What does it take to disrupt traditional ways of fighting poverty, delivering aid, and providing healthcare in Africa? Veteran digital health / healthtech entrepreneur Rowena Luk interviews social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and activists on how they went from an idea to demonstrating impact, raising funds, and creating sustainable social enterprises. For anyone looking for a better way to do good, explore the strategies and tools successful innovators are applying to make change that lasts. AidEvolved.com
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Digital Identity, Cash, and Trust in Humanitarian Response with Rosa Akbari
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Rosa Akbari is a humanitarian technologist. She deploys digital technologies for crisis response, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Most recently she was a Senior Advisor in Technology for Development at Mercy Corps, and before that has worked with organizations such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Dimagi, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).
Our conversation with Rosa is also a case study on the use of digital identities, cash programming, and the interplay of machine interoperability with human trust, in times of crisis. Rosa shares the story of how her family left the Middle East, and how she couldn't resist going back. We talk about setting up Wi-Fi hotspots in Haiti, digital identities in Iraq, and digital vouchers in the Central African Republic (CAR). We explore the design challenges of working with both low literacy and low numeracy populations. Through this journey, we hear some familiar themes re-emerge, such as the importance of watching, listening, and learning from the local context. And how crucial it is to respect local knowledge and institutions, in order to make change that lasts.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Defying Expectations with Nithya Ramanathan of Nexleaf Analytics
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Nithya Ramanathan is CEO and co-founder of Nexleaf Analytics, a technology non-profit. Today, Nexleaf technology protects the vaccine supply for 1 in 10 children born on Earth. Nexleaf Analytics is known for its work in low-cost smart sensor design, data analytics, and data advocacy.
In this conversation with Nithya, we unpack the formative experiences which led Nithya to Nexleaf. She talks about the discrimination she faced in high school, and ignored. She shares the complex lessons she learned from building a "simple" well in Bangladesh. And she celebrates the strong individuals who have inspired and guided her along the way.
In the second half of our conversation, we dig into a few trickier topics. For example, what is the role, and the limits, of researchers in international development. We discuss how health data needs to be owned at the country level, even though and especially when aid workers are eager to present this data in the international spotlight. Nithya celebrates what she's learned through years navigating and supporting government decisions - even when those decisions acted against Nexleaf. And, of course, we talk about how low-cost sensor technology, often referred to as the "Internet of Things", is changing how healthcare works in the most remote parts of the world.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
In 2019, when I started thinking about doing a podcast on innovation in aid, I looked around to see what else was out there. At the time, one podcast stood out to me for its ability to capture the spirit of innovation in aid. It was the Terms of Reference Podcast, which Stephen Ladek ran from 2014 to 2018. Stephen recorded almost two hundred episodes with aid workers, social entrepreneurs, and other change-makers. His guests included CEO of FHI360 Patrick Fine, USAID's Chief Innovation Officer Alexis Bonnell, the President of Chemonics Bernhard Kowatsch, and the Head of the Innovation Accelerator at World Food Programme Jamey Butcher. As one does, I stalked Stephen relentlessly on the internet until he agreed to be on my show.
In our conversation, Stephen and I talk about what it means to be a podcaster and an entrepreneur in the aid industry. Stephen shares his secret to success over the years. We gripe about how this sector has plenty of policies and policy makers, and how it has platforms for diplomats and executives to speak - but it doesn't have enough space to share the stories and lessons learned of real people working in the trenches. And, of course, we talk about the craft of podcasting, how far we've come, and how much farther we have yet to go.
This short episode is the second in our experimental 'side chat' format.
To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com
Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)