Trumanitarian

Evaluations are an essential part of human sharing accountability. And working with a good evaluator is a fantastic opportunity for learning and improving. However, often evaluations turned into painful confrontational accountability exercises, that leaves nobody satisfied and changes nothing. This week's guest on communitarian is Michael Patton who together with Lars Peter Nissen discusses what evaluations can do for the humanitarian sector, what they are and what they are not (an audit) and how to build trust with your clients while at the same time satisfying the need for accountability.

Procurement and logistics remain the backbone of humanitarian operations. But this crucial aspect of humanitarian action doesn't always get the attention it deserves. We spend a lot of time in the humanitarian sector speaking about issues like localization, decolonizing, aid, how to engage with the diaspora, how to change the coordination system, protection. All of these are really important and valuable discussions. But 65% of the humanitarian budget, namely on procurement and the implications of how procurement is done.

This weeks guest is Claire Barnhoorn who is the founder of Solvoz a new project that is focused on transforming the way we do procurement in the humanitarian sector not only for the big established organisations but also for local NGOs. It's an interesting project with the potential to have a significant impact on the humanitarian sector.

Serious games and simulations can help us train and prepare for difficult and some times dangerous situations. Crisis are different from everyday life. Different rules apply, and you have to think and walk and talk differently. When you're in a teaching or training situation and you sit comfortably in your chair behind your desk. It's very easy to agree on policies and procedures, the way we behave when we're in the middle of a stressful situation is very different. Games can help us bridge the gap between how we think we work, how we actually work, and it can bring us insights on how we get closer to working the way we should be.

In this episode Tom Fisher from Imaginetic.com discusses with Lars Peter Nissen what games can do for the humanitarian sector, why they are so powerful and how to use them right.

Humanitarian Action in Ukraine today is a mix between Government-led operations, international humanitarian action and a myriad of grassroots initiative providing essential support to vulnerable populations. But how do these very different types of aid come together? Can "Big Aid" connect with "Little Aid" and can the grassroots initiatives be scaled to become "Little Big Aid?"

Lewis Sida has worked in the humanitarian sector for decades. In Ukraine he has gone rogue, become a "nutter" and is supporting a guy called Vlad who has some medical supplies and a couple of trucks.

Lewis and Lars Peter Nissen explore together the space between big and small aid and contrast the Ukrainian operation with humanitarian action in Yemen.

Philanthropy is an important source of funding for humanitarian action, but how is it different from the money that comes from governments? Is it a drop in the bucket or a different kind of money? And have we been too silent as a humanitarian community when it comes to challenging and shaping our donors, and what is the cost of our silence?

These and many other questions is the topic of this weeks conversation with Patricia (Patty) McIlreavy, the President and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (https://disasterphilanthropy.org/)

The International Planned Parenthood Federation may be the largest NGO you have never heard about. IPPF brings together more than 150 different organisations in a network promoting better access to sexual reproductive health services both within the development and humanitarian sphere.

This weeks guest is Robyn Drysdale, the deputy director of IPPF in charge of humanitarian programs. It is a conversation about the challenges IPPF and its members meet in humanitarian settings, what has been achieved over the past decades and what the challenges are for the future.

You can read more about IPPFs work on their website ippf.org

Homeboy Industries is the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. It works with formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated people, enabling them to redirect their lives.

This weeks guest on Trumanitarian is Thomas Vozzo, who has written a book about his experience as the CEO of Homeboys industries

In this conversation Lars Peter Nissen and Thomas discuss leadership and management, how to balance profit and purpose, the role of spirituality in the workplace and how joy and focus on the individual should drive your work as a leader.

Mental health and humanitarians is an issue which has been surrounded by stigma. The fear of being seen as weak or not suited for humanitarian work has made many humanitarians reluctant to seek help. Some argue that speaking of our own mental health will detract attention from the people we serve. The issue has been receiving increasing attention in recent years, but it has been and continues to be difficult issue to get on the agenda.

Imogen Wall is a humanitarian and an advocate for mental health. She is also the founder of the facebook group “50 shades of aid.” Imogen’s basic message is that you have to be well to serve well and that we need to talk more not less about how humanitarians are impacted by extreme situations and daily stress.

You can read more more about humanitarians and mental health this acticle by Young, Parkenham and Norwood: 

If you are struggling with mental health in one way or another, please seek help from those around you! Also, Imogen is more than happy to talk to you and help identify where you can get help. You can reach her either through her website or on linkedin 

Disasters are not natural, far from it! The impact of a crisis is shaped by a wide range of societal factors and disasters replicate and amplify the inequalities that exist in society so that it is the marginalized communities tare hit the hardest. The Covid pandemic has once again taught us that lesson. Yet, we continue to refer to sudden onset crisis as “natural disasters” and that is not just a question of semantics, it is an indication of how we tell the wrong story of crisis and very often therefore also seek the wrong solutions.

This weeks guests on Trumanitarian are Ksenia Chmutina and Jason von Meding. They are academics and co-hosts of the podcast “Deconstructing Disasters.” Ksenia and bring an important perspective to us as practitioners, and because I wanted to explore what we can use each other for.

You can find the Disasters Deconstructed podcast here: https://disastersdecon.podbean.com

Are Humanitarian Organizations doing an amazing job with scare resources under impossible circumstances, or has international humanitarian assistance turned into a colonial, un-accountable, technocracy – disaster capitalism at its worst? And should we be more careful when criticizing this sector not to undermine morale and give the opponents of aid ammunition? This and many other questions is what Gareth Price-Jones, the Executive Secretary of SCHR and Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, the co-founder and Board President of Haitian Community Foundation discuss with Lars Peter Nissen in this episode.