Oxford Policy Pod

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting has been garnering more attention in recent years – especially the environmental component. But how reliable is a reporting method that is not auditable or verifiable?

Our host, Benjamin Weiser, is joined by Professor Karthik Ramanna. Professor Karthik Ramanna is a Professor of Business and Public Policy, and Chair of the Master of Public Policy Program at the Blavatnik School of Government. He is also the founder and co-director of the Oxford Case Centre for Public Leadership. 

They discuss the origins of the E-Liability Method (01:30), an auditable method of tracking carbon emissions through multitier supply and distribution chains. There are currently 18 companies in the Fortune 500 in various stages of E-Liability pilots, we discuss the catalyzing role of the E-Liability Institute in bringing in new adopters and supporting the ongoing pilot programs for both organizations of all sizes (~07:00). We conclude with an overview of what the program’s success would look like in the coming years (16:50). 

The episode is hosted by Benjamin Weiser, a candidate for the Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. It is produced by Annelisse Escobar, Vitor Tomaz and Gloria Wawira. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_.

For policymakers and governments, new challenges emerge nowadays to communicate effectively with citizens. The evolution of media channels, trust deficit, misinformation, social dislocation, emotional connection in media content, and nudging are among the long list of changes institutional communication is faced with.

Our host, Baudouin de Hemptinne, is joined in this episode by Sean Larkins. Both of them lead the government practice of WPP, one of the leading communications agencies globally, working for governments worldwide. Their practitioners' experience and their firm's research bring us unique insight into the evolving government communication challenges.

This episode is hosted, conceptualised, and researched by Baudouin de Hemptinne; and produced by Annelisse Escobar, Vitor Tomaz and Gloria Wawira. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments into tangible action. 

Our host, Vitor Tomaz, is joined in this episode by Dr Courtney Howard to discuss her intellectual journey into climate advocacy, how global health advocacy and organisations can also push forward climate goals, and what a civil society participant aims to achieve at a global climate conference like COP. 

Dr. Courtney Howard is a current MPP student at the Blavatnik School of Government, a former president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and a former Policy Director for the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

This episode is hosted by Vitor Tomaz; conceptualised and researched by Chiraag Shah; and produced by Annelisse Escobar and Gloria Wawira. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was expected to be the ‘Implementation COP’ that would translate previous commitments and plans for tackling climate change into tangible action. However, the immediate reaction in the aftermath of the conference was that it was marred by organisational issues and ultimately failed to deliver on its promise.

 Our host, Vitor Tomaz, is joined in this episode by Professor Thomas Hale, who attended COP27, to discuss the evolution of global climate governance, the outcomes of COP27, the ins and outs of being a civil society participant at a COP, how an emerging policymaker can be influential in the climate space, and the top two priorities to stay on track to remain under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Professor Thomas Hale is a Professor of Global Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the 

This episode is hosted by Vitor Tomaz; conceptualised and researched by Chiraag Shah; and produced by Annelisse Escobar and Gloria Wawira. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

Welcome to Oxford Policy Pod Season 5! The new cohort of the Blavatnik School of Government brings you a new set of episodes. We will be having short conversations with practitioners worldwide to understand today's policymaking challenges.

The recent 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party revealed Xi Jinping’s intention to present to the world an image of a “credible, loveable, and respectable China.” The pursuit of soft power is inseparable from other government initiatives – China spends an estimated $10 billion on initiatives aimed at enhancing its soft power around the globe. Yet, public opinion polling from Pew Research shows that China is viewed unfavorably in many advanced economies. This data raises the question of whether China’s investments in soft power tools are fruitful. 

Does China’s image fare any better in developing countries? Beijing has the world’s largest diplomatic network and has made relationship building with developing countries a cornerstone of its foreign policy. Cultural exchange programs for foreign students from developing economies is an example of its effort to bolster its image as an educational powerhouse and “champion of the developing world.” Economic power is typically not considered soft power, but China also blurred the lines between these categories of influence. The sheer size of its market and its influence as a potential trading partner and benefactor augment its attractiveness across the globe. 

Our host Elsa Katz is joined in this episode by three distinguished experts who provide insights on China’s soft power through the lens of business, media, and creative industries. 

o   Mr. Andrew Cainey – Founding Director, the UK National Committee on China and Senior Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; former Greater China Director at Booz & Company.

o   Ms. Zili Wang – Editor and Reporter at International desk of Caixin Media, Caixin Media Fellow at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.

o   Dr. Huiman Chan – Founder, UK-China Film Collab and Lecturer in Creative & Cultural Industries, De Montfort University.

While their perspectives converge on some of the ways China defines its soft power as a two-way street and exercises it via cultural products, they however diverge regarding the suggested methods to advance its global influence. Some propose a bottom-up approach, others a top-down one. Whether the success of soft power is hindered by censorship or by information asymmetry is another thorny issue our experts will cover. From a holistic and nuanced perspective, listeners can grasp the highly complex nature of “soft power with Chinese characteristics” and the global changes of the past three decades since Joseph Nye first coined the term “soft power.”

This episode is hosted by Elsa Katz and produced and supported by Read Leask. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_.

The COVID-19 crisis forced school closures in 188 countries, disrupting the learning process of more than 1.7 billion children, youth, and their families. This had immediate short-term temporary learning loss effects. However, long-term impacts like curbed educational aspirations and disengagement from the school system may be irreversible. This podcast episode deep dives into these adverse consequences and mitigation strategies as schools re-open. 

Our host Nikunj Agarwal is joined in this episode by two experts who share their insights on the impact of COVID-19 on education and what needs to be done to alleviate its impact. Dr. Rachel Hinton outlines the short-term and long-term impact on students, particularly from the marginalised backgrounds across low and lower-middle-income countries. She shares recommendations to keep children learning, including adjusting curriculum by governments. Dr. Rachel Hinton is a Senior Education and Social Development Adviser at Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. She has over 15 years of research and international development experience in the UK, South Asia, Eastern Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Rukmini Banerjee delves into how to encourage parental engagement, leverage existing technology, and support teachers better to overcome the learning loss due to the pandemic and the exacerbated Global Learning Poverty. She also shares her vision for education in a post-pandemic world. Dr. Rukmini Banerjee is the Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation. She previously led Pratham’s research and assessment efforts, including the Annual Status of Education Report (also known as ASER). 

This episode is hosted by Nikunj Agarwal; produced by Livey Beha and Read Leask; and researched by Claddagh Nic Lochlainn, Allan Greicon, and Emma Dreyer. To keep up with our latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_. 

In September 2015, leaders from around the world gathered in New York at the United Nations General Assembly and committed to an ambitious global agenda, setting forth seventeen “Sustainable Development Goals”, or SDGs, to be achieved by 2030. These goals, if accomplished, would mark incredible feats of human history. Unfortunately, the most recent report from the UN Economic and Social Council shows that the world is not on track to meet these targets by the 2030 deadline. This episode of the Oxford Policy Pod will dive into the progress and delays on the SDGs, and understand what it will take to reach these goals. We also explore how policymakers are using these voluntary international commitments to guide and prioritize work in practice, specifically in the context of developing urban areas. 

Edward Mishaud, is a Senior Advisor and current acting Director with the SDG Lab at UN Geneva. He has over 15 years of expertise across policy, donor relations, governance, advocacy, and communications, and has worked with several UN and other international organizations, such as the UN Development Programme, the World Health Organization, the Joint UN Programme on HIV and the Green Climate Fund. 

Dr. Sylvia Croese is an urban sociologist who is a Senior Researcher at the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning at the School of Architecture and Planning of the University of the Witwatersrand and Research Associate with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. She has conducted extensive research on urban planning, politics and governance through the lens of housing, land, urban infrastructure and mobility, with a particular focus on the localization of global urban development goals in African cities. She has published widely on this work in major international journals, as well as three co-edited books: Refractions of the National, the Popular and the Global in African Cities (African Minds, 2021), Reframing the Urban Challenge in Africa: Knowledge Co-production from the South (Routledge, 2021) and Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals in African cities (Springer, in press). Currently, her research examines the transcalar workings of developmental policy circuits as part of the ERC funded comparative research project Making Africa Urban: the transcalar politics of large-scale urban development.

This episode was produced and hosted by Livey Beha, with support from Read Leask. Season 4 of the Oxford Policy Pod is executive produced by Livey Beha and Read Leask. 

To learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals, check out:

• The SDG Lab: https://www.sdglab.ch/
• Sustainable Development Goals and 2030 Agenda: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
• UN SDG Progress Report https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/29858SG_SDG_Progress_Report_2022.pdf

This episode provides an update on the political and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In August 2021, after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan after twenty years of military presence, the Taliban took control of the country. Almost one year after the withdrawal, other global events have eclipsed Afghanistan in global media headlines, but the situation on the ground remains dire. In this episode, we will explore the most pressing humanitarian issues facing the country, investigate the policy solutions required to support the people of Afghanistan moving forward, and understand how countries should engage with Afghanistan economically and politically. 

This episode was recorded prior to the earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan on 21 June, 2022.

We are joined by our guests Naheed Sarabi and Lina Tori Jan. Naheed Sarabi is the former Deputy Minister for Policy in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance. Lina Tori Jan is the Afghanistan Program Coordinator at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security.

This episode was hosted and developed by Alec Greven with support from Livey Beha and Fatima Murchal. Our executive producers are Livey Beha and Read Leask. To keep up with the latest episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_.

On the eve of the first round of the 2022 presidential election in Colombia, this episode dives into some of the major political currents affecting the region. Over the past several months, leftist candidates have won the presidencies of Chile, Honduras, and Peru, and former left-wing guerilla Gustavo Petro is leading in the polls in Colombia. This episode explores what is driving these political developments, and if they represent the beginning of a long-term decisive shift toward left-wing politics across the region. Moreover, this episode investigates how the influence of the United States and China is shaping politics in the region, and what this means for global geopolitics. 

Our hosts Lucas Pombo, Ivan Chanis, and Melissa Lockett are joined by the following three distinguished guests who give their perspectives on these important questions: 1) Francisco Santos, former Vice-President of Colombia (2002-2010) and former Colombian Ambassador to the United States (2018-2020); 2) Gerardo Torres Zelaya, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras; 3) Dr. Maryhen Jiménez Morales, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Latin American Centre, University of Oxford & the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. 

Our executive producers for this season of the Oxford Policy Pod are Livey Beha and Read Leask. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Twitter @oxfordpolicypod and on Instagram @oxfordpolicypod_.