Terms Of Reference Podcast

What would you do if your job was to figure out, on a global scale, who doesn't have enough to eat? Or, more importantly, who had insecurity in their life specifically because of food scarcity? Just thinking about the scale of the problem blows my mind a little bit. But then, wait for it, what if you then had to also design and execute interventions that would, to a large degree, address those food security issues. Oh, and did I mention that this is a constantly evolving and changing process?

This is exactly what my guest for the 130th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast does along with the team at the World Food Programme's Vulnerability and Analysis Mapping Initiative. Jean-Martin Bauer is a Senior Analyst at WFP, where he leads the mobile VAM initiative, which involves deploying digital innovations to collect food security data in near real time. He has been on the front lines of understanding food scarcity for years and in this episode he tells us about how VAM has evolved since its paper-survey beginnings and where it will go in the future.

For those of you who've been listening to the show for a while, it is fairly obvious that there is, quite literally, a ton of data out there related to development initiatives and humanitarian assistance. If you had the time, money and desire, you could find data about almost any aspect assistance: things like baseline data about a population, damage assessments, geospatial data, demographics of the people affected by a crisis, or things like which organizations, governments and companies are on the ground helping. The problem is, in the humanitarian sector, organizations don't have the time, money and people power to hunt down this data. And, even more of a problem is the fact that the data is locked in spreadsheets on individual laptops, only captured in written notes or, unfortunately, kept hidden as a potential competitive advantage.

Sarah Telford, my guest for the 129th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, is on a mission to change all of this. She is the Chief of Data Services at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and oversees the continuing development of a global open data platform called the Humanitarian Data Exchange. The goal of HDX is to make humanitarian data easy to find and use for analysis, and, as of July 2014, has been accessed by users in over 200 countries and territories.

You don’t have to be in development or aid to know that mobile has been disruption banking for a while. But those of us in the sector are acutely aware of how mobile banking has literally changed the lives of millions of people by providing financial access to even the most remote areas, and the results have been, generally speaking, fantastic. As just one example, we know that people who have access to mobile banking are more resilient to shocks and emergencies, a potential game changer in many parts of the world.

While its well established, the use of mobile in the banking world is far from complete. In fact, its still just beginning. Where it is going next is the primary focus of Xavier Faz, my guest for the 128th Terms of Reference Podcast. Xavier is the Lead of the Digital Financial Frontiers Initiative for CGAP, which is housed at the World Bank, where they look to leverage innovations around mobile phones and mobile payments that allow new services to be delivered.

So, let's say that you had a great idea for a commercial product or service that ultimately grew into a fairly large, sustainable and profitable company. Would you be the type of founder entrepreneur who would step back and say to yourself, "I wonder how we might give back some of the success we've had to help solve some of the world's more important problems?"

Lucky for everyone, that is exactly what the folks that started Tableau Software have done through the Tableau Foundation. In this, the 127th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, I speak with Neal Myrick and Steve Schwartz. Neal is the Director of Social Impact at Tableau Software and Director of Tableau Foundation. Steve the Marketing Manager for Tableau Software’s Social Impact efforts and supports the Tableau Foundation’s work. Steve is also a co-founder of Upaya Social Ventures, a nonprofit incubator that is building businesses and creating jobs in India’s poorest communities.

Specifically, we focus our conversation on how Tableau has partnered with PATH to create the VisualizeNoMalria campaign, and how Tableau's software contributes to this campaign through data analysis and visualization support.

I spoke with Neal and Steve in Seattle Washington.

Finding ways to empower those in need through better access to education has been a hallmark service of the development and aid community for decades. The education sector, like any other, is ripe for disruption, especially as we consider how we deliver curriculum over distance, customize education for individual needs, provide alternatives and outlets for both the gifted and those that have special needs, and much more.

Michael Trucano, my guest for the 126th Terms of Reference Podcast, has dedicated the past 18 years of his life to thinking and advising governments how they can enhance education through the use of information and communication technologies. Michael is the World Bank's Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Innovation in Education. He is also the principal voice behind the World Bank's influential and widely read EduTech blog.

Getting an idea off the ground is incredibly difficult, even when you have access to the right resources, tools, funding and networks. So what happens when you not only have none of that access, but the very place you live is known as an active conflict zone? Can entrepreneurship be used as a bridge to not only help people out of poverty, but also to change the dynamics of conflict?

My guest today on the 125th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Hen Ben Saadon, believes this is possible. He is the Vice President for business development and operations for Unistream - an organization in Israel that empowers teens from underprivileged communities, and all walks of life, buy helping them to create their own entrepreneurial ventures.

There is no shortage of talk about innovation in the aid and development space - but how much of this talk has actually moved beyond small scale piloting programs into standard operations for funders and implementors? My unscientific read from the field continues to say "not much," especially in the case of large-scale implementors. Like any established system or process, fundamentally shifting the way business is done takes both time and unwavering leadership.

The US Global Development Lab at USAID seeks to be a mechanism for taking ideas to change-making action. As explained by Alexis Bonnell, my guest on the 124th Terms of Reference Podcast, the Lab seeks to be a catalyst for nothing less than "the transformation of the development enterprise by opening development to people everywhere with good ideas, promoting new and deepening existing partnerships, bringing data and evidence to bear, and harnessing scientific and technological advances."

Alexis is the Division Chief in Applied Innovation and Acceleration for The Lab. As you've come to expect from TOR guests, she is definitely someone to listen to: she has developed and delivered over a billion dollars of humanitarian and development programming in over 25 conflict, post-conflict, and emergency countries, in almost every sector from education to stabilization, for more than 30 International Bi-lateral donors, 10 UN agencies, the military, and the private sector.

Having an idea to change the way we help others is one thing - getting it off the ground and into reality is an entirely different matter. While there are any number of amazing stories about Aidpreneurs who have bootstrapped their way to success, even those who started with no funding eventually find themselves in a place where filling the coffers is necessary to scale, pivot or just grow.

My guest for the 123rd episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast knows a thing or two about funding innovation. Kim Scriven is the Manager of the Humanitarian Innovation Fund. Kim is responsible for the development and management of the Fund, and oversees both its grant making processes and innovation management work. Kim has been a longstanding advocate for increased investment in innovation by the humanitarian system, previously working within the Secretariat of the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), where his work focused on supporting innovation in humanitarian organisations, and promoting learning around innovation.

So often we find ourselves talking about innovation in the humanitarian aid and development space in terms of gadgets or technologies - the "shiny objects" of the future. While there is certainly a lot to be said about how the brave new digital world will allow us to help those in need more effectively, sometimes... it just isn't necessary to take a massive leap.

My guest today on the 122nd episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, Wanjala Wafula, is a classic problem solver and think-on-your-feet innovators. His organization, called The Coexist Initiative, has been working on gender issues in Kenya and beyond for more than a decade and, while they absolutely use the latest in technology, social media, and more, they also often rely on the most simple tools and ideas to help create change.

As any Aidpreneur will readily tell you, putting together even the most simple service or product to help those in need becomes an all consuming affair rather quickly. That is, if you want to actually get it on the street, refine, grow scale and have a sense of sustainability that can see beyond the next payroll cycle. Then if you add in the need to measure impact and managing or marketing real human behavior change while satisfying the needs of government or private donors... well you see where I'm going.

All of this is to say that it is the exceptionally rare bird who can do all of this alone. In fact, I honestly don't know of anyone who has - no matter our level of genius, we all have a network of support we call upon to breath life into our projects and companies and help them grow from seed to oak tree. Randall Kemper, my guest on then 121st episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, knows and preaches this everyday. He is the Executive Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) - a global membership network of organizations that seek to propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets by providing critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses.