Good Will Hunters

Welcome to Episode 5 of Good Will Hunters! This week, I chat with Caitlin Barrett, the CEO of Love Mercy Foundation, a tremendous organisation doing groundbreaking work in Uganda. We talk about the challenges of operating an NGO in Northern Uganda, building sustainable livelihoods, providing high quality healthcare at a low cost, accessing markets and much more.

War ravaged Uganda has it’s fair share of development challenges. This is most evident in the North of the country, where road infrastructure remains poor and communities are disconnected from markets, and experience a lack of formal employment opportunities and a lack of healthcare. Flashback to 2010 - Caitlin and a passionate group of friends entered Uganda with the mission of creating a sustainable program that could improve the lives of those experiencing famine and chronic poverty. Fast forward eight years, and Love Mercy continues to impact the lives of thousands of women and their families through incredible initiatives like the Cents for Seeds Program and the Kristina Health Clinic.

It can be so difficult for organisations like Love Mercy to know whether their programs are having the effect they’re deigned to. With some help from the wonderful team at Huber Social, Love Mercy discovered that their Cents for Seeds Program was impacting the lives of the women involved in some phenomenal ways. Obtaining the data wasn’t without its challenges - many of the women involved in the program are illiterate, and finding ways to enable them to engage meaningfully was a hurdle the team had to overcome - and overcome it they did! The longer the woman had been involved with the program, the greater their key development indicators were. So the project continues, and Love Mercy continues to partner with communities and transform their development prospects. How can you sustain a rural health clinic where the clientele pays only a minimal fee? Why is it so important that NGOs commit to long term partnership with communities, but also avoid becoming “part of the furniture”? And where does Love Mercy hope to be by 2020? Find out all this and more in this weeks episode.

2:05 - The origins of Love Mercy Foundation

6:10 - Why operate an NGO in Uganda?

8:35 - Uganda and the African continent

9:30 - Unexpected encounters with communities

12:10 - Success in the Cents for Seeds Program

17:35 - Overcoming the challenge of illiteracy

22:10 - Improving wellbeing through access to water

25:10 - Why NGOs need to commit to staying

28:20 - Sustainable livelihoods through Cents for Seeds

33:11 - The importance of financial literacy

35:12 - Access to markets to buy and sell

37:40 - The effect of civil war on infrastructure development

39:50 - How to sustain a rural health clinic

45:10 - What’s next for Love Mercy?

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Welcome to Episode 4 of Good Will Hunters! In this episode I chat with Richard Moore, the former deputy-director of AusAID. We talk about our greatest aid successes, and our one big aid failure. We discuss how to remain relevant, why we need to confront our critics, the rise of Chinese aid, and why we really need to stop talking about aid budget and start talking about the quality of our aid, plus lots more. Richard drops some real truth-bombs in this episode - this is a discussion that anyone working in the aid sector, or interested in aid, really needs to hear.

We have endemic "problems without borders” globally, we’re all developing countries now and no country can tackle all of the challenges they face unilaterally. Global cooperation is vital to sustaining progress on human development and yet our aid sector has become more insular than ever. Traditional western ideals on economic growth and development are breaking down, and increasingly countries are refusing to accept the development status quo and instead look to working with new and emerging donors, like China. A major part of combating these challenges is getting our discussion right here in Australia, by being conscious of the way we talk about development and moving away from our obsession with aid budgets and towards a more qualitative, theoretical discussion on the future of our aid.

This is a big discussion so settle in, get comfortable and enjoy! You may agree with some points and you may disagree with others. Please join our discussion on Facebook and share your feedback, we love hearing it!

3:40 - Australia’s aid successes

10:12 - The single biggest failure of the aid sector

12:13 - How do we ensure our aid stays relevant?

16:25 - Confronting our critics

20:42 - Threats to the Western ‘growth and development’ model

26:34 - The rise of Chinese Aid

32:22 - We’re all developing countries now

39:19 - How to talk about development properly

44:31 - Why we really, really need to stop talking about our aid budget

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Welcome to Episode 3 of Good Will Hunters! In this episode, I interview Beth Eggleston, the Co-Director of the Humanitarian Advisory Group. We discuss humanitarian emergencies, IKEA, entrepreneurship, disaster capitalism, Google, and what exactly an “unsolicited bilateral donation” is - it’ll make you laugh and cringe - plus loads more! Enjoy and as always, please share your feedback on our social media channels. I’d love you to join the discussion!

2:20 - The origins of the Humanitarian Advisory Group

4:58 - Why we must work with the private sector

7:03 - IKEA’s Solar Powered Flat Pack Refugee Shelters

7:48 - Innovation x Humanitarianism

10:52 - Why technology is not always “inclusive”

12:40 - Disaster Capitalism

18:00 - Entrepreneurship in a humanitarian crisis

21:05 - The Development Continuum

24:15 - Disaster Diplomacy

29:50 - Meaningful participation and leadership

33:06 - Localising humanitarian responses

36:50 - Complex emergencies versus simple emergencies

39:50 - Why you should never send a bra to a humanitarian crisis

42:10 - Sending cash is better than sending “stuff”

44:10 - Defining a “good” humanitarian response

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Welcome to Episode 2 of Good Will Hunters, with Professor Paul James. Today on the show we discuss the United Nations Global Compact, why relocating “slums” is so difficult, what exactly makes a good city, why resiliency is a dangerous word, and the enormous potential of Antarctica for international cooperation, plus so much more.

2:22 - UN Global Compact

4:04 - Circles of Sustainability

5:34 - The Cities Program in the UN Global Compact

6:00 - How to relocate a “slum” and enable communities to flourish

8:10 - Why the “bulldozing technique” will not work

11:07 - What makes a good city?

13:45 - The Circles of Sustainability method

17:30 - Defining resilience

21:02 - Challenges for Port Moresby

23:50 - Steps in reinventing a city

25:30 - Participatory Budgeting

26:58 - Participatory development - strengths and challenges

33:10 - Can you fix a city that’s already been built?

37:00 - Embracing discomfort

40:42 - The enormous potential of Antarctica

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Welcome to Episode 1 of Good Will Hunters, with Dr. Genevieve Nelson. Today, we discuss the organisation Gen leads, the Kokoda Track Foundation, and the incredible impact the organisation has had on PNG. We talk state failure, achieving development goals, walking the Kokoda Track, training teachers in the most remote parts of the country, and why collaboration with the private sector can be a game-changer for civil society, plus loads more!

1:40 - PNG is not a failed state

2:50 - PNG and the MDGs/SDGs

6:00 - PNG’s natural resources and land ownership

7:08 - Australia’s legacy of camaraderie in PNG

10:07 - The evolution of KTF in PNG

12:20 - Poverty as a lack of basic services

14:52 - Development in the Kokoda Track catchment

18:00 - Challenges of collaboration in PNG

19:10 - Potential of tourism for development in PNG

21:40 - The life-changing experience of walking the Kokoda Track

22:53 - KTFs Archer Leadership Program

27:12 - Corporate partnerships - vital to success

28:38 - KTF’s Teach for Tomorrow Program - one of my favourite parts!

35:12 - Australia-PNG opportunities for private and civil collaboration

37:56 - KTF and Solar Buddy tackling energy poverty

40:32 - Non-traditional sources of aid

42:48 - The importance of Australian Aid to PNG

45:10 - Private sector has a ‘third seat' on the aid table

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