Rethinking Development Podcast

Tanya Wood has more than 20 years of management experience in the humanitarian sector, in both headquarters and countries such as Guyana, Sri Lanka and Haiti. Her career has been focused on leadership roles within international membership organizations, including the IFRC, International Council of Voluntary Agencies, Neglected Tropical Disease NGO Network, and others. She is currently the Executive Director of the CHS Alliance and co-author of the Humanitarian Accountability Report 2020: Are we making aid work better for people affected by crisis?  She speaks to us about: 

• power dynamics in the sector
• combining patient led health approaches with aid delivery 
• the idea of ‘the collective’ 
• the history of the Core Humanitarian Standard
• the data used in the report
• the need to measure commitments made to people affected by crisis 
• the gap between policy and practice
• individual vs systemic change 
• living our values and principles
• how the standard can be improved - and much more! 

She joins us from Geneva, Switzerland. 

Shuaib Chalklen is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. During his term as UN Special Rapporteur he established the African Disability Forum and served as its first Chairperson. He currently serves as the Regional Coordinator for their Inclusion Works Program. Prior to this he worked in the Office of the President in South Africa and was responsible for developing South Africa’s first policy on disability rights. He is furthermore the co-editor of the book “Disability, Globalization and Human Rights” that was released this year. He speaks to us about:

• transitioning from being a community organizer and activist to a policy maker
• the medical vs. social model of disability
• lack of political will for disability rights 
• implementing the UN CRPD
• working at the national, regional and international levels
• addressing extreme poverty 
• the intersection of disability with race, class and other forms of discrimination
• holding governments to account
• building social movements and alliances - and much more!

He joins us from Cape Town, South Africa. 

Ousman Umar is a former child migrant who spent four years travelling on foot from Ghana to Libya to Spain. In 2012 he founded an NGO named NASCO Feeding Minds, which aims to create a network of IT centers with computer classrooms in rural Ghana in order to familiarize students with digital tools and facilitate their access to information. He has recently launched a social enterprise named NASCO Tech: Code Made in Africa, which aims to provide job opportunities for young IT graduates. He is also a writer and has published an autobiography entitled “Journey to the Land of the Whites”, where he shares his life story. 

He speaks to us about: 

• His migration journey
• Racism and anti-immigration sentiments in Europe
• Addressing the root causes of migration 
• The importance of education and job opportunities 
• Exploitation and underdevelopment in Africa 
• Being a leader and starting an NGO
• Horizontal vs. vertical aid 
• Nature as our biggest teacher - and much more!

He joins us from Barcelona, Spain. 

Jessica Alexander is the editor of The New Humanitarian’s Rethinking Humanitarianism series. She is also a humanitarian aid worker with experience working in operations, evaluations, and policy. She has worked in Rwanda, Sudan, Haiti and other countries. Currently she teacher humanitarian affairs at numerous universities and has authored various policy papers, mainstream articles and a book entitled: “Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid.” She speak to us about: 

• questioning her role in humanitarian work as an American woman
• the intention for and content of the Rethinking Humanitarianism series 
• grand claims to change vs. limitations within the sector 
• localisation and anti-racism 
• reactionary changes vs. a systemic overhaul 
• the younger, incoming generation of aid workers - and much more! 

She joins us from Geneva Switzerland. 

Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda is a human rights lawyer who has a decade of experience working with UNICEF other UN agencies and NGOs in the US, France, DR Congo, Mauritania, Nigeria and other countries. Her work has focused on strengthening national policies for the most vulnerable populations around the world, including working on child protection issues in emergencies. She has led the release and reintegration of children associated to armed groups and forces, incarcerated children as well as survivors of sexual violence. She is also a writer and one of the co-founders of the Collective for Black Iranians. She speaks to us about :

• double standards in law
• power inequalities in securing funding
• the white/western savior industrial complex
• questioning the relevance of big HQs
• advocating governments 
• being declared persona non grata 
• applying a constructively critical lens 
• hierarchies amongst staff
• activism as a way of life  - and much more!

She joins us from California, USA. 

Dr. Filiberto Penados is a Maya educator and activist scholar whose work focuses on indigenous education and future-making. He has held faculty positions at the University of Belize and Galen University and has been adjunct faculty at University of Toronto, University of Belize and University of Manitoba.  He has a long history of involvement in indigenous movements in Belize and Central America.  He has taught, written and presented on various topics including the decolonization of education and development.  He is currently Founding Advisor at the Centre for Engaged Learning Abroad and President of the Julian Cho Society (a Maya organization in southern Belize). He speaks to us about:

• decolonial education 
• development with identity
• indigenous future-making
• coloniality
• decentering power
• relationship to the land
• global solidarity and international legal instruments 
• having humility - and much more! 

He joins us from Belize. 

In this episode, host Safa shares some thoughts about the evolution of the podcast, some common topics of past episodes and what to expect from season 3. 

Yukako Sato worked with the World Food Programme (WFP) for 17 years. For the first half of her career, she coordinated food assistance programmes in countries such as Tajikistan, the Darfur region of Sudan and Yemen during the Arab Spring years. In her last assignment, she worked at the WFP headquarters as the Staffing Coordinator for the programme and policy function globally. In that role, Yukako facilitated the provision of talent management support that impacted about a quarter of the organization’s 15,000 global workforce in 80 countries. She led various initiatives such as talent deployment, talent acquisition and capability development. She also led the design and delivery of innovative blended learning programmes for leaders, and developed partnerships with top universities, with an aim to build the future talent pipeline for the organization. In 2018 Yukako transitioned to becoming an international Leadership Coach and is very passionate about working with international leaders globally. She speaks to us about working in emergency settings, designing creative and inventive food assistance programs, being a young female leader in a patriarchal culture, interagency cooperation and working with government partners, implementing accountability mechanisms, respecting the culture you are working in, building trust, supporting others in their careers - including those experiencing burnout, ensuring diversity in recruitment processes, important leadership practices, communication, connecting with her purpose and much more. She joins us from Tokyo, Japan. 

Kaveh Zahedi is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP). He oversees ESCAP’s economic, social and environmental programmes and the overall implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Prior to this, Kaveh worked at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the Regional Director and Representative for Asia and the Pacific and Deputy Director of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, overseeing work on the green economy, resource efficiency and climate change. He speaks to us about the challenge of fundraising, creating coalitions and partnerships of the willing, policy level advocacy and cause and effect, adaptability, the coronavirus pandemic, investing in social safety nets, building resiliency, engineering change towards sustainability, UN structures and intersectoral approaches, demonstrating impact, the UN reform process, regional level cooperation, being impatient for change, the role of the private sector, ICT for development, rejecting a tolerance for inequality and much more. He joins us from Bangkok, Thailand. 

Angela Bruce-Raeburn is currently the Regional Advocacy Director at the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, which supports advocates that work for the prevention of non communicable diseases that impact low and middle income countries. Previously she worked as the Senior Policy Advisor for the humanitarian response of Oxfam in Haiti from 2010 to 2013 in the aftermath of the earthquake. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Angela grew up in Brooklyn, New York. The immigrant experience drove her interest and commitment to choosing a career where she would be able to impact and improve the lives of others. She has written many op-eds on development and racism including “But wait until they see your black face” and “International development has a race problem”. Angela speaks to us about her immigrant experience, structural racism, Caribbean regional integration, the non linear career paths of BIPOC, the financial constraints of community organizations, white supremacy and the myth of the model minority, her experience working in Haiti, development as a white man's game, woke washing and the co-opting of anti racism messages by organizations, hashtag activism, white privilege and the Women Deliver example, speaking truth to power, structural change and much more. She joins us from Washington D.C, USA.