Rethinking Development Podcast

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2.2 A Failure of Leadership Apr 13, 2020

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Paula Donovan is the co-director of AIDS-Free World, an international organization that advocates for institutional change with a focus on reforming powerful institutions’ responses to the social injustices that have allowed HIV to flourish. She has spent more than three decades working to advance women's and children's rights, both within the UN system—with UNICEF, UNIFEM and the Office of the UN Special Envoy on HIV and AIDS in Africa—and as a civil society advocate since she co-founded AIDS-Free World. She launched AIDS-Free World’s Code Blue Campaign in 2015 to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel, beginning with the military and civilian personnel involved in UN peacekeeping operations. She speaks to us about working to promote mothers' right to have control over infant feeding choices, structural injustices, the fear and stereotypes associated with the HIV crisis in eastern and southern Africa, activist movements, the failure of UN leaders to name and shame bad politicians, violence against women, advocating for the creation of a UN agency devoted to women's issues, the UN System Wide Coherence Agenda, fighting to end impunity in cases of sexual abuse and violence by UN staff, the UN convention on privileges and immunities, and much more. She joins us from Boston, USA.

2.1 The Challenges of our Time Apr 06, 2020

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Robert David Cohen is an award-winning poet, journalist, children’s rights expert and communications strategist. He is the director and co-founder of Rain Barrel Communications, a global consulting firm based in NYC. Rain Barrel gives strategic and tactical communications support and counsel to UN agencies and other international organizations, NGOs, governments, businesses and universities. Prior to founding Rain Barrel, Robert was a communication specialist for UNICEF. He worked in dozens of countries to facilitate dialogue, create partnerships, foster trust and find common ground among diverse stakeholders for a broad array of advocacy causes, many of them centered on the rights and well-being of children. He served as chief speechwriter to two successive Executive Directors, helping to articulate the mission of the organization on issues ranging from preventable child and maternal deaths and hunger to HIV/AIDS and child soldiers. Robert speaks to us about working as a journalist and editor in Latin America, working as a speech writer for Jim Grant, the power of language, the negotiations that took place behind the ratification of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, communication for development and unintentional harm, the existential challenge that is climate change, unjust economic and political models, multilateralism, new models of cooperation, the COVID-19 pandemic and much more. He joins us from New York City, USA.

Trailer Mar 28, 2020

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Welcome to the Rethinking Development Podcast. The place where international development and humanitarian aid practitioners and leaders share their thoughts and reflections on ethics, challenges and the systemic issues that they face in their work.

1.13 The Right to Freedom of Expression Sep 12, 2019

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A journalist by training, Mikel Aguirre worked as a radio reporter for the public broadcast of the Basque autonomous region in Spain before joining the UNESCO Jakarta regional office in 2011. He launched the first regional programme on Youth and Civic Engagement, where media played a central role as means to empowering youth and strengthening their voices. Since 2015, Mikel has been working at the UNESCO office in Myanmar where he is leading the organization’s programme on Freedom of Expression. He works closely with the government and journalists to open up a space for independent media as well as promoting the right to free expression as a critical element of the democratic transition that Myanmar initiated in 2012 after decades of military rule that kept the country isolated from the rest of the world. Mikel speaks to us about understanding the role of each development partner, identifying the distinctive advantage of your organization, defending freedom of expression, the importance of collaboration and multilateralism, planting small seeds that can grow over time, the power of the media and the complexities of representation, the need to educate media consumers to become more conscious consumers, UNESCO's funding and organizational structure, the importance of putting more effort in learning about the country you are working in, and much more. He joins us from Yangon, Myanmar.

1.12 Dialogue and Citizen Participation Sep 04, 2019

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Paula Claycomb began her career in journalism before transitioning to the UN system in 1989. She worked with UNICEF on social change communication in Rwanda, Kenya, Afghanistan, East Timor, Sudan and many other countries. She served as Chief of the Landmines and Small Arms Group and as Senior Advisor for Communication for Development, managing the development of policies, guidelines and standards at the global level. Since her retirement from UNICEF in 2012, Paula has provided consulting services in strategic planning and communication for development and is now the Director of Rain Barrel Communications, an international communications consulting firm that co-creates social good initiatives with partners, with a special orientation to the wellbeing of children. Paula speaks with us about the importance of dialogue and participation of effected populations in C4D, the need for long term campaigns, working in the context of genocide and the evolution of humanitarian thinking, mine risk education, simultaneously being an activist and a staff member, increasing resources for communication, learning from past mistakes, and much more. She joins us from Taos, USA.

1.11 Beginning with Ourselves: Patriarchy, SHeroes and the Training of Changemakers Aug 28, 2019

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Kamla Bhasin is an Indian feminist, activist, author and facilitator. She is the Co-Founder of "Sangat" – A Global Feminist Network. She facilitates Sangat's annual South Asian Feminist Capacity Building Course on Gender, Sustainable Livelihoods, Human Rights and Peace. She is also the South Asia Coordinator of "One Billion Rising" - a global campaign to end violence against women and girls. Kamla worked with the FAO for 27 years where her worked focused on rural development and women's empowerment in Thailand, Bangladesh, India and other Asian countries. Kamla has written extensively on gender, women’s empowerment, participatory and sustainable development, participatory training, media and communication. Most of her books are written for activists and development workers. She has also written a large number of songs and slogans for the women's movement and books for children. She speaks to us about trickle down theory vs evaporation theory, top down development not reaching the poor, the importance of local knowledge and leadership in development, peoples participation, rural realities and her work in rural journalism in the 1970s, intersectionality, hierarchies in international development organizations, her life-long commitment to the training of change agents, collective learning experiences, capitalist patriarchy, and much more. She joins us from New Delhi, India.

1.10 Working In & With Communities Aug 20, 2019

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Andrea Burniske has more than 20 years of experience in international development, 15 of which were spent developing and leading programs and projects in countries such as Tajikistan, Peru, Colombia and Russia for various international development agencies. Her work has centered on environmentally sustainable economics and business development, women’s empowerment, and emergency responses among other areas. She is currently working at Purdue University where she is the Chief of Party for a USAID-funded program named Long-Term Assistance and Solutions for Research (LASER) as part of the Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine (PULSE), which seeks to promote close collaboration around development challenges between academic researchers and NGOs and other development practitioners. She talks to us about the role of media in social development, social structures and power relationships, human flaws, working with government and donors, building trust by being in the field and developing sincere relationships, corruption, the bridge between academia and development and much more. She joins us from Lafayette, USA.

1.9 Peaks and Valleys of Aid & Development Aug 12, 2019

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Gary Burniske is currently the Managing Director of the Center for Global Food Security within Discovery Park at Purdue University. He is responsible for the day to day management of the Center and networks with Purdue’s faculty and scientists to take a multi-disciplinary approach to tackling global challenges affecting food security. Before joining Purdue, Gary served as Country Director for Mercy Corps in Colombia and Tajikistan, and Country Director for the Institute for Sustainable Communities in Russia. He also worked as Regional Technical Advisor in Agriculture and Natural Resources with CARE covering 25 countries in Asia and Latin America. He speaks to us about the transition from emergency to development work, food for work programs, politicization of funding and the role of donors, behaviour change, working as a country director, clustering of programs, plan for phasing out vs continuous problems at different time periods, the role of the military in aid, the complexities of drug policies, working in academia and much more. He joins us from Lafayette, USA.

1.8 Working with Trauma Jul 29, 2019

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Dr. Patricia Omidian is a medical anthropologist and international development consultant. She is also the co-founder of Focusing Initiatives International, an international NGO that supports the development of community wellness programs and trains trainers and local practitioners in public health approached to wellness and trauma healing. She has many years of international experience primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan working with different organizations including Save the Children, WHO, IRC and more on research and evaluation, community health, social reintegration, peace building, psychosocial wellness and education. She speaks with us about addressing the layers of intergenerational war time and refugee experience related trauma, cultural modalities of healing, the concept of safety, and much more. She joins us from Oregon, USA.

1.7 Urgency, Security and Humanitarian Assistance Jul 19, 2019

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Paul Barker began his career as a peace corps volunteer in Iran before beginning to work with a variety of organizations primarily in humanitarian contexts in Sudan, Ethiopia, West Bank and Gaza, Afghanistan and more. Over the years he has worked on addressing the underlying causes of social issues in vulnerable areas through policy analysis, advocacy and improved program design. He has held numerous Country Director positions with CARE and Save the Children where he led programs that addressed important social issues such as emergency feeding, maternal and child health, rural credit and micro finance programs, water and sanitation, peace building, child rights governance and child protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation and more. He speaks to us about the joy of working in rural communities, working with governments, internal tracking and accounting systems, the role of the media, a sense of urgency, the role of the military, and much more. He joins us from Portland, USA.

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