Terms Of Reference Podcast

When you think of innovation, you think about the future, right? At least, that's what I think about. My mind is usually filled with flying cars, holographic displays and a moneyless world. But, I know, that's just the super geek talking. Innovation is really about solving an old problem in a different way. But the reason I bring up the future is that, typically, when I speak to those interested in innovation they are focused on how we use new - sometimes yet-to-be-invented - technologies, processes and options to solve the issues at hand.

Today's guest for the 170th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Muthoni Masinde, is also a future thinker. But she also remembers and knows how to honor the past. Her invention that we discuss on this episode - an innovation to detect drought - combines the latest in sensor and mobile technologies, with the indigenous knowledge of local farmers.

I'm sure you're going to love this episode where we talk about her invention (called ITIKI), but also about her path from Kenya to become an inventor and Head at the Department of Information Technology at the Central University of Technology in South Africa.

When I think of innovating for food, well, I have to admit I’m usually focused on how my family can make dinner something special. Finding a way out of the rut of eating the same food as my children is a pain. But I know, that you know, we’re not here to talk about how I can become an Iron Chef. And indeed, in today’s 168th Terms of Reference Podcast episode, we are here to explore how innovation can be applied to making sure people don’t go hungry. My guest for today’s show is Bernhard Kowatsch. He’s the Head of the Innovation Accelerator at the World Food Programme. The accelerator was launched in 2016 to identify, support and scale high potential solutions to hunger worldwide.

I know that I take for granted that I am able to perform financial transactions, around the world via a multitude of channels, essentially any time I want. In fact, only because of my lifestyle, my biggest headache comes from a banking system in the US that often flags my non-US transactions as suspect for fraud.

Today's episode is about how we can take a look at individuals and businesses on the other side of that coin (yes, another wonderful pun). I'm referring to the vast majority of people who operate exclusively with cash, are unbanked and have little of any real access to credit. These individuals are not included in the efficiencies and benefits of the digital economy, and the gap only gets more difficult to bridge as time presses on.

My guest for today's 167th Terms of Reference Podcast is Badal Malick. Nadal is the CEO of Catalyst, an organization focused on helping India's small businesses and low income consumers unlock the power of digital payments to gain access to broader financial services and create opportunities vital to their future prosperity.

This is a fantastic discussion about financial inclusion where we cover both the size and chicken-and-egg nature of the problem, the 4 part solution Catalyst is implementing, Why financial inclusion is a potential game changer for so many and much more.

Most social sector work, if not all of it at this stage, is driven by some type of results framework that is focused on outcomes. Unsurprisingly, when people (or a government or foundation) give you their money to do some good in the world - they want to know that it actually happens… or, as often happens, at least you gave it your best shot. Underpinning these frameworks are theories of change. In this paradigm, gaps in markets or social contexts are identified by the social actor and then the design programmes, products and services in an attempt to fill those gaps.

Now, for those of you who have been listening to this show for any amount of time, this is standard stuff and, as you know, we’re here to talk about how we break this system. So, on today’s 166th Terms of Reference Podcast, my guest is Alix Zwane. She and I explore an alternative to the theory of change approach - what she and her colleagues call being venture or entrepreneur driven. Alex is the CEO of the Global Innovation Fund, a $200 million fund that takes a venture capital approach to supporting entrepreneurs and the scaling of evidence-based innovation in global health and development.

This is an exciting discussion as we discuss the Fund’s current ventures and the criteria for those investments, how the Fund partners with the private sector, how you successfully exit from investments in social problem solvers and much more.

Its taken me a while to figure out how to introduce today’s topic. Not because its totally radical - but rather, because my brain is freaking out that its something I have to introduce in the year 2017. So, I’ve decided the best approach is just to dive right in:

Today’s topic is, essentially, freedom of the press.

Now, while I don’t spend my day to day life in the United States, I’m definitely an American. And something that is just a part of who I am is an understanding that we need freedom of speech and freedom of the press to ensure human flourishing. I think there’s a fairly decent consensus on this around the world.

As I’ve watched events unfold over the past year related to US politics, and how it has impacted individuals’ ability to distinguish between fact and fiction and, more importantly, destroyed people’s ability to have even the simplest conversations, I’m left wondering if Mike Judge didn’t have an amazing crystal ball when he made Idiocracy.

Now, I personally remain optimistic we’ll all come out of this moment in time better for it. But the fact that it feels like we’ve stumbled backwards into the 1940s in so many ways is heartbreaking.

My guest for today’s 165th Terms of Reference Podcast is Harlan Mandel. He’s the CEO of the Media Development Investment Fund of MDIF. Their work focuses on supporting independent media around the world and they do this through a variety of investment vehicles. 

The work of MDIF has been transformative across the globe. I think today’s conversation is important because we talk about how an organization like MDIF supports freedom of the press, how they have evolved over the past 20 years - especially with the advent of digital everything, how events in the US are reverberating across the world, and much more.

How much money did your government spend in 2016? The Government of the United States spent over $3.5 trillion dollars. China threw down $2.8 trillion and the UK just over $1 trillion. Worldwide, governments spent a combined total of $22.7 trillion. My point here is that there is a ton of money being spent by governments around the globe to procure products and services.

It would be great to know where exactly all of that money goes, right? I mean, in most of the major economies out there, there is an expectation that the public should know what their hard earned taxes are funding. And, there are some big figures out there, usually represented in pie charts, that are relatively easy to access.

But what about specifics? Governments spend a great deal of money internally, for things like defense, but - especially in a place like the United States - governments rely on contractors for products and services. Everything from vaccines to uniforms. In order to find out what any individual contractor received for their work takes a massive amount of effort… and then the available information often is less than satisfying.

As you can imagine, this is unfortunately the beginning of the corruption game. But equally as important, it is also the beginning of the inefficiency game. Honestly, just thinking about the numbers involved gives me the willies, and how to crack this problem? Forget about it.

Luckily for us that’s exactly what my guest for the 164th Terms of Reference Podcast thinks about and works on all day. Gavin Hayman is the Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership - an organization that seeks to open up public contracting through disclosure, data and engagement so that the huge sums of money involved are spent honestly, fairly, and effectively. And, as the former Executive Director of Global Witness, Gavin knows a thing or two about how to uncover unsavory practices of government contractors.

You’re going to love this episode where Gavin and I talk about the origins of the Open Contracting Partnership, the size of the issues they are trying to tackle and how we all benefit when governments (and contractors) get it right. And, personally, I was surprised by some of Gavin’s examples - their just not from where you’d expect to find massive transparency… and I think you will be as well.

Today’s conversation has two themes that I think are important for our listeners. On one level, you’re going to hear about advocating on behalf of health sector innovators, but on another level you’re going to hear about what it takes to pivot a career and take on an entirely new role, in a new sector after almost a decade of dedicated service in another.

My guest for today’s 163rd Terms of Reference Podcast is Jamie Bay Nishi. For the past 9 years, Jamie was at DevEx, starting with member support and ending by leading the production of DevEx World. Only a few months ago, Jamie took over the leadership role at the Global Health Technologies Coalition - an advocacy organization in the health sector.

This is a story of serendipity. But as with all stories of serendipity, it has its foundation in a great deal of hard work, experience and personal investment. Today’s conversation is about finding comfort with being vulnerable, how you advocate in an environment that may not be receptive, how to absorb massive amounts of information quickly in order to communicate effectively with policy makers and, perhaps most importantly, what is possible for all of us in the social sector.

For as long as I’ve been in the social sector, there has been a consensus that those organizations who depend mostly on grant funding (whether from government or foundations or private donors) need to find better, and more sustainable ways to partner with the private sector, or more specifically, for-profit companies. The main reason behind this drive is the assumption that the for-profit world has resources and capabilities that can help socially focused programming achieve sustainability, inject innovative ideas and provide agility not typically found in the public sector.

You’d think after a few decades that this question could be answered - and we’d see a constant mash up of companies and charities. And, to be sure, we do have myriad examples of those partnerships playing out at this very moment. But there is definitely no silver bullet that has swept across the not-for-profit landscape and, I am of the opinion, that there are just some fundamental differences between companies that are solely profit driven, and organizations that are not, which must be negotiated on a case by case basis… or maybe even a person by person basis.

Sam Applebee, my guest for the 162nd Terms of Reference Podcast, sees the necessity for this negotiation and understanding between for profit firms and charities as an opportunity. That’s why he founded Super Global, a network of design, tech and data science companies that support and accelerate the impact of social actors.

I became aware of Super Global after Sam sent me an article he wrote on why why doing pro bono work might be the worst decision for profit companies can make. Intrigued, I had to learn more and I think this conversation goes straight to the heart of what this podcast is all about - how we’re seeking to break the mold of the social sector.

Over the next 45 minutes or so, Sam and I talk about the nuts and bolts of starting an initiative like Super Global, the key points of that negotiation between for profit services and the charities that seek them, and some of the sexy (and not so sexy) project that Super Global has attracted already.

According to the May 6th, 2017 issue of the Economist, data has officially displaced oil as the world’s most valuable resource. If you’re like me, the most surprising part of this declaration is that its taken until now for it to appear. Data drives the business models of most, if not all, of the world’s most valuable companies, governments rely upon data for safety and security issues and data availability is something so many of us take for granted when we’re driving from our homes to an unfamiliar destination.

As the world’s most valuable resource, you’d think that data would be locked in safes, or hidden from view or, basically, hoarded whenever possible. And you’d be correct. However, what we also know is that there is an absolutely mind boggling amount of data that is publicly accessible, or “open”, for anyone to access and use. And there is a powerful movement, which continues to gain popularity, that seeks to unlock, set free and make useful as much of the world’s data as possible.

My guest for the 161st Terms of Reference Podcast, Pavel Richter, sits at one of the focal points of open data movement. He is is the CEO of Open Knowledge International, a worldwide non-profit network of people passionate about openness, using technology to unlock information, and enabling people to take action on pressing social problems. And, Pavel is no newbie to open data, before joining OKI, Pavel was Executive Director of Wikimedia Deutschland for 5 years, and pioneered the internationally acclaimed Wikidata project which is now the fastest growing project for open structured data.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy our conversation, where we discuss topics such as what open data means, the ethics of open data, where open data “lives”, if open data used for “evil” and even how different cultures interpret what “open” means.