My guest on today’s show is a dear friend Michelle Hakata. Michelle is an independent public health communications expert working in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. She is passionate about public health issues relating to sexual and reproductive health rights of women. Michelle has significant experience of working with non-governmental organisations, diaspora groups and the private sector on development, analysing trade and investment flows to Africa and remittances. In this episode Michelle reminisces about her journey as a journalist in Zimbabwe, her work with British Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Business Council and finding her niche as an expert in public health communications👇🏾

👉🏾 Being guilty of pretending there was no elephant in the room and that it was ok to not be paid what she was worth or to be passed over for promotion

👉🏾 How COVID-19 had brought conversations of race into the living room. The impact of subtle and considered racism as opposed to overt racism.

👉🏾 What individuals and organisations can do to be more inclusive

👉🏾 Her work with Citizen’s Health Watch on quality and access to quality healthcare for maternal and reproductive rights of women in Sub-Saharan Africa

👉🏾 Disruption of traditional business models in a post covid world and the role of purpose within business

👉🏾 The role of technology in outreach with marginalised communities and the opportunity for innovation

👉🏾 The importance of Ethics in communications

Memorable quotes from the Podcast: 

👉🏾 It has been heart-warming to see so many people standing shoulder to shoulder on matters of racial inequality. The issues under the spotlight are issues that have been known for a long time. There have been studies/surveys all across the world about racial inequality. Often those who have spoken out about these issues have been vilified, and they’ve been punished and not been given work. So it's not it wasn't a sexy subject to talk about inequality. Many before Black Lives Matter movement quietly kept their heads down. And I must plead guilty myself, we quietly kept our heads down, pretended there was no elephant in the room, pretended we were okay to be paid what we are not worth. And many people pretended it was okay to be passed over for promotion, past of recognition. So this thing really did bring a seismic change. 

👉🏾 I mean, the movement brought issues of racial inequality into our living rooms, issues of racially constructed barriers, issues of institutional racism, for the first time, this was conversation that you could have around the coffee table. Yet, these are issues that people of colour have been living with all their lives, issues that people pretended not to see. I mean, organisations like the police have been called out about racism. But there are many huge corporates, hugely influential non-profit organisations who do not have diversity. Their employment practices will tell you this. The composition of their board of directors will tell you this. How many company's since Black Lives Matter movement looked at their employment records, look at their employment records looked at their diversity, I can assure you that not many have done so. Will the Black Lives Matter movement make a difference? In the short term, maybe yes, maybe one or two people of colour will be appointed to key positions. But in the long term, these companies and these institutions will go back to their usual settings. You know, sadly, there are many companies, many people are comfortable with racism, who are comfortable with the lack of diversity. So this has been a simmering problem that has ravaged many communities you know, and many people have failed to follow their dreams because of racism because of racial inequalities. So many people have failed to fulfil the potential because of racism Sudha. What makes me sad Sudha is what lies beneath. You know, there's a kind of overt racism that we see the inequality that is clear for us to see. But what worries me is the racism that is carefully disguised. Do you know the kind that is subtle, the kind that is carefully considered, and that's a more dangerous type of racism, because it's ongoing in the boardrooms, it's ongoing in the offices, that is the kind of racism that really I find that I'm even more uncomfortable with.

👉🏾 I work as a consultant, my work mostly is in Africa. And here in the UK. I found from actually going back through my records. And going back through my contracts, I found that largely I was paid way less than other consultants that are white. I found that if I get employed, or get a job from the UK, I'd be employed as a UK based consultant with local knowledge of whatever African country that I'm going to. But again, I found that that I was paid way less. I would say that that was racist. I've been working in this space for the past 25 years, I know I'm hugely qualified for this kind of work. I work with people that are much younger than me with maybe less than five years’ experience. And maybe with less education than me, but they get paid infinitely more, than I get paid. Now, you may want to ask, oh Michelle, why do you do this work? I do this because first of all I need to eat, but secondly, it's kind of the kind of work I want to do, it is the kind of work I enjoy. And it's kind of work where I think I can make a difference. You know, for the kind of work that I do, you get paid more when you lead a project. Now, the person more likely to lead a project that I'm working on is likely to be at least 10 years younger than me, and with maybe three, five years experience at the most. So, I choose either not to have any work, or I can choose just to continue working with the same people. So that's what my experience has been of racism at a personal level, you know, just not getting recognition for my work and knowing full well, that I have done maybe 90% of the work. 

👉🏾 Well, what drives me is a passion for people really, I'm passionate about,, making lives better for people that have less than I have. I mean, like, for instance, I've had to work remotely now during this whole COVID crisis. But some of my work involved going into communities going, field work. And we've had to stop all of that. So for me, the struggle really has been, how will these communities get reached in the short term, in the medium and long term as well. So you know, so it's been really hard for me to fulfil my purpose. Over this COVID period, not being able to assist those communities that may have been affected, not be able to see them has been a real struggle. You know, in my country, and in Africa, really, mobile telephony has really grown in the last couple of years. So it's a great thing. But data costs are so high in my country, people that are in the communities that I work with, cannot afford to even have data. So how do we monitor service delivery in those communities? And how do we go out to those communities and work. So we have to really rethink, reimagine, how we're going to do this. There's a lot of work that needs to go into how is this going to happen? How are we going to bring these people along with us? So really, in terms of purpose, I really feel a bit dispirited. 

👉🏾 Do you know many business models were disrupted by COVID. People were bumbling along with all sorts of fantastic business models, and then COVID came, and it's all changed. I see businesses wanting to be more purpose driven. The former Chairman CEO of, EY Mark Weinberger said businesses today are finding that doing good also means doing well. Increasingly shareholders are concerned about climate change, hey want more than just money. So I think going forward, we'll see organisations increasingly asking themselves, why are we here? That's the kind of world I would like to see. I know it sounds almost nearly impossible, but I think it is possible to do good and make money. And I think increasingly people are going to call out businesses that you know, are not environmentally friendly businesses that destroy ecosystems. Going forward, I think, we'll see a difference in the world. Well that's what I'm hoping for.

👉🏾 I'm all zoomed out, to be honest. From a point of delivery I’ve been unable to deliver. From my point of seeing the work that we're doing, and seeing the impact of that work, that's been difficult. And as long as internet is seen as a luxury in Africa, it will continue to be a struggle to bring people into the modern world. So I can have meetings, I can do deliver projects, I can email project, I can share documents, it's all been very well, it's all been very good, actually. But not being able to see the communities and to be in the communities has been very difficult. And I don't know how we are going to implement some of the projects, we are hoping that there's going to be a vac-cine. But we have to reimagine things differently, and also innovate around how we communicate without necessarily going to those communities. I think this COVID is our chance to actually look at ways and means communicating and reaching communities that we cannot visit physically. I think really remote communication is the future. And, we've got technology. This is a chance to innovate as far as I'm concerned. 

Follow her on: 

Twitter- @michellehakata

Michelle Hakata for all my other social media handles

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