High-Impact Growth

High-Impact Growth

By DimagiTechnology
Download on the App Store

High-Impact Growth episodes

  • Reimagining global mental health care with a person-centered, digitally-enabled approach with Dr. Vikram Patel, successor to Paul Farmer at Harvard Medical School

    “There is no health without mental health.” - Dr. Vikram Patel

    Dr. Vikram Patel is a psychiatrist, professor, renowned researcher, co-founder of Sangath, in India, and the incoming chair of Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine where he takes over for the late Dr. Paul Farmer. Through decades of field-defining research, Dr Patel has shown how community-based resources can meet a growing burden of mental illness globally. In this episode, we explore Dr. Patel’s journey from training as a psychiatrist in London to working in Zimbabwe and co-founding Sangath - an award-winning Indian NGO, committed to improving mental health care across the globe. This episode is a must-listen for those wanting to learn about strategies for scaling mental health care that extend beyond the traditional healthcare system and understanding how technology can help to improve the quality of psychological and social interventions.


    Topics include: 

    • The importance of supporting Community Health Workers and Frontline Workers to treat mental illness and address the crisis of human resources in healthcare and mental health
    • The integral difference between mental health and mental illness 
    • The critical need for integration of mental health support into universal health coverage
    • The connection and influence of mental health on other chronic diseases 
    • The role of the ‘accompaniment model’ in mental health care
    • Understanding how non-specialist providers can deliver the ‘active ingredient’ in mental health intervention for two thirds of mental illness
    • The failings, future and possible fixes for the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) in psychiatry  
    • Introducing a stepped care approach in addressing individual’s mental health needs 
    • The importance of human connection in mental health treatment
    • The need to shift from a diagnostic model to a person-centered approach 
    • Exploring measurement based peer supervision in mental health treatment programs 
    • The top 3 ways to leverage digital to augment humans in mental health care, not replace them

      • Related resources:

      • Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments - Collaboration between GMH@Harvard's Project EMPOWER, Dimagi, Sangath and the University of Toronto https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot/
      • How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/
      • Dr. Vikram Patel profile and research: https://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/vikram-patel
      • Learn about Dr. Patel’s new role as Chair of of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School:  https://hms.harvard.edu/news/patel-named-new-chair-global-health-social-medicine

        • Connect with us:

        • Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :⁠⁠⁠https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up⁠⁠⁠ 
        • We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi⁠⁠⁠ Twitter:⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/dimagi/⁠⁠⁠ Facebook:⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/⁠⁠⁠ Youtube:⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA⁠⁠⁠ 
        • If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.
        • Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/⁠⁠⁠
        • Amie Vaccaro: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/ ⁠⁠
          • 49 min
        • How Community Health Workers Shaped the Creation of CommCare, the Platform for Impactful Frontline Work with Gayo Mhila

          Dimagi’s CommCare platform has been shaped by its users since its inception. Today, we revisit some of the first Community Health Workers who helped design and test CommCare back in 2008 in Tanzania. Co-host Amie Vaccaro speaks with two people who led that early research –  Gayo Mhila, who has recently interviewed 5 of the earliest users, and Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Global Director of Research. Through the conversation you’ll learn how technology can enable CHW’s to provide vital support to their communities, and how CHW input helped shape essential functionality of CommCare marking the genesis of Dimagi’s Design Under the Mango Tree approach. 


          Topics include: 

          • Insights from 5 of the earliest users of CommCare - how they got into community health work and their experience with CommCare

          • How CHW feedback led to the creation of logins, referrals, supervisor applications, case management and more foundational functionality in CommCare

          • How switching from paper to digital helped tackle stigma, earn trust and improve efficiency for CHWs 

          • How technology can support and bolster relationships (not replace them)

          • The journey to creating value for users at different levels of a health system with digital

          • How digitizing community health work can support expanded digital literacy for women and why it matters

          • Training techniques for technology adoption

          • The importance of user-driven design or as Dimagi’s calls it “Design Under the Mango Tree” 

            • Related Resources:

            • CommCare: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/ 
            • Design Under the Mango Tree: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/
            • High-Impact Growth podcast Ep 10: Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare
              • 39 min
            • Championing a Movement to Pay and Professionalize Community Health Workers with Margaret Odera

              In this episode  we explore the journey of Margaret Odera, a Community Health Worker and mentor mother in Kenya. Following her HIV diagnosis, Margaret received life-changing support from a mentor mother, which inspired her to dedicate her life to helping other HIV-positive mothers and their newborns. As the founder of the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN), Margaret is also leading the charge to professionalize and amplify the voices of these unsung heroes in the health sector. We discuss the role of Community Health Workers in disease prevention and health promotion; the need for better tools, technology, and training, and the steps Margaret is taking toward professionalizing Community Health Worker roles to ensure fair compensation,  improved working conditions, and preparedness for future pandemics.


              Topics discussed: 

              • What a typical week looks like for Margaret

              • The realities of community health workers - their working conditions and the lack of compensation 

              • The unfortunate status of payment for Community Health Workers in Kenya 

              • How lack of payment for Community Health Workers reflects a gender issue

              • How Margaret came to found the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN) and early wins

              • Challenges faced in professionalizing Community Health Workers

              • The role of technology in professionalizing community health workers

              • The need for better Community Health Worker representation and visibility at various levels of health governance

              • The role of Community Health Workers in preventing future pandemics

              • The support needed from health systems at large to train, support, and equip Community Health Workers

                • Related Resources:

                Margaret Odera, Heroine of Health: https://www.intrahealth.org/vital/community-health-worker-advocate-and-now-heroine-health

                Women in Global Health profile of Margaret Odera: https://womeningh.org/our_members/margaret-odera/Video by IntraHealth of Margaret Odera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZAEwz2BUU

                Contribute to support the CHW Champions Network: https://www.mchanga.africa/fundraiser/70491

                Community Health Impact Coalition: https://joinchic.org/


                Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up 

                We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi:

                LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi 

                Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ 

                Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ 

                Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA 


                Please subscribe and follow this podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.

                Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/

                Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/


                47 min
              • Building Resilience: The Key to Combating Burnout in Frontline Workers with Lilianna Bagnoli

                In a world where stress is inevitable, burnout is rife, and the global mental health burden is growing, it's crucial to develop the skill of resilience to recover, adapt, and grow from stress. This episode highlights how building resilience can guard against burnout, a workplace phenomenon that affects many Frontline Workers, resulting in feelings of fatigue, detachment, and a reduction in professional efficacy. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Lilianna Bagnoli to dig into Dimagi’s work on resilience-building through the launch of the WellMe application - a user-friendly tool focussed on equipping Frontline Workers with resilience-building behaviors, that can be used across geographies, languages, and Frontline Worker cadres. You’ll also hear about the ways in which we can scale access to mental health support for individuals and Frontline Workers, how technology can support this, and what this means for technologists, implementers, and funders working in global health.


                Other topics discussed: 

                • Why resilience-building is important amongst Frontline Workers 

                • The growing mental health crisis & four interventions that can help deliver mental health support at scale 

                • Leaning into collaborative approaches to deal with stress on all levels amongst essential and non-essential staff 

                • An introduction to Dimagi’s WellMe application & the feedback received from the user testing phase

                • The importance of adapting messages and language from user testing to appeal to specific contexts and demographics 

                • The need for organizations to incorporate resilience-building into professional development efforts 

                • The effects of bolstering mental health on the results of treatments for other health issues

                  • Related Resources:

                  • The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)31612-X.pdf 

                  • WellMe: https://sites.dimagi.com/wellme-trial 

                  • Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments: https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot

                  • Promoting effective mental healthcare through peer supervision: https://sangath.in/peers/ 

                  • How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/ 

                  • WellMe: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/introducing-wellme-the-resilience-app-for-frontline-workers/ 

                  • What We Learned from our Working Group on Health Worker Wellbeing: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/what-we-learned-from-our-working-group-on-health-worker-wellbeing/ 

                  • Equipping Health Workers to Recover, Adapt and Grow https://chwi.jnj.com/resilience 

                  • A Toolkit to Protect Against Burnout on the Front Lines: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources 

                  • Resilience Message Program: Evidence-based, free, and adaptable messages to increase health worker resilience: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources 

                  • When there is no word for resilience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdcT6gSh-xY 

                  • Making Resilience Resonate: https://sites.dimagi.com/guidebook-resilience-message-program

                  • Leveraging Advanced Analytics to Develop Engagement Profiles of a Digital Resilience Message Programme and Inform Scale Efforts: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-johnson-foundation-leveraging-advanced-analytics-to-develop-engagement-profiles/ 

                  • CommCare Companion Application:https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-and-johnson-foundation-commcare-companion-application/ 

                  • Digital health solutions need to consider the health worker: https://www.devex.com/news/sponsored/opinion-digital-health-solutions-need-to-consider-the-health-worker-102333 

                    • 43 min
                  • Equity and AI in Global Health: Exploring Large Language Models, Building Chatbots and Embracing Discomfort

                    Jonathan Jackson sits down with Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi’s Research and Data team lead, to discuss Dimagi’s work exploring large language models to create chatbots for global health and development use cases. They discuss how we might leverage AI to advance equity despite the reality that it can also decrease equity,  while recognizing the irreplaceable value of human-to-human connection in healthcare. We also discuss the potential of ChatGPT to support more accessible SMS workflows, how voice to text can support non-literate populations, and how to embrace the discomfort of this moment in a way that propels us towards creating positive impact.

                    Topics include:

                    • Exploring large language models and GPT-4 for Chatbots in Global Health and Development

                    • Building tools to support and elevate equity in AI

                    • AI's Impact on Productivity

                    • Potential Hype and Pitfalls of AI

                    • Measuring utility, accuracy, safety, and purpose adherence in chatbots 

                    • The importance and opportunity in using LLMs with SMS and Voice-to-Text for non-literate populations

                    • Leveraging AI in a way that elevates and supports human effort instead of replacing it


                      • Related Resources:

                    • GatesNotes, The Age of AI has begun: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun 

                    • Palantir, Bending Artificial Intelligence to our collective will: https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/our-new-platform/

                    • Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum:

                      • https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2804309

                      Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :⁠⁠https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up⁠⁠ 


                        We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi:

                          LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi⁠⁠ 

                          Twitter:⁠⁠https://twitter.com/dimagi/⁠⁠ 

                          Facebook:⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/⁠⁠ 

                          Youtube:⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA⁠⁠ 


                          If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.


                            Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/⁠⁠

                            Amie Vaccaro: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/ ⁠

                            36 min
                          • A New Era for Development with Raj Kumar of Devex: Shifting from a Project Mindset to an Investment Mindset

                            Global development is evolving quickly in the face of social, economic, and political changes. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Raj Kumar, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Devex, a leading independent online news platform for development professionals, to discuss how 2023 marks the start of a new, more challenging development era. With growing competition between China and Russia and the West, a new set of economic circumstances, and overwhelming humanitarian needs, development professionals need to get more value for money. And this requires a change in mindset and how things are done - shifting from a project-based mindset to a collaborative, results-driven investment mindset. 


                            Topics discussed: 

                            • Why and how we need to shift from a project-based to an investment-based mindset
                            • The role of Devex in changing the development sector 
                            • How funding for development is changing and needs to change
                            • The potential of philanthropy in funding development work 
                            • How technology deployed thoughtfully in support of the people closest to the challenges is poised to unlock significantly more value 
                            • Prioritizing results over projects for better resource allocation


                              • Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :⁠https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up⁠ 


                              We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi:

                              LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi⁠ 

                              Twitter:⁠https://twitter.com/dimagi/⁠ 

                              Facebook:⁠https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/⁠ 

                              Youtube:⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA⁠ 


                              If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.


                              Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/⁠

                              Amie Vaccaro: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/ ⁠


                              Related resources:

                              • “From the editor-in-chief: 3 ways 2023 may define a new development era” by Raj Kumar on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/from-the-editor-in-chief-3-ways-2023-may-define-a-new-development-era-104723
                              • “Could this app transform delivery of last-mile health services?” by Catherine Cheney on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/could-this-app-transform-delivery-of-last-mile-health-services-104113
                              • Devex: https://www.devex.com/
                              • The Business of Changing the World by Raj Kumar: https://pages.devex.com/the-business-of-changing-the-world.html
                              • Devex Book Club podcast: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html
                              • GatesNote on AI: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun
                              • Co-Develop: https://www.codevelop.fund/
                              • Dimagi’s Big Break: Receiving Instrumental Core Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with Tim Wood, Former Senior Program Officer https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gates-foundation-funding
                                • 53 min
                              • Undersupported, Unrecognized and Vital: 3 Community Health Workers supported by Lwala Community Alliance Speak Out

                                Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with three Community Health Workers, supported by the Lwala Community Alliance, as they share first-hand their journey into community health, their day-to-day, the impact of digital tools on their work, and the importance of salaried Community Health Workers in creating greater access to critical health services worldwide. This is part 2 in a two-part series on the important work Lwala Community Alliance is doing in transforming the community health landscape in Kenya. A must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the important work of Community Health Workers.

                                Some topics covered in this conversation include: 

                                • The critical role of technology in supporting essential service delivery 

                                • A day in the life of 3 Community Health Workers in their communities

                                • Top challenges faced by CHWs -  from difficult clients to weather conditions

                                • The importance of paying, training, supervising and supporting CHWs

                                • Policies for a safer and more conducive working environment for CHWs

                                  • Related Resources:

                                  • Lwala Community Alliance: https://lwala.org/
                                  • Community Health Impact Coalition: The Problem: A Dual Human Rights Issue https://joinchic.org/resources/the-problem-a-dual-human-rights-issue/
                                    • 32 min
                                  • The Four Pillars of Community-Led Health: Insights from Julius Mbeya, Co-CEO at Lwala Community Alliance

                                    Jonathan Jackson sits down with Julius Mbeya, Co-CEO of the Lwala Community Alliance, to discuss their approach to addressing health challenges in Kenya. By using a community-led health model, they are able to provide quality, affordable healthcare to underprivileged communities, and reduce maternal and under-five deaths. This is part one in a two-part series on the important work Lwala Community Alliance is doing in transforming the community health landscape in Kenya. A must-listen for anyone interested in innovative digital approaches to healthcare to effect lasting impact. 

                                    Some topics covered in this conversation include: 

                                    • A breakdown of Lwala’s community-led health model 
                                    • The path to providing affordable healthcare to communities in informal settlements
                                    • How and why Lwala is digitizing its Community Health Workers
                                    • Reducing maternal and under-five deaths 
                                    • The importance of data collection and longitudinal tracking  understand impact over time an to create an evidence base
                                    • Working with the government to bring interventions to scale

                                      • Related Resources:

                                      • Lwala Community Alliance: https://lwala.org/
                                      • Community Health Impact Coalition: The Problem: A Dual Human Rights Issue https://joinchic.org/resources/the-problem-a-dual-human-rights-issue/
                                        • 26 min
                                      • Reducing health inequities through digital innovation with Olukunle Akinwusi of FIND & Erica Troncoso of Jhpiego: Dispatches from the Global Digital Health Forum 2022

                                        Jonathan Jackson sits down with Olukunle Akinwusi, Technical Officer for Digital Access at FIND & Erica Troncosco, Technical Advisor and Portfolio Lead for Frontier Technology Solutions at Jhpeigo, at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the value of innovation in improving health equity through thoughtful diagnostics, involving the user in the design process, investing in the digital literacy of the Frontline Worker, and engaging country stakeholders to ensure buy-in.


                                        Some topics covered in this conversation include: 

                                        • The importance of diagnostics in improving access to care and curbing disease prevalence

                                        • Addressing the biggest diagnostic gaps at various levels of care 

                                        • The experiences and lessons learned from working on digital health projects

                                        • Balancing the use of technology with ensuring that those new technologies are actually helping Frontline Workers provide better care

                                        • The value of innovation and involving the user in the design process 

                                        • The need for investment in health worker digital literacy and the accessibility of infrastructure in more remote settings for digital health interventions 

                                        • The importance of engaging the countries or stakeholders in which the solution or innovation will be designed, understanding the context of use, and getting user buy-in 

                                          • Related Resources:

                                          • FIND: https://www.finddx.org 
                                          • Jhpiego: https://www.jhpiego.org 
                                          • Principles for Digital Development: https://digitalprinciples.org 
                                          • Design Under the Mango Tree - Dimagi’s approach to designing with users: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/
                                          • Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare 
                                          • Dimagi’s 5 Year Strategy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13O7SKwrQiMXM04zmB3jLxOEkCC0TF3UiJ7qwJm4mF_g/edit
                                          • Dimagi’s High-Impact Growth Framework: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v_ial9hXI7Hy0c_T4A1uX-VOgx4DNeKNC_o_PZy4F2k/edit 
                                            • 16 min
                                          • Building digital as a horizontal foundation: Insights from growing Dimagi's marketing team

                                            In today’s episode we flip the script and Jonathan Jackson interviews Amie Vaccaro to discuss her career journey, her experiences, and the lessons learned so far in growing the marketing team at Dimagi.  The potential of digital to support iNGOs and governments can only be really unlocked when it becomes a foundational layer that supports all aspects of the organization’s work horizontally. We often see digital projects failing when they are focused on one specific vertical or silo and not able to add value across an organization. Amie has been on a parallel journey building marketing as a horizontal and foundational team at Dimagi and together Jonathan and Amie unpack some of the lessons Amie has learned that are applicable to anyone leading a digital shared service within an organization.


                                            Some topics covered in this conversation include: 

                                            • The challenges of standing up a new horizontal shared service in an organization

                                            • How to sequence value creation to build trust and autonomy over time

                                            • Partnering with leadership to understand and guide strategic direction

                                            • Balancing execution work with high-level strategic work

                                            • Empowering a team to say no and prioritize tasks


                                              • Related resources: 

                                            • Simeon Yosefe, Malawi’s head of digital health, on the High-Impact Growth Podcast: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gdhf-22/simeon-yosefe

                                              • Coaching program that Amie mentions: https://joinflourish.com/
                                                • 39 min

                                              About High-Impact Growth

                                              From the publisher's feed

                                              A podcast for social entrepreneurs, global development funders, nonprofit leaders and anyone grappling with the challenge of how to build solutions that are both immensely impactful and also achieve high-growth. Join Dimagi CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Jackson, along with co-host Amie Vaccaro as we unpack learnings from 20 years building digital solutions for global health and development, explore barriers to and opportunities for high-impact growth, and speak with industry leaders from around the world.