelming? A lot of that going around. This is why Gretchen Villegas is the person to talk to. In this interview with GDP, Gretchen shares some powerful advice on how to get involved in global development. Sharing stories of her own career, Gretchen spells out why more students should be interested in a career in global development, and how to get there. Not only is career in global development rewarding, it is needed now more than ever before.

Gretchen Villegas is a 25+ year veteran global development professional specializing in mission-driven innovative program designs through partnership development, impact scaling, and revenue growth.  Gretchen has professional experience working in collaboration with both non-profit and for-profit partners in the implementation of local country programs that support vulnerable communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia, with a portfolio totaling over 320M+.

Gretchen has wide-ranging expertise in executive level leadership of global program portfolio effectiveness through evidence and data, intentional program design to optimize impacts for vulnerable children and their families, rigorous research to learn and adapt in program implementation, and revenue strategies to scale and enhance reach of programmatic initiatives.

She has secured funding and implemented projects for Institutional donors including the United States Agency for International Development and the United States Department of Agriculture, Foundations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MasterCard Foundation and worked closely with private sector partners General Mills, Cargill Animal Nutrition and Danone to name a few.  

Gretchen is fully bi-lingual in Spanish and a collaborative leader, skilled facilitator, and team builder.  She has a proven track record of bringing together consortiums of stakeholders for social impacts, including the private sector, to achieve common goals. She is driven by data and analytics and believes that evidence-based programming and for-profit partnership is essential for effective and sustainable development in the long-term.


Follow Dr. Bob on X: @ProfessorHuish

Follow GDP on Instagram: @GlobalDevelopmentPrimer

Jan 23, 202428:40
Scaling Up Development: Why it is mission critical.

Scaling Up Development: Why it is mission critical.

Today, nearly one billion people lack electricity, over three billion lack clean water, and 750 million lack basic literacy skills. Many of these challenges could be solved with existing solutions, and technology enables us to reach the last mile like never before. Yet, few solutions attain the necessary scale to match the size of these challenges. Scaling Up Development Impact  is written by Isabel Guererro, Siddhant Gokhale, and Jossie Fahsbender. In this interview with GDP, Isabel and Siddhant offer some important takeaways as to why scaling up development is "mission criticall".

Isabel Guerrero is an economist, a psychoanalyst, and the co-founder of Imago Global Grassroots, which helps organizations scale up. Since 2014 she has taught the course on "Scaling Up and Systems Change for Development Impact" at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, Isabel worked for 30 years at the World Bank, including five years as Vice-President for the South Asia region. She holds a master's degree from the London School of Economics and graduated from the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.

Siddhant Gokhale is a knowledge manager at Imago Global Grassroots, where he built the knowledge function. He co-authored a recent theoretical paper on the Adaptive Evaluation methodology and advises Imago's evaluation projects. He previously worked at the Behavioral Development Lab, establishing J-PAL South Asia's first project in the state of Goa. He holds a master's degree in public administration and international development from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MA in economics from Columbia University.

Check out Scaling Up Development Impact Here. (https://bit.ly/imagoggbook)

Follow Dr. Bob On X: ⁠@ProfessorHuish

Jan 16, 202425:56
The Scarcest Resource in the Middle East is Trust: How Water Management Could be a building block towards peace.

The Scarcest Resource in the Middle East is Trust: How Water Management Could be a building block towards peace.

Nov 02, 202327:43
A burger with a side order of methane: The Staggering Consequences of Animal Industrial Agriculture
Oct 24, 202322:09
Why Humanitarian Hurt is Being Used as a Military Tactic in Gaza.

Why Humanitarian Hurt is Being Used as a Military Tactic in Gaza.

War is raging in The Gaza Strip. As Israel prepares for a ground invasion, Hamas holds dozens of prisoners, and now with knowledge that U.S. citizens are in the mix, it all spells disaster for Gaza. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people under a heavy blockade on movement and basic resources, are now facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in this conflict.

The simple question is: "Why"? Why blockade water, energy, bread, and ice, when the worry is military rockets? Why restrict movement so strictly, when trade routes for weapons are clearly succeeding in getting weaponry into Gaza to use against Israel. It makes no sense as to why humanitarian hurt is being used a military tactic. To help us unpack this, we have Rida Abu Rass joining use from Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Rida Abu Rass is a PhD candidate at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, born in Tayibe, in the ‘Triangle’ area near the West Bank, and raised in Jaffa and Tel Aviv. He is interested in the factors that facilitate and obstruct political mobilization among ethnopolitical movements, with an emphasis on the Palestinian community within Israel. Rida has also taught and written about the political history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on Middle East politics, social movements, democratization and nationalism. Before coming to Queen’s, he worked as a data coordinator at B’Tselem, Israel’s leading human rights organization. In his spare time, he writes op-eds, and he blogs.


Follow Rida on X( Twitter): @ridaaburass

Follow Dr. Bob On X (Twitter): @ProfessorHuish

Oct 17, 202324:12
The Deep Digital Divide & Frugal Innovation

The Deep Digital Divide & Frugal Innovation

Almost 1/3 of the 8 billion people on this planet have never used the internet. Landlocked countries, conflict zones and remote islands have the highest rates of people who have never "logged on". This is a problem that goes beyond being a new face of inequality. As Anir Chowdhury says, the internet "is like oxygen"as those who have it, exist through it. But for those who do not have access or have low-literacy skills in technology the opportunities for exploitation, deception, and misinformation are enormous. Through "frugal innovation" Bangladesh's a2i programme plans to push back against the threats of the digital divide. Anir Chowdhury joins us from Dhaka.

Anir Chowdhury is the Policy Advisor of the a2i Programmme of the ICT Division and the Cabinet Division of the Government of Bangladesh supported by the UNDP. In this capacity, he leads the formation of a whole-of-society innovation ecosystem in Bangladesh through massive technology deployment, extensive capacity development, integrated policy formulation, whole-of-government institutional reform, and an Innovation Fund. His work on innovation in public service has developed interesting and replicable models of service delivery decentralization, public-private partnerships, and transformation of a traditional bureaucracy into a forward-looking, citizen-centric service provider.

He is a regular speaker in international conferences on public service innovation and reform, digital financial inclusion, data driven policy making, civil registration and digital identity management, SDGs, youth and community empowerment, educational transformation, public-private partnerships, and South-South Cooperation. He regularly writes in reputed national and international blogs, journals and publications. 


Follow Dr Bob on "Twitter" : @ProfessorHuish

Oct 10, 202323:49
Striking Today & Voting Tomorrow: How Youth Activists are tackling the climate crisis.

Striking Today & Voting Tomorrow: How Youth Activists are tackling the climate crisis.

Howard Zinn said, "People in all countries need the spirit of disobedience", and that "once they organize and protest and create movements—have a voice no government can suppress". High school students like Iman Mannathukkaren are doing exactly that. Concerned about the the world that they are going to inherit, and ready to talk to the highest offices in the land to demand a carbon-free economy, students are quickly becoming that force that no governments can suppress. So what do they want, and what will they do?
Iman Mannathukkaren is a grade 12 student who is passionate about climate justice. Her articles have appeared in The Wire and American Kahani. She joins GDP this week to share experience as an activist and an organizer for climate justice.
Oct 03, 202317:16
🇰🇵"Kim Jong Gone"? Pursuing human rights and doing research in North Korea. 🇰🇵

🇰🇵"Kim Jong Gone"? Pursuing human rights and doing research in North Korea. 🇰🇵

In April 2020 rumour spread like wildfire that Kim Jong Un died. Greg Scarlatoiu and Dr. Bob Huish didn't believe it. They were right. So how did the world get this story so wrong? In this episode of GDP, Dr. Bob chats with Greg Scarlatoiu, the Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in Washington, D.C., about the challenges of doing research in North Korea.
Greg Scarlatoiu has coordinated 28 HRNK publications addressing North Korea’s human rights situation and the operation of its regime.
Mr. Scarlatoiu is vice president of the executive board of the International Council on Korean Studies (ICKS). For fifteen years, Scarlatoiu has authored and broadcast the weekly Korean language ‘Scarlatoiu Column’ to North Korea for Radio Free Asia. A seasoned lecturer on Korean issues, Scarlatoiu is a frequent commentator for CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and other media organizations.
He has appeared as an expert witness at several Congressional hearings on North Korean human rights.
Mr. Scarlatoiu was awarded the title ‘Citizen of Honor, City of Seoul,’ in January 1999.
Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish
Oct 02, 202332:54
Who is trying to help? The Commitment to Global Development Index.
Sep 26, 202326:58
Development Beyond Brexit: Furthering Global Britain in East Africa.

Development Beyond Brexit: Furthering Global Britain in East Africa.

Did the bedlam of Brexit impact the United Kingdom as a global partner and donor? Is Russia and China pushing the UK out of Africa? Are partner nations in Africa rejecting the "assistance" from former colonial powers? Looking at the changing dynamics in East Africa, Simon Rynn and Michael Jones take a deep dive into the subject with their recent policy paper Furthering Global Britain? Reviewing the Foreign Policy Effect of UK Engagement in East Africa - Occasional Paper. In this discussion we learn that British foreign policy is struggling to keep up with changes underway in East Africa, but they're not out of the game, yet. Rynn and Jones offer advice on how Britain can retune its foreign policy to be a strong player in the region.

Simon Rynn is Senior Research Fellow for Africa at the International Security Studies department at RUSI. His experience covers conflict prevention and peacebuilding, stabilisation, security and justice, de-mining, humanitarian, governance and small arms control. 

Michael is a Research Fellow in the Terrorism and Conflict team examining political violence, governance by non/pseudo-state armed groups, and the convergence of violent extremism and insurgent militancy in East and sub-Saharan Africa. 


Follow Dr. Bob on "Twitter"

Sep 19, 202332:32
Why The Vegas Buffet, Isn't The Way: Digging into the hunger project.
Sep 12, 202327:04
Ponying up for the New Green Industrial Age

Ponying up for the New Green Industrial Age

The spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank are underway. Climate change adaptation is a top concern, and many wonder whether or not emerging economies can be part of the New Green Industrial Age. Technology, resources and political will exist. But do the finances? Will green technology remain a reserved commodity for affluent nations? Is it possible to change over millions of two-stroke Tuk-Tuks to emission free vehicles. None of it will happen without the right economic model behind. Oliver Schwank joins us this week to talk about how we can actually make that possible.

Oliver Schwank is a senior economist in the Financing for Sustainable Development Office of the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and one of the authors of the 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Bridging the Finance Divide. He is part of the policy analysis team that leads the substantive follow-up to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and focuses on debt sustainability and integrated financing frameworks. Prior to his current role, he held various positions in the Secretariat of the United Nations, including as part of the writing team of the World Economic and Social Survey, a flagship UN publication, and in the Office of the Special Advisor on Africa. He also was a consultant with UNIDO and a lecturer in development economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and at the University of Vienna. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. 


Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

Apr 20, 202324:03
What we need to do to avoid the next Global Pandemic.
Apr 06, 202324:43
The Foggy Crystal Ball: Global Development by 2050

The Foggy Crystal Ball: Global Development by 2050

It's hard to predict what will happen next week, let alone more than 25 years down the road. Nevertheless a new report has come out from the Centre for Global Development titled: Scenarios for Future Global Growth to 2050. In it, there are many positive calls made. Severe poverty may disappear as we currently know it and measure it. Military spending may well be exhausted, and rich country growth will slow down. What can we make of these global predictions and trends? What can be said about how the future will unfold at the local level? Countries will continue to submerge into the sea. The poles will get warmer, and urban centres may face punishing extremes from a changing climate. To help us navigate this foggy crystal ball, is Charles Kenny.


Charles Kenny is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. His current work focuses on global economic prospects, gender and development, and development finance. He is the author of the books “The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease,” "Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding," “The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Good for the West,” and “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought.” He has been a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine and a regular contributor to Business Week magazine. Kenny was previously at the World Bank, where his assignments included coordinating work on governance and anticorruption in infrastructure and natural resources, and managing a number of investment and technical assistance projects covering telecommunications and the Internet.


Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

Mar 28, 202323:47
Men Lead and Women Deliver: Global Health's Glass Ceiling.

Men Lead and Women Deliver: Global Health's Glass Ceiling.

During the COVID-19 pandemic women health care leaders stood out. Jurisdictions with women as elected leaders or top public health policy experts seemed to manage the challenges of the pandemic a bit better, and with a bit more public trust. Well before the pandemic, in parts of rural India communities that train Dalit women as community health workers often experienced dramatic improvements in health outcomes, all the while challenging rigid gender norms. We know that gender equity in health delivery, policy and management only brings better outcomes. Yet, the glass ceiling remains, and is seemingly reinforced. In countries where more than half the medical students are women, the majority of specialists remain men. In other countries women who enter the health professions as nurses stay planted as such while men ascend to leadership roles. For Ann Keeling this needs to change. Listen to this episode of GDP where she discusses why we'd all benefit from taking gender equity seriously in global health.

Ann Keeling is Women in Global Health’s Senior Fellow, is a British citizen whose 40-year career in global health and social development has included posts in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Belgium, the USA, and her home country, the UK. She held the post of Head of Gender Equality Policy with the UK Government and is currently the Chair of the NGO Age International and Senior Fellow of Women in Global Health. Ann Keeling has been CEO of two global health NGOs, was UNFPA Country Representative Pakistan, and Director Commonwealth Secretariat leading on Health, Education, and Gender. Between 2008 and 2012 she was Chief Executive Officer of the International Diabetes Federation, founded the NCD (Non-Communicable Diseases) Alliance, and as Chair, led the successful campaign for the 2011 UN High-Level Summit on NCDs. Ann Keeling spent 9 years in Pakistan with the British Council, DFID, and UNDP working on human development and women’s rights. She also held senior posts with the Governments of Papua New Guinea and Pakistan. She studied at Oxford University UK, Ann Arbor University USA, and in 1981, at the People’s University in Beijing, China.


Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

Mar 20, 202328:29
Could feminism fend off threats to our democracies? You better believe it can.

Could feminism fend off threats to our democracies? You better believe it can.

Many countries around the world are growing deeply concerned about the health and well being of their democracies.  China's foreign interference in elections is is a major concern at the moment for Canada, as it has been to New Zealand.  But foreign governments are not necessarily the greatest to the health of democracies.  In fact, one of the greatest threats to democratic well being may be a lack of feminism.  On this international women's day, Dr. Gabrielle Bardall takes us through the concerns and threats that arise when democracies shrug feminism.  She also makes the case the democracies are best prepared for foreign threats and interference when they embrace feminist principles.  Check out this episode of GDP to learn more.  

An educator, advisor and activist, Dr. Bardall has worked to advance democracy and human rights in over 60 countries worldwide over the past two decades. She has advised and trained diplomats, legislators and civil servants from Parliament Hill to Capitol Hill. Recognizing that "democracy" as we know it and support it around the world often replicates structures of oppression, she started her own consulting firm in 2019, Herizon Democracy, to bring feminist vision to international democracy assistance. She has advised the US National Security Council, State Department and NATO on feminist approaches to democracy support and offered testimony to Canada's Parliament. Bardall has worked with leading organizations in realizing this vison, including numerous UN agencies and international non-profits. A prolific author and public speaker, she holds degrees from McGill University (BA), Sciences-Po Paris (MA) and l’Université de Montreal (PhD). She received the American Political Science Association’s Congressional Fellowship and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Doctoral Scholarship for her work in comparative democratization. Dr. Bardall lives on the South Shore of Nova Scotia with her husband and toddler twins.


Visit Dr. Bardall at Herizon Democracy.

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish

Mar 08, 202327:40
Leaning into Uncomfortable Spaces: Strategies for dealing with Permacrisis

Leaning into Uncomfortable Spaces: Strategies for dealing with Permacrisis

"Permacrisis" was declared word of the year by Collins English Dictionary.  The idea is that state of crisis lingers on despite society's best efforts to wish it weren't there.  War, climate change, economic crisis, and global inequality are with us.  How do we begin to understand what we're up against?  Do we pursue learning in order to find solutions?  Do we attempt to learn new skills to adapt?  Or do approach these heavy topics with the intent to take care of our selves, especially our own emotional needs?  In this episode of GDP Solla Zophoniasdottir joins us to talk about ways to lean into the permacrisis, so that we can adapt, we can improve, and we can face challenges with bravery and compassion.  Check out this episode where Dr. Bob shares some of his stories handling crisis as a firefighter - even when calls come in during a podcast recording.  

Solla Zophoniasdottir is the Learning Services Orchestrator at EIT Climate-KIC where she is responsible for the strategic development of learning and capability building activities across the organization.

Over the past 15 years, Solla has worked to expand and facilitate the learning processes of organisations, with a focus on skill building and shifting mindsets to see transformation in the climate space. She is an expert in organizational change management, working to create change both within and across different cultures. She is passionate about systems change and innovation and working with practitioners who have the power to make transformational change on some of our world’s biggest challenges.

Solla holds a MSc in Strategic Leadership towards sustainability and a BA in in Leadership and process management. In addition, she has accreditation in Organization & Relationship systems coaching.

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish

Feb 28, 202328:35
Ay-Ay-Ay, an episode on AI: How ChatGpt will impact teaching, learning, development work, and even podcasts.

Ay-Ay-Ay, an episode on AI: How ChatGpt will impact teaching, learning, development work, and even podcasts.

We promise that this podcast write up is in fact written by a human being.  But we can't say the same about this episode of GDP itself.  In this episode we let ChatGpt do some of the work by scripting dialogue, and then we ask it to write an essay about climate change and climate justice.  With us this week is Dr. Becca Babcock and Dr. Anders Hayden both from Dalhousie University.  Dr. Babcock provides some reflection on the use of AI, and how she has managed to go as far as using it as a teaching tool in her classes.  Dr. Hayden evaluates a ChatGpt essay and even gives it a grade.  It's an episode for educators, students, and development practitioners who fear that AI may take their jobs.  Worry not, as our guests this week discuss, AI remains a tool rather than a certain path of cyborgs taking over the planet.

Dr. Becca Babcock is the Assistant Dean of Student Matters in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Dalhousie University, where she also teaches writing. She has published two books: a novel, One Who Has Been Here Before (Vagrant Press/Nimbus Publishing, 2021) and a short story cycle, Every Second Weekend (Blaurock Press, 2011). Her forthcoming novel, Some There Are Fearless (Vagrant Press/Nimbus Publishing) is due this April.

Dr. Anders Hayden is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University, with an emphasis on environmental politics. He is particularly interested in the concept of sufficiency and related post-growth ideas and initiatives. This interest has led him to examine issues such as sustainable consumption, work-time reduction, and the political and policy impacts of alternative measures of wellbeing and prosperity (“beyond GDP” measurement) in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Bhutan. He is the author of When Green Growth Is Not Enough: Climate Change, Ecological Modernization, and Sufficiency (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014) and Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet: Work Time, Consumption & Ecology (Zed Books / Between the Lines, 1999). He is the co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Global Sustainability Governance (Routledge, 2020) and Towards Sustainable Well-Being: Moving beyond GDP in Canada and the World (University of Toronto Press, 2022).

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Feb 21, 202329:10
Is it Business as Usual? Why Private Partnerships continue to be a cornerstone of Global Development.

Is it Business as Usual? Why Private Partnerships continue to be a cornerstone of Global Development.

If you've studied global development, you probably didn't get too far into the curriculum before learning about how private partnerships in development have led to ruin more than once.  Oil companies, mining companies, water companies, chemical companies and others have all been called out on human rights abuses.  Yet, the private sector remains a major player in global development.  Gina Volynsky suggests that it is because the private sector has evolved into a broader ecosystem than in the past.  Now with more binding accountability for ecological and human impact, private sector partnerships continue to emerge in difficult circumstances, but with the ability to learn and improve?  Or is there a risk for repeated mistakes of the past? And what about the concept of the private sector in China's development model? Listen here, and you be the judge.

Gina Volynsky is a senior director of private sector practice with PACT.  She has over 25 years of experience in international development, including 14 years of living and working in emerging economies. She has dedicated much of her career to collaborating with the private sector to address development challenges, which included heading a team working for USAID on private-sector engagement, and designing and managing multi-country programs for the UNDP that created the infrastructure to partner with multinationals. While at the World Bank she served as country manager for MIGA, which provides political risk insurance to companies that invest in emerging economies. She set up and managed business development divisions for Crown Agents and CARANA. She has also worked directly in the private sector, running her own import-export company, and served as director of marketing for a U.S.-based financial services company.

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Feb 14, 202332:37
When the World Went Upside down: A Conversation with Luis Martínez-Fernández

When the World Went Upside down: A Conversation with Luis Martínez-Fernández

Journalists, it’s often said, write the first drafts of history because they are the first recorders and commentators of current events and social realities.  And the last couple of years have been a meaty first draft.  A global pandemic, a rise in authoritarianism, economic chaos, war in Europe, and now Artificial Intelligence that will write essays for you, and probably one day curate podcasts.  Has the world gone upside?  Will it right itself?  Instead of searching fro the prolific crystal ball, Dr. Luis Martínez-Fernández suggests that we get the historians involved to understand how broader social processes connect these issues, and how crises have been handled in the past.  Can the perspective of history seriously work to guide societies out of crisis and chaos?  Tune in to find out.

In When the World Turned Upside Down: Politics, Culture and the Unimaginable Events of 2019-2022, award-winning historian and nationally syndicated columnist Luis Martínez-Fernández adeptly examines current U.S. and worldwide events from the intersection of opinion journalism, chronicling, and historical writing. This rare combination of methods and approaches offers readers unique insights on how history sheds light on contemporary matters and how our present preoccupations shape the way we look at and understand the past. The book, thus, invites readers into a dialogue between past and present, and at times, the near future.

Dr. Luis Martínez-Fernández is a historian, university professor, author, consultant, and public speaker, whose fields of expertise include Latin America, the Caribbean, education, and Latino/Hispanic politics, culture, and society.

Born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Lima, Peru and San Juan, Puerto Rico, he holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from the University of Puerto Rico and a Ph.D. in History from Duke University.

Dr. Martínez-Fernández has vast experience as consultant in the areas of education, diversity, transcultural communications, outreach, media, and publishing.

A Pegasus Professor of History at the University of Central Florida since 2004, he is recognized as one of the most prolific and influential scholars in the field of Caribbean history. His publications include articles in Cuban Studies, Slavery and Abolition, Latin American Research Review, The Americas, Caribbean Studies, and in numerous edited volumes.

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Feb 07, 202326:58
Tell me a story: The Power & Purpose of Memoirs.

Tell me a story: The Power & Purpose of Memoirs.

The power of stories in global development cannot be under-estimated.  Chronicling experiences, encounters and adventures can inspire others to journey, engage and do the same.  Rich stories can build relations and understanding in rich and dynamic ways.  Telling stories comes with great power and responsibility.  Stereotypes can be forged, speaking on behalf of others leads to patriarchy, and sensationalism can create harmful representations of the land and life of peoples and cultures.  These issues matter to Nancy Edwards.  Having established an impressive career in global health and nursing, Dr. Edwards is now taking the time to explore the power and purpose of memoirs.  Check out this episode of GDP to hear her thoughts and the advice she offers others hoping to chronicle their journeys.

Nancy Edwards is a Distinguished Professor and Professor Emeritus, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa.  Dr. Edwards obtained her undergraduate nursing degree from the University of Windsor and completed graduate studies in epidemiology at McMaster University and McGill University. She is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Dr. Edwards’ professional interests are in the fields of public and population health. She has worked in global health for most of her career focusing on capacity building, the delivery of maternal and child health programs, reducing health inequities, and implementation research.  She has mentored many colleagues, led global health program delivery and research initiatives on four continents, and shaped strategic directions for global health during her tenure as a Scientific Director with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In both Canada and abroad, Nancy has drawn on her foundational global health learning roots in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where she worked as a community health nurse and program evaluator for five years.  Nancy captures these experiences in her book Not One, Not Even One: A Memoir of Life-altering Experiences in Sierra Leone, West Africa.  Her book was released by FriesenPress earlier this year (www.nancyedwards.ca).


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Jan 31, 202327:53
The Last Line of Defence: The World Bank's Inspection Panel.

The Last Line of Defence: The World Bank's Inspection Panel.

When a World Bank Development project gets rolling, people's lives will be impacted. Sometimes for the better?  Sometimes for the worse.  If you are a person living in a project impacted community, and you feel that your life will worsen, what can you do?  Protest? Standby and watch?  Leave your home?  These are all options, but another key option is to take your concerns to the highest levels of the World Bank.  Sometimes forgotten in many international development studies courses, the World Bank's Inspection Panel is an arm's length body that will hear complaints, look over the details, and take it to the top brass in the World Bank.  How do negatively impacted peoples get a hold of the panel?  Is there accountability?  Can the panel put the brakes on a potentially harmful project?  Listen to this episode of GDP where Ramanie Kunanayagam, the Panel Chair of the World Bank Inspection Panel, takes us through the details.  

Ramanie Kunanayagam, is a Sri Lankan-born Australian citizen, was appointed to the Inspection Panel on December 16, 2018, and became Panel Chair on January 1, 2022. She brings to the Panel three decades of experience across diverse geopolitical and multicultural environments in the private and public sectors.

Ms. Kunanayagam spent more than 10 years doing fieldwork in a remote part of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. She has held leadership positions in sustainability in both the private sector (working for two FTSE 10 companies) and the nonprofit sector. Most recently before joining the Panel she was the Global Head for Social Performance and Human Rights for BG Group. She has been a member of the boards of two international non-profit development organizations—RESOLVE and the Institute of Human Rights and Business.


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Jan 24, 202325:58
It's like a Fellini Film: Dissent In & Exodus Out Of Cuba.

It's like a Fellini Film: Dissent In & Exodus Out Of Cuba.

Frederico Fellini films are a mix of "memory, dreams, fantasy and desire" that create idiosyncratic interpretations of society.  If you're have any ties to, or interests in, Cuba, it might feel like you're in a Fellini script.  Cuba entered the pandemic on the front foot.  Sending its own health care workers around the world to assist with COVID-19 care, and then exporting its domestically engineered vaccines abroad, it seemed like Cuba was THE GLOBAL HEALTH POWER.  Now at the beginning of 2023, roughly 300,000 people have left the island (many between the ages of 26 - 42).  The domestic supply chain is in chaos, with everything from foods to medicines in short supply.  And COVID-19 made its way into the island claiming thousands of lives, while the country continues to wrestle with the challenges of one of the longest embargoes in history.  Protests have been common in Cuba during the pandemic, and more recently Cuba has reaffirmed its loyalty to Vladimir Putin.

What in the world is going on in Cuba?  Helping us look into the cloudy crystal ball is Joseph Scarpaci, a seasoned scholar and analyst of Cuban politics, culture and society.  In this season premiere episode, we take a deep dive into Cuba's current turmoil.

Dr. Joseph L. Scarpaci, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Cuban Culture and Economy, has been involved with cultural and educational travel to Cuba since 1991. Since then, he introduced more than 500 students, faculty, alumni, and interested travelers to the island. He aims to show travelers the many nuances of Cuban culture and economy. He is the author of three books and dozens of articles about Cuba. These include Cuban Landscapes: Heritage, Memory and Place (with Cuban geographer Dr. Armando Portela, New York: Guilford, 2009); Plazas & Barrios: Heritage Tourism and Globalization in the Latin American Centro Histórico(University of Arizona Press, 2005)



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Jan 17, 202325:28
Inclusive Disability Relief in Moldova: A Commitment to Action

Inclusive Disability Relief in Moldova: A Commitment to Action

Nov 08, 202219:39
Learning from the Afterlife of Genocide: Chronicles of Guatemala.

Learning from the Afterlife of Genocide: Chronicles of Guatemala.

The Guatemalan genocide was the systematic murder of Maya civilians during the government rule in the 1970s and 1980s.  Some 200,000 lives were taken by military and paramilitary operations during this era, all the while the government denied it was occurring. Governments are notoriously lousy at hiding secrets forever, and the military dictatorship in Guatemala was no exception.  In 2005 an abandoned room was discovered by Guatemala's human rights office.  In it was a vast collection of police records, reports and other documents that revealed the systemic implementation of murder and violence against Maya people by the government. A "staggering discovery" of records that proudly documented abuse and murder, this collection of documents was one of the most revealing collections of documents from Guatemala's dirty war.  

The police archive revealed that not only was genocide carefully planned and systemically executed, but it was proudly recorded!  Dr. Catherine Nolin's research and teaching focuses on learning from the afterlife of those who were targeted during the genocide.  Her research digs into the deeper significance of the genocide and how it was recorded.  And, she even takes her students and colleagues on field trips to Guatemala to engage in this historic landscape of violence first hand.  In this conversation, she outlines her work.

Catherine Nolin is a Professor of Geography and Chair of the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UNBC (newly re-named in April 2021). In July 2020, she was honoured to Chair the Conference of Latin American Geography (CLAG)organization. CLAG is the premier organization for geographers engaging in research in Latin America and the Caribbean and works to foster research, education, and service related to Latin American geographical studies. She considers herself a long-time insurgent researcher and social justice advocate, including more than 25 years grappling with the afterlives of the Guatemalan genocides.

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Oct 27, 202224:25
Any is too much: How the Out of the Shadows Index can be used to prevent child exploitation around.
Oct 12, 202228:55
Minding The Renter Wealth Equity Gap.
Oct 04, 202218:08
Innovate like your life depends on it...because it does.

Innovate like your life depends on it...because it does.

A 17-year old student from Ukraine who may be able to put the land mine business out of business.  A video game that connects players to solving pressing climate change challenges.  And a robotic habitat for bees.  These are 3 stories of innovations that are unfolding not just so people can thrive, but so they can thrive.  In this episode of GDP, broadcast live from the CGI 2022 meeting in New York City alongside the UNGA, we meet 3 innovators who's ideas put into action may make a world of difference.  Praise aside, these innovators show how a commitment to be present to a problem can lead into an executable action.  It's a lesson for students, teachers, and policy makers alike on how to beat "development anxiety" and put it into commitments to action.

Igor Klymenko studies Physical and Mathematical sciences at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Igor is passionate about raising awareness of, and solving, the global landmine problem.

Sankari Studies is  a team of game developers, ecopreneurs, creatives, dreamers, technologists, solutionists, visionaries, storytellers, rebels, disruptors, and environmentalists, who have rallied to take a stand to fight the demise of our planet and pull it back from the brink of destruction.

Saar Safra is a tech-geek, a serial entrepreneur, and CEO of Beewise


Learn more about Igor Klymenko's Anti-mine quad copter here:  

Learn more about Katoa the Game here from Sankari Studios.

Learn more about Beewise here.

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#CGI2022

Sep 28, 202234:21
The Clinton Global Initiative returns to a world with more challenges than ever before.
Sep 22, 202227:30
We Say No! How a feminist development organization in Sierra Leone is turning the Development Industry on its head.

We Say No! How a feminist development organization in Sierra Leone is turning the Development Industry on its head.

Imagine this.  A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) founded in a post-conflict country in Western Africa that offers assistance to the Global North.  And what if that same NGO refuses funds from those who disagree with its feminist mandate, and yet continues to thrive?  And what if this organization, Purposeful - based in Sierra Leone, is a leading example of how to turn the development industry right around.  In Sierra Leone Chernor Bah the Co-CEO of Purposeful joins GDP this week to explain exactly how a commitment to values, respect of morals, and belief in the goal of empowering girls is an approach to development that is so sorely needed.  For any development practitioner, student, or scholar, you will not want to miss this conversation.  

Chernor Bah is a feminist leader, activist, and champion who works in Sierra Leone and around the world to empower girls and young people. As the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Purposeful- the first Africa-rooted global feminist hub for girls activism - he dedicates his time to building power and amplifying  the voices of girls and young women while promoting distribution of  unrestricted funds to girls and feminist activists in Sierra Leone and over 150 countries around the world. He’s a leading voice of reform and decolonisation of the global development industry.  A lifelong champion for human rights, at age 15, Chernor founded and led the the Children’s Forum Network  -a mass movement of children who mobilized to demand their voices be included in peace and reconciliation efforts after Sierra Leone’s civil war. Globally recognized for his activism and expertise on girls, global education and youth rights, he has been appointed numerous times by the United Nations Secretary-General and is a frequent speaker and advisor at high-level platforms including the United Nations, The European Union, the World Bank, and at major universities around the world. His writings have appeared in the Lancet, the New York Times, the Guardian, Africa is a Country, DEVEX, and several other influential platforms.

Learn more about Purposeful here.

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Sep 06, 202222:31
Possibility in a World Hungry for Hope: The 2022 Clinton Global Initiative.

Possibility in a World Hungry for Hope: The 2022 Clinton Global Initiative.

Great ideas can be contagious.  But they need networks, validation, and times mentorship.  For the first time since 2016, the Clinton Global Initiative is coming back to New York alongside the United Nations General Assembly to bring together established and emerging leaders from government, business and philanthropy to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges.  From war in Ukraine to the global climate crisis, to searching for inclusive economic development coming out of the pandemic.  It is a gathering, both in person and online, that will foster commitments to action to address these issues at local and global levels.  In the words of President Clinton, this event is about bringing diverse partners together to take action and to achieve real results to create a cultural of possibility in a world hungry for hope.  Kevin Thurm, the CEO of the Clinton Foundation joins us to discuss how this initiative works.

Kevin Thurm is the chief executive officer of the Clinton Foundation. He previously served as a senior counselor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he worked with Secretary Sylvia Burwell and HHS senior leadership on a number of cross-cutting strategic initiatives, including continuing implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Prior to that role, Kevin held various leadership positions at Citigroup, including chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel. Before joining Citigroup, Thurm served as the deputy secretary and chief of staff for the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Donna E. Shalala. He received a bachelor’s from Tufts University in 1983; a bachelor’s/master’s from Oxford University in 1986, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989.

Learn more about the Clinton Global Initiative Here.

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Aug 30, 202223:16
The Slow Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance

The Slow Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance

Finish your prescriptions even if you feel well.  Wash your hands.  And get ready for a tough new era of global health: Antimicrobial resistance.  Antibiotics were the greatest heroes of World War 2.  Thanks to this miracle medicine the 2nd world war was the first major conflict where people died of the actual wounds, not of infection.  Praise for antibiotics was so high following World War 2 that it put entire global health literatures of disease prevention and health promotion on the shelf - with the hope that pills would be enough.  And in 2022 we're still overprescribing antibiotic technology from the 1960s and 1970s to people and animals alike.  The consequence?  Bacterium is starting to adapt.  And when it does, as with diseases like tuberculosis, the consequences are horrendous.  Anthony McDonnell is sending a clear warning, that without proper change and action, antimicrobial resistance will impact global health so hard, it will make COVID-19 look like an annoyance.  

Anthony McDonnell is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Global Development (CGD), working to support national decision making and prioritisation of healthcare in Ethiopia through iDSI and as the technical lead for CGD’s working group on Antimicrobial Procurement. Previously, McDonnell led CGD’s work to analyse the COVID-19 vaccine portfolio and a project examining policy interventions to protect the supply chains for pharmaceuticals from COVID-19 induced shocks.

Before joining CGD, McDonnell worked as the Head of Economic Research for the UK’s independent review into antimicrobial resistance (O’Neill Review). Following this, he co-wrote a book with Harvard University Press called Superbugs: An Arms Race against Bacteria. He has also worked as a Senior Health Economist at the University of Oxford studying malaria interventions, and as a research associate at ODI where he led work examining why countries established universal health coverage and how best to get health care to left behind groups.


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Aug 22, 202222:10
Dance, Thrive and Grow: How one community development project in Uganda protects traditional knowledge.

Dance, Thrive and Grow: How one community development project in Uganda protects traditional knowledge.

Aug 15, 202223:50
When a Breadbasket Burns: The Global Food Crisis of 2022

When a Breadbasket Burns: The Global Food Crisis of 2022

People are paying more for food in 2022 - a lot more!  And in countries where food security is frail, access to the basics is going to get harder.  Price spikes are being felt around the world.  In some cases leading to violence, in other cases, triggering famine warnings.  Russia's war in Ukraine is fuelling the crisis first by targeting Ukraine's wheat and sunflower oil producers, and second by disrupting global trade networks.  What should G7 and G20 nations be doing about this?  According to Ian Mitchell, it may be time to go beyond traditional notions of food aid, and to look at a bigger determinant:  Finance.

Ian Mitchell is a senior fellow and the director of development cooperation in Europe at the Center for Global Development. He leads CGD’s work in Europe on how governments’ policies accelerate or inhibit development and poverty reduction—considering both the effectiveness of aid and policies beyond aid including trade, migration, environment, and security. He is also an associate fellow at Chatham House and at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Mitchell has expertise in the economics and developmental impact of including on trade, agriculture, and policy development in the EU and G20. He leads the annual Commitment to Development Index (CDI) and the Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA). Recently, he has developed new measures of how agriculture and trade policies affect lower income countries; identified new metrics of aid effectiveness; and developed new approaches to the UK’s development policy post-Brexit.

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Aug 08, 202223:30
Working in Exile: How development practitioners will get the job done in the post-pandemic world.
Jun 13, 202222:05
Hiding in Plain Sight: Why Savings and Credit are Still Essential to Crushing Poverty.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Why Savings and Credit are Still Essential to Crushing Poverty.

Deep poverty is increasing.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic is making more people poorer - especially those who are already experiencing poverty.  Some estimates suggest that COVID-19 wiped out the global gains on poverty alleviation in the three to four years before the pandemic.  Knowing this?  Now what?  How can development practitioners begin to address this challenge?  According to Kate Schecter, one of the key components may be more obvious than we think:  "saving money".  Check out this episode of GDP to learn more about her ideas and approach.  

Kate Schecter, Ph.D., joined World Neighbors as the President and CEO in June of 2014.  World Neighbors is a 71 year old international development organization that works with rural isolated communities to help find solutions to permanently lift these communities out of poverty.  Dr. Schecter is responsible for managing World Neighbors’ programs and operations in 14 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  In her previous position, she worked for the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) for 14 years.  As a Senior Program Officer at AIHA, she had responsibility for managing health partnerships throughout Eurasia and Central and Eastern Europe.  She worked with over 35 partnerships addressing primary healthcare, chronic disease management, hospital management, maternal/child health, Tuberculosis, blood safety and HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Schecter holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and an M.A. in Soviet Studies from Harvard University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Board of Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. from 2010 to 2018.

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May 24, 202226:58
Terrorism a thing of the past? Not so fast!
May 11, 202231:21
Relief Chief: A discussion on the new paradigm of humanitarian assistance.

Relief Chief: A discussion on the new paradigm of humanitarian assistance.

Humanitarian organizations do their jobs well in times of crisis.  Be it crisis born from conflict, famine, climate change, or natural disasters, the humanitarian sector knows how to respond to people's needs when they are in need.  Mark Lowcock suggests that despite this great work on the ground, it almost always takes shape as reactions to crisis, rather than prevention of crisis.  With 35 years of humanitarian experience, Mark Lowcock's forthcoming book "Relief Chief" makes the case that global humanitarian efforts need to work on preventing crisis.  It requires accepting the challenges of a new paradigm of humanitarian emergencies and by ensuring that the needs of those in crisis are heard and responded to with appropriate care and compassion.

Mark's new book is titled "Relief Chief: A Manifesto for Saving Lives in Dire Times.

Mark Lowcock was appointed United Nations Under‑Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in May 2017 and served in that role until June 2021. He was previously Permanent Secretary of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. As one of the most distinguished international public servants, Lowcock has spent more than 35 years leading and managing responses to humanitarian crises across the globe. He has authored opinion articles for The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, Le Monde, CNN, and others. He was twice awarded medals by Queen Elizabeth II for services to international development and public service, including Knighthood in 2017. He is a Visiting Professor of Practice in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and a Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development.

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May 03, 202229:20
The World's Poor will Pay the Highest Price.

The World's Poor will Pay the Highest Price.

"We need global leadership in order to prevent starvation" wrote Masood Ahmed and former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the Financial Times.  COVID-19, and Russia's war in Ukraine have created massive disruptions to the world economy, and it will be world's poor who will pay the highest price.  As the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank commence, Masood Ahmed provides a clarion call to world leaders to say that quick fixes and piecemeal policy will not fix our current global challenges.  What is needed now, more than ever, is a commitment to building trust in global development be it between nations, among development partners, and with local communities.  

Masood Ahmed is president of the Center for Global Development. He joined the Center in January 2017, capping a 35-year career driving economic development policy initiatives relating to debt, aid effectiveness, trade, and global economic prospects at major international institutions including the IMF, World Bank, and DFID.

Ahmed joined CGD from the IMF, where he served for eight years as director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, earning praise from Managing Director Christine Lagarde as a “visionary leader.” In that role, he oversaw the Fund's operations in 32 countries, and managed relationships with key national and regional policy makers and stakeholders. In previous years, he also served as the IMF's director of External Relations, and deputy director of the Policy Development and Review Department.

From 2003-2006, Ahmed served as director general, Policy and International at the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID). In that role, he was responsible for advising UK ministers on development issues and overseeing the UK's relationship with international development institutions such as the World Bank.

Ahmed also worked at the World Bank from 1979-2000 in various managerial and economist positions, rising to become Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. In that role he led the HIPC (heavily indebted poor countries) debt relief initiative, which has to- date brought relief from debt burdens to 36 of the world's poorest nations.

Born and raised in Pakistan, Ahmed moved to London in 1971 to study at the LSE where he obtained a BSc Honors as well as an MSc Econ with distinction.

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Apr 26, 202233:31
Defeating Viruses Through Trust & Compassion: Chronicles from Eswatini.

Defeating Viruses Through Trust & Compassion: Chronicles from Eswatini.

When it comes to addressing global health challenges, handling stigma is essential.  In Eswatini 27% of the population lives with HIV.  Organizations like pact have worked within communities to help achieve the 95 - 95 - 95 goal in Eswatini.  This is to say that 95% of persons with HIV are aware of it, and 95% of them have regular access to medication, and 95% of them are experiencing viral suppression.  Getting to this state requires openness, communication, and trust between public health officials and their communities.  Nosipho Gwebu Storer's work in this building that trust is impressive and a lesson for the world to listen to...especially now with vaccine hesitancy against COVID-19.  The story of public health in Eswatini is one the world needs to hear.

Nosipho Gwebu Storer is Pact's Eswatini Country Director. Nosipho Gwebu Storer has more than 17 years of experience in public health and community development, including in HIV care and treatment programs, psychosocial programming and policy and planning. In addition to serving as Pact's Country Director in Eswatini, Nosipho is also the Chief of Party for the Insika ya Kusasahas project and supporting the Eswatini Ministry of Health with technical assistance, messaging dissemination and deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country. Prior to Pact, Nosipho served as a social worker, leading social work support interventions for community prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programs. She also worked for the Eswatini Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence and ICAP with Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She began her development career working in food security and response programs for areas experiencing severe drought in Eswatini.

Check out the work of Pactworld:https://www.pactworld.org

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish

Apr 11, 202225:06
It is expensive to be poor: Why microfinance and digital banking is needed now more than ever.

It is expensive to be poor: Why microfinance and digital banking is needed now more than ever.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away Atul Tandon was making it on Wall Street.  At 39, Tandon was running one of the world’s largest international banking efforts on Wall Street when he was faced with a serious health crisis. Questioning his purpose, Tandon walked away from a life of wealth and turned to the very poorest in the world, vowing to serve those he left behind.

Tandon has made good on that promise by expanding Opportunity International’s microfinance and digital banking services – and at the height of the pandemic, serving more than 19 million people in 30 countries, developing a partner network of 100+ microfinance institutions in some of the most remote corners of the world - dubbed one of the “best kept nonprofit secrets” by Freakonomics’ Steven Levitt.

Atul Tandon is a global leader known for building, growing, and turning around some of the world’s best-known for-profit and non-profit enterprises. Tandon currently serves as CEO of Opportunity International, a non-profit organization that designs, delivers, and scales innovative financial solutions to help families living in poverty build sustainable livelihoods and access quality education for their children.

Prior to Opportunity International, Tandon founded and served as CEO of the Tandon Institute, which provides strategy, solutions, and staffing to enable social sector enterprises. Before that, Tandon served as the leader of United Way Worldwide’s 41-country International Network, helping build and shape the world’s largest network of community-based charities. Additionally, he oversaw the network’s worldwide corporate relationships and fundraising functions.

Check out Opportunity International:  https://opportunity.org

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Apr 04, 202233:20