Stay ConnectedGlobal campaigner and author Sarah Brown chats with people who’ve had a positive influence on the world around them, and unearths the lessons to help us do the same. Find out how to develop the better angel inside yourself. Featuring stories from globally renowned campaigners, Nobel Prize winners, celebrities, politicians and remarkable young people, Better Angels with Sarah Brown champions the activist spirit.
Credits:
Executive Producer: Ben Hewitt
Music: Pete Lyons
Photo: Brian Aris
John Goodwin, CEO of The LEGO Foundation, talks to Sarah Brown about the need to "redefine" play and "reimagine" learning.
He argues that play is often overlooked by society when in fact it helps children to develop important skills for adult life, such as critical thinking and problem solving.
"Play is the way that children are naturally wired to learn and by subjugating it to the end of line means that children are really inhibited from having the opportunity to get the maximum learning opportunity," he says.
John also talks about the important role that education played in his own life, particularly teachers, who helped him to develop self-belief, confidence and resilience.
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, speaks with Sarah Brown about the need for young people to vote - and to vote well - if they want to make a difference to people's lives. In the inaugural episode of this Better Angels podcast series, he argues that voting is "the most basic and fundamental form of engagement" in democratic countries.
He also discusses the education crisis facing millions of child refugees around the world - a crisis which has been exacerbated by Covid-19. Calling for greater investment in the education of young refugees, he says that "education is as important for refugees as it is for anyone".Refugee camps in Greece remain overcrowded and unhygienic beyond imagination, but until Covid-19 struck new education centres were a daily lifeline for children who had fled conflict and persecution, many arriving after perilous journeys from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
This episode provides a glimpse into life in those camps and talks to the team behind Theirworld's new report that offers a way forward out of the refugee education crisis. Sarah talks to organisations making a difference there, and to two refugees who shed their personal light on what those on the islands are going through.
Sarah talks to Maysa Jalbout, author of the report 'Finding Solutions to Greece's Refugee Education Crisis'; Justin van Fleet, president, Theirworld; Abi Hewitt, CEO and co-founder of Love Welcomes; Tanko Doris Laure, refugee from Cameroon; Sanda Leslie, refugee from Cameroon; Josie Naughton, chief executive officer, Help Refugees; Naoko Imoto, education chief UNICEF Partnership Office in Greece.
Theirworld is a major funder of education on the Greek Islands – with the support of the People's Postcode Lotteries and our many individual supporters – in partnering with Education Cannot Wait, UNICEF, UNHCR and many local charities and groups.
Sarah Brown explores the themes of the new Penguin paperback How to Go Work, and its subtitle, the Honest Advice No Else Ever Tells You, with authors Lucy Clayton and Steven Haines.
Initially recorded just before lockdown for young activists and those starting out on their careers, Steven and Lucy then added an interview about how the coronavirus crisis is requiring all of us who are lucky enough to still be working to re-evaluate the value and impact of what we are doing.
Steven draws on his extensive campaign experience at Save the Children, and Lucy on her background in advertising and ethical fashion, to provide valuable advice in this challenging time to be starting out in the world of work, or beginning a new job or project.
Sarah Brown talks to guests at Theirworld's sixth International Women's Day event, where women from all walks of life, with a few men dotted around, gathered to talk and share their experiences, contacts and ideas on how to unlock big change for girls and young women.
We hear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank managing director, nearly moved to tears as she accepted our first Unlock Big Change award.
We hear from other inspiring women, including Jo Brand, self-proclaimed 'comic, writer, mother and super-model'; Amrit Kaur Lohia, musician and Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador; Sophie Walker, chief executive of the Young Women's Trust; Yvette Cooper MP, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee; Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer at Unilever; Rosemary Leith Berners-Lee, co-founder of the Web Foundation; Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, mathematician and co-founder of the Stemettes, and not forgetting, of course, Theirworld's very own Jamira Burley, who hosted the event.
This is a special edition of the Better Angels podcast where we talk to iconic changemakers around the world. This episode has been recorded for the People's Postcode Lottery – for everyone who plays it and everyone who works there supporting both the players and the charities – at Theirworld we want to say thank you and share some of our stories from our Better Angels interviews so you can hear about the impact that your support makes. Here you will hear from global leaders from the United Nations, European Commission, Africa, and Lebanon, from the Theirworld leadership team, our ambassador Nick Sharratt and if you listen to the end how well known actors like David Morrissey, Sir Patrick Stewart and David Tennant add their voices to our campaigns and causes they care about. Theirworld's vision is to end the global education crisis and unleash the potential of the next generation. Five years ago, while nearly half of the world's out-of-school children were caught up in conflict, its aftermath and natural disasters around the world, big change was needed. This meant addressing large-scale structural change as well as determining what works on the ground - from school transport and nutritious meals to trauma counselling and effective teaching for refugee children. The players of the People's Postcode Lottery have enabled Theirworld to tackle new areas of involvement, push our campaign worldwide and get right up close to the decision-makers who can unlock that big change and create a brighter future for millions of children. We believe that the trust that the players, and the team at People's Postcode Lottery, have placed in Theirworld has made a difference to our goals. And we would like to share with you some of the perspectives on how we go about addressing the global education crisis Contributors (in order of appearance) Sarah Brown Chair, Theirworld Graça Machel Global advocate for women's and children's rights Wanja Maina Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld. Jamira Burley Youth engagement advisor, Theirworld Amina Mohammed Deputy Secretary-General, the United Nations Annemiek Hoogenboom Country Director, People's Postcode Lotteries Christos Stylianides Former European Commissioner for Humanitarian and Aid Crisis Management Melissa Fleming Head of Communications, the United Nations Elias Bou Saab Former Lebanese Minister for Education and Higher Education Justin van Fleet President, Theirworld Nick Sharratt Children's illustrator and author Yasmine Sherif Director, Education Cannot Wait
David Morrissey Actor and UNHCR ambassador David Tennant Actor Sir Patrick Stewart Actor Shazia Ramzan Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld Kainat Riaz Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld Better Angels is presented by Sarah Brown. The producer is Ben Hewitt, and it is edited by Warren Borg of Worgie productions. February 2020.
Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative in the United States, discusses the impact of prison education with Sarah Brown. As he says, 'nothing does more to create a sense of hope and purpose in otherwise desperate places than the opportunity to learn'.
A leading advocate for his cause, Max's programme enrols jailed men and women in academic courses that culminate in a degree from the prestigious Bard College in New York.
He has a battle on his hands to make the case for prison learning in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, which sees 630,000 prisoners released annually, only for nearly 50 per cent to end up back in prison within five years.
In something of a first for Better Angels, Sarah talks to husband & wife advocates for change - Dan Snow, the popular TV presenter and historian, and Edwina Grosvenor, philanthropist and prison activist. They discuss their passion for speaking up for under-privileged people and how understanding the past informs their activism and awareness.
Edwina's charity strives for positive change in the justice system, while she is also a founding investor and Ambassador of the Clink Restaurant chain, which trains prisoners for work in the catering industry. She talks about how a visit to a prison drug rehabilitation unit at the age of 12 inspired a career supporting prison reform.
Her work has taken her all over the UK and around the world, visiting different models of criminal justice and witnessing first hand examples of best – and worst - prison practice.
Dan Snow discusses the need to appreciate the complexity of people's pasts and personal stories when assessing how to pursue social justice and reform. Known as the History Guy, Dan is one of the most familiar faces on television in the UK. He now hosts his own digital history channel and podcast, History Hit, a seemingly endless source of programming about fascinating aspects of history. He began presenting for the BBC soon after leaving university, and went on to front countless series and programmes on key moments in British and global history.
Young activists share their ideas on campaigning to end the global education crisis. Sarah speaks to four of Theirworld's Global Youth Ambassadors, inspiring young campaigners.
They share their passion for helping children around the world gain access to education and talk about the important role education has to play in providing life skills that will serve them long into the future.
Wanja Maina is an inclusive education campaigner from Kenya whose mother carried her several miles each day on her back to school because of her disability. She ended up with a Master's degree and a commitment to see others get into school and learning no matter what barriers they may face.
Javita Nauth is an American-Guyanese Global Youth Ambassador from Guyana who focuses on Early Childhood Education. One of her major projects is reconstructing eco-friendly and earthquake resistant schools in rural parts of Nepal Badly affected by the 2015 earthquake.
Pavel Sarwar, originally from Bangladesh, is now living and working in Malaysia. He is a tech entrepreneur and education campaigner who co-founded Youth Hub, a non-profit platform for young tech entrepreneurs that runs school coding and initiatives for girls and young women in ICT.
Jocelyne Jeannot has been a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador since 2014. She works at the American-Pakistan Foundation as the Director for Community Engagement, and is also a published, award-winning photographer
Sarah talks to remarkable campaigner and inclusion expert Vibhu Sharma about how to bring more children and young people with disabilities into education.
Sharing the difficulties she went through at school, Vibhu speaks about making sure that others do not have the same experience.
They discuss what makes education truly inclusive, for children with or without a disability, or young refugees or children living in conflict situations
This interview was recorded in September 2019 during the United Nations General Assembly in New York
This episode of Better Angels was edited by Warren Borg, Worgie Productions.
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