Terms Of Reference Podcast

So, imagine for a moment that you're a college student getting ready to spend a summer working internationally. Maybe in a hotel in a tropical resort, or as an eco tour guide, or maybe helping teach children in an orphanage. The options are almost limitless if you look hard enough. This is exciting stuff! So, now your bags are packed, you've said goodby to mom and dad and you're on the plane. But, when you land at your destination, it turns out to be nothing at all like what you expected. You're passport and phone are taken from you. You're locked in a hotel room and, rather than serving cocktails to high end tourists, you find yourself being forced to clean fish or... some other job.

I've just painted a picture that, in reality, is fairly unlikely for a kid from the US or Europe, because there are systems in place that vet employers, study abroad opportunities and the like to ensure they are legit. Unfortunately, however, human trafficking and exploitation is still a reality for thousands of people around the world today. Often the go-to image of this horror is young women being forced into the sex trade. But exploitation happens in numerous other ways as well - in domestic work, in fisheries, in manual labor of all types.

My guest for the 140th Terms of Reference Podcast has spent a career combatting human exploitation. Tara Dermott currently leads IOM X, which is the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) campaign to encourage safe migration and public action to stop human trafficking and exploitation in the Asia Pacific region. This campaign has reached more than 158 million people in less than two years and has helped to not only shape the conversation around exploitation, but also help many people out of it.

The challenges faced by communities in developing contexts around the world are anything but simple. Climate change, protracted conflict, gender issues, food scarcity, natural resource management... these and the hundreds of other topics that development professionals work on everyday are complex by their very nature.

Working effectively within these complex system requires an integrated approach that considers the many factors affecting a community, all at the same time. As one, off the cuff example, adequate health care systems require educational support, which requires funding and facilities, which need a sound foundation of infrastructure and policy. And, that's just looking at if from a practical "how to" perspective - adding in cultural, environmental and unsavory factors, such as conflict, weaves a web that is difficult to untangle.

My guest for the 139th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Patrick Fine, sees the creation of an evidence base for integrated development as a critical success factor for the future of our sector. As the CEO of FHI360, Patrick oversees a truly global development operation - one that not only implements programming, but also seeks to create new knowledge from which everyone can benefit. I have no doubt you'll enjoy this wide ranging conversation about how FHI360 is positioning themselves for the future of development.

Do you ever have the feeling that your work in the Social Impact sector is akin to "plowing the sea?" That is - despite all of the time and effort you've put into your particular program or project, the effects are less than expected or, worse, completely disappear in a relatively short time? This was a lament of Rainer Arnhold, a pediatrician who, despite having helped countless children around the world and dedicating his life to serving others, felt that his work had not produced lasting change.

Upon Dr. Arnhold's untimely death in 1993, his family created the Mulago Foundation in his honor. My guest for the 138th Episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Dr. Kevin Starr, who was Rainer's mentee and serves as the Managing Director of Mulago, has led the foundation in investments that see to create lasting change at scale. With alumni such as the One Acre Fund, RootCapital and Sanergy, its plain to see they understand what it takes to go the distance.

If you're listening to this podcast, you're clearly a part of the digital revolution. Social media is a part of your life. Blogging may even be something you do. And... you even have a host of expectations about what minimum requirements you have for a job or an organization regarding your interaction with all things interweb. But how do we align this increasingly frenetic universe of digital options to ensure that they support the social impact we want to create?

Enter Chris Wolz as my guest for the 137th Terms of Reference Podcast. Chris is the CEO of ForumOne, digital agency that works with mission-driven organizations to create the stunning designs, smart messaging, and custom built technology tools they need to realize their goals and extend their influence in the areas they care about most.

Would you agree with me that it is easy to become overwhelmed - in general? If I'm honest, which I always try to be, it actually pains me that this reality is, well, a reality. But, the truth of the matter is we are all a part of this brave new world where information, opinions, new ideas and old obligations are hurtling at us with both unprecedented speed and in abundant volume.

So what, then, do you do, when its you're job to coordinate the implementation of innovation - of new solutions to old problems? With the wrong person or team in place, it could quickly become a case study in watching people go crazy as they attempt to absorb all the information about shiny new objects, while effectively staying the course to roll out the technology or process that has been developed for the needs at hand.

This is exactly what my guest for the 136th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast does day in and day out. Sean Blaschke is the ICT4D coordinator for UNICEF in Uganda and, as you'll hear in just a second, he has essentially an unlimited amount of stories about how implementing new practices can go wrong - but also what happens when you get it right.

Have you ever stopped to think about how many things in your life depend on the weather? Everything from your mood to your travel plans to whether or not you'll get to wear that awesome brand new pair of blue suede shoes you've been dying to show off.

The weather is also, of course, important for farmers. Being able to predict when it will rain (or not) could mean the difference between raising a successful crop or ending up with a field of dead plants. For farmers outside of the tropics, weather prediction has gotten fairly accurate over time (and, no, this podcast is not about global climate change). However, for farmers in the tropics, because of unique micro climates and rapidly shifting patterns, predicting the weather has been troublesome, at best. At worst, it just hasn't been available.

Enter my guest for the 135th Terms of Reference Podcast. Sable Bender is the Digital Marketing and Social Media Strategist for Ignitia - the world's first weather forecasting service specifically designed for the tropics. T

What do libraries have to do with innovation for aid and development? Total honest answer from my side: when I was doing my research for the 134th Terms of Reference Podcast, I knew there would be high value in a conversation with Chris Coward - who is the co-founder, Principal Research Scientist, and Director of the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington - but I had no idea that our conversation would be such a fun, far ranging and wild ride.

From TASHA's convening of the first tech conference in 1999 about how society will be affected by the "new" interweb, to how MOOCS are used in the developing world, to how adoption of smart phones in Myanmar fundamentally changes that populations view of what computing is all about... to libraries, and how these institutions are becoming - not less - but more and more relevant in the age of information. I know you're going to love this show.

I have a confession to make: I'm fairly certain I under-appreciate design. Especially design as the cultural phenomenon it has become in everything from mobile phones to toilets. If you're paying attention to the same types of feeds as me, (you probably need to get out more) you know that design, as a critical practice for success, has come into its own in a massive way over the past 10 years - ever since Apple took over the hardware space in technology.

My guest today for the 133rd Terms of Reference Podcast, Ravi Chhatpar, believes that design also has an important seat at the humanitarian aid and development table. He is one of the co-founders of Dalberg’s Design Impact Group, which is dedicated to helping their clients find creative approaches to breakthrough innovation for social impact. As you'll hear in our talk, DIG's process can help lead to better strategies for innovation, user focused products and services and catalyzing unique and creative outcomes from groups.

I always get excited at the beginning of a new year. I think here is something important about moments like these that allow us a collective opportunity to not only enjoy time with friends and family, but also take stock of where things stand, and what we might like to change. While I remain humbled that you're now listening to the 132nd episode we're publishing here on TOR, I've also spent the closing of last year receiving feedback, working with our team and getting energized for how we will continue to grow, shape and evolve this show to do our part in helping to make aid and development better.

As I'm recording this we're standing at the precipice of a time when the aid and development sector will come under unprecedented scrutiny and pressure. With Brexit, and now the election of Trump, it is not a question of if, but when, this will happen. The time couldn't be more ripe for taking bold steps to better define why what we do to help others not only matters, but is effective in ending suffering and creating change. I, for one, am up for the challenge and I hope you'll join me.

This very reason, however, is why I'm especially excited to bring you this episode. Because, you see, a little more than a year ago, the US State Department also experienced one of these reflective moments where they realized there was, potentially, a massive source of energy and innovation that had never before been tapped, right in their own back yard. What came out of that moment was the piloting of a office in Silicon Valley to learn how they might contribute to solutions for some of the world's most difficult challenges. My guest, Zvika Krieger, has been at the forefront of that pilot and he's here to tell us what they've learned and what will happen next.

One of the things I love the most about the stories here on the Terms of Reference Podcast is listening to the always incredible, but retrospectively obvious, paths which have lead all of our Aidpreneurs to their current passions. In fact, as I've documented in the eBook "Making It," this is one of the factors that defines those who have created a sustainable and satisfying career in development and humanitarian aid.

My guest for the 131st episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Noam Angrist, is no exception to this rule. Noam is the Executive Director of Young1ove, an organization that finds health-related messages that have been shown to create change, through a pile of evidence, and then finds creative, culturally appropriate ways to deliver these messages for youth, by youth. While this model, on the surface, may not seem ground breaking, as you'll hear in just a minute, the results that Noam and the Young1love team are achieving in Botswana through their "No Sugar" program are.