Make Change Happen

In this episode, launched to coincide with International Women’s Day, an all-women panel share the transformative change driven by women as they take on leadership roles at every level – from remote rural villages to international conventions.

Hosted by James Persad, director of IIED’s Communications group, this podcast features Ritu Bharadwaj, principal researcher in IIED’s Climate Change research group; Omaira Bolaños, director of the Latin America and Gender Justice programmes at Rights and Resources Initiative; and Ivonne Higuero, secretary-general of CITES.

Participants discuss what women leadership looks like, why spaces must be created for women leaders in climate and biodiversity, and practical measures to make this happen.

Read more: https://www.iied.org/ripple-effects-revolutions-women-leaders-climate-biodiversity

IIED’s ‘Make Change Happen’ podcast provides an opportunity to hear our researchers and guests discuss key global development challenges and explain what we are doing to support positive change.

Our last episode of 2022 brings together experts from across the world to explore how far climate mitigation action can respond to pervasive urban poverty in the global South – seen in a lack of housing and basic services such as water, sanitation and energy – and contribute to more just and equitable cities.

This special episode is hosted by Anna Walnycki, principal researcher in IIED’s Human Settlements research group. Alongside two IIED colleagues, principal researcher Aditya Bahadur and researcher Tucker Landesman, she is joined by two experts working on urban mitigation projects. Bijal Brahmbhatt is executive director of the Mahila Housing Trust in Gujarat, India; Daniel Kozak is senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina and director of the Research Center Habitat and Energy.

At COP26, political leaders called for more action to address biodiversity loss and climate change together. In this episode of Make Change Happen, we discuss how this must be financed and the possible mechanisms for spurring actions on the ground.

Hosted for the first time by James Persad, IIED’s new director of communications, this episode features Mandy Barnett from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Moses Egaru of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Yiching Song from the Farmers’ Seed Network China and Xiaoting Hou Jones, senior researcher at IIED's Natural Resources research group.

In this episode of Make Change Happen, we discuss racism and decolonisation in the development sector.

Hosted by Liz Carlile, IIED’s outgoing director of communications, this episode features Natalie Lartey, IIED’s advocacy and engagement manager; Maryam Mohsin, head of media and communications at Bond; and Mpho Tapela, executive director of Youth Unlimited Network in Botswana.

We explore how development organisations have responded to the Black Lives Matter movement, with a particular focus on language and narratives.

As IIED celebrates its 50th birthday, this episode of Make Change Happen brings together four established members of the IIED family to reflect on key movements in the journey towards sustainable development.

Host Liz Carlile, IIED's director of communications, is joined by ex-colleagues Steve Bass, now a consultant in sustainable development; Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD); and former IIED director Camilla Toulmin, who is now a professor at the University of Lancaster’s Environment Centre and an associate at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. All three are also senior associates working with IIED.

They discuss some of the key movements that have pushed sustainable development forward in recent decades, how the landscape has changed, and what might come next.

To reflect on International Women’s Day, and the 2022 theme ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’, this episode of Make Change Happen discusses how gender equity and intersectionality approaches are central to climate justice, and that means putting people’s rights, lived experiences and priorities at the centre of every response.

Heather McGray, director of the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, Vitumbiko Chinoko, project manager at the Open Forum on Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi, and IIED’s Tracy Kajumba join host Liz Carlile.

We explore what is meant by the term ‘climate justice’, and unpack how through shifting the dynamics of oppression, and taking an intersectional approach to climate responses, the burdens of climate change are more likely to be shared fairly and equitably.

In the year IIED celebrates 50 years of working for a fairer and more sustainable world, we invite two eminent former colleagues to look back at where we came from, how we have developed, and where we should be going.

Achala Abeysinghe, Asia regional director for the Global Green Growth Institute and ex-IIED vice-president David Runnalls, a fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada, join host Liz Carlile for the discussion.

Among the issues that arise are climate finance, partnerships and how to support the poorest and the most vulnerable to ensure their voices are heard and they are able to achieve their goals in vital decision-making arenas – from village councils to international conventions.

Experts discuss the connections between the climate emergency, loss of biodiversity and rising inequalities, and why it is important to include nature in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to address these crises globally.

The latest episode of the Make Change Happen podcast focuses on why and how developing countries are incorporating nature-based solutions in their NDCs to increase and deliver their climate ambitions.

Guests include Nathalie Seddon, professor of biodiversity and director of the Nature Based Solutions initiative at the University of Oxford; Bob Natifu, acting commissioner on climate change in the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda; Maria Caballero Espejo, climate adaptation specialist from the Ministry of Environment of Peru (website in Spanish); Sarshen Scorgie, director of climate strategy at Conservation South Africa; and Harriet Drani, programme officer at IUCN in Uganda.

Forest and farm smallholders are fighting for their livelihoods and food security. New research shows producers’ practical measures for climate resilience have impact, but barriers remain to scaling the work up and out.

In this ‘super year’ of climate and nature, the latest episode of the Make Change Happen podcast hosts a discussion on what support smallholders need, and who should provide it.

Guests include Ugandan young agriprenuer Elizabeth Nsimadala, IIED Climate Change director Clare Shakya and Duncan Macqueen, leader of IIED's forest team and an expert on locally controlled forestry, climate-resilient forest enterprises and forest governance approaches.

The urban dimensions of COVID-19 have been largely ignored and yet the economic impacts of the pandemic are especially severe in cities and towns in the global South, where low-income residents have been disproportionately affected.

In this episode of Make Change Happen, expert practitioners discuss the effects of the pandemic in urban areas, and they share a range of inclusive, locally led responses from the global South.