In this episode, Michael Waitze and Daniel McFarlane, are fortunate to converse with Stéphane Rousseau, who is the Director of International Field Immersion Courses at the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University. He brings an enormous wealth of experience to the conversation after decades of humanitarian, human rights, and civil society work across Asia and the Pacific.

Over the years, his work has presented many ethical and moral challenges. It is not the uplifting work many people think it is, Stephane suggests. The people you could not help or the people left behind are the ones that stay in your memory.

Without referencing social innovation specifically, Stephane provides multiple examples of how people and organizations have subverted structures of power and created innovative approaches to address pressing social problems. Listening to Stephane, it is evident social innovation is nothing new. It just has a new label and a fresh look.

Stephane discusses how in the early 1970s, French doctors, frustrated by the political and religious boundaries that were impeding their capacity to support the welfare victims of war set up Médecins Sans Frontières.  They continue today as an organization of impartiality, independence, and neutrality.

In his work for The Global Fund in Geneva, he has observed the power of involving those who are afflicted by HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, in programs to end these epidemics and revitalize the communities impacted by them. They work harder than anyone to stop these epidemics and relieve the people's impact on them. Stephane points out it often requires a power shift and cultural change to give voice and power to the people that are best positioned to enact change.

In humanitarian work, Stephane highlights that it is usually soft skills and emotional intelligence that enable someone to make a sustainable impact. In his work as the Director of International Immersion Programs, he is supporting young people to develop the skills and intelligence to make a positive difference in the world. Every summer he welcomes public health students from the University of California to experience life on the Myanmar-Thai border at Mae Sot and examines how health and well-being can be improved in refugee and border communities. It is through these experiences his students gain the emotional skills that will support them for years to come.

Stephane is developing new immersion programs in the region to incorporate students from multiple disciplines so they can experience boundary spanning, which Stephane describes as the power of bringing together the skills and perspectives of different fields. Boundary spanning also sums up his unique skills and expertise developed over 25 years of working across the region.