Listen to 300+ interviews on philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Guests include Paul Polman, David Lynch, Siya Kolisi, Cherie Blair, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bob Moritz, David Miliband and Julia Gillard. Hosted by Alberto Lidji, Visiting Professor at Strathclyde Business School and ex-Global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation. Visit Lidji.org for more information.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
UWS is an educational NGO, based in the UK, with an international approach and a presence in Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal.
Through education, UWS transforms the lives of some of the poorest children in the world who would otherwise have no access to education. They work with local communities to build and nurture schools and, then, to transition these schools into the government system.
They have launched 226 schools and learning sites in Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal. Each school typically serves 150 children.
UWS looks to build schools in places where there is a good fit. They identify regions where there are large populations of out of school children, which are remote, difficult to reach and are marginalised for various reasons.
They identify these communities by liaising with local government and by working closely with teams on the ground. Importantly, UWS engages with local ethnic minorities who have key insight on where needs are greatest.
Each school is different and has its own life journey. It may take a year or two to develop a school. Then, it’s about developing the enrolment and getting students in the habit of turning up — after all, these are often communities where the concept of attending school regularly is new. From there, it’s about maturing, whereby schools are brought up to a certain quality standard.
This whole process takes several years; possibly a cycle of between 5 and 10 years. Once the school in question is working very well, then UWS looks to transition it into the local education authority — thereafter providing very light touch support.
We hear how the actual workforce is key to success, and how the whole endeavour is much more than simply constructing a new school building. Local communities, teachers, education authorities — everyone is vital for success.
One of the hardest things UWS needs to do is figure out where they’re going to invest their finite resources. This means that if they find an education authority that is engaged and provides good political capital, there is an incentive to work with them repeatedly.
When looking to expand geographically, they consider (1) whether the level of need is there — ensuring they only go into places that have a clear need; (2) whether there is the potential for good partnerships, particularly with national and local governments, with good political capital where the government helps with the process; and (3) whether UWS can engage their supporters and donor-base to ensure there’s sufficient funding available.
Tim’s key takeaway: UWS uses this transition concept as an absolute guiding light for their overall strategy because it means they ultimately can deliver their mission and are leaving behind an empowered, well-run, robust project.
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Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
We discuss Rotary International’s charitable work in local and global settings. They are the largest service club organisation in the world and operate in more than 200 countries. While clubs are independent they all follow core values.
Holger is looking to increase the number of female members who join Rotary International as well as the number of young professionals. Diversity is vital and much progress has been achieved on this front in recent years.
Rotary International supports a wide range of charitable activities. Holger specifically references polio eradication, a successful initiative they started decades ago in the Philippines, which has led them to collaborate with key global partners, such as WHO, UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Holger also talks about Rotary International’s support of peace initiatives and notes they’re currently partnering with seven universities in the world to run peace projects; where people are conducting masters studies in peace to drive this field forward globally.
Rotary International is both local and global. They support local service projects as well as international projects focused on water, and on maternal and children’s health in Africa and India, for example. Since Rotary clubs are everywhere, they can interact internationally for charitable work unlike many other organisations.
Rotary International is a very flat organisation and has been around for 115 years. There’s just one president — interestingly, Holger’s term is just one year in duration — and there are 17 directors, and then 530 district governors around the world.
Holger’s key takeaway: Rotary is probably different than you thought. It’s a different organisation than it was 100 years ago. It’s not an old man’s organisation that is about going to lunch. Rotary is a vibrant organisation with many different clubs that fit your needs. Rotary clubs are looking to make lasting, positive change in the community, in the world, and within ourselves.
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Sunday Nov 08, 2020
Sunday Nov 08, 2020
This conversation provides great insight into a public / private partnership with a strong philanthropic underpinning that simultaneously drives forward human development and wildlife conservation at scale — within a challenging context that in recent years has included conflict, local fighting, a commodities crash, a currency devaluation and a massive cyclone.
A focus on forestry, ecotourism and agribusiness has resulted in robust social enterprise activities that incorporate local communities while helping tackle climate change.
There are 200,000 people around Gorongosa National Park and 80% of them are subsistence farmers living on under $2 a day. They are vulnerable to malnutrition, poor education and other challenges.
Creating small businesses, helping with skills and fostering greater access to finance helps establish the ‘enabling’ conditions that transform livelihoods for the long term.
Matt’s key takeaway: Be part of something that creates a world where people and planet thrive together!
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Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
A fascinating and thought-provoking conversation for anyone who's looking to understand attitudes and drive behaviour change at scale for the betterment of society.
What drives misogynistic attitudes? How do you know whether your philanthropic intervention is making a difference? Can AI and big data help improve girls' education and expected career outcomes? What about privacy considerations when analysing mass behaviour online? We discuss these questions and many more.
Quilt.AI is a mission-first technology company, seeking to increase empathy in the world. Using the Internet as a source of knowledge, inspiration and communication, Quilt.AI works on issues including climate change, gender equity and health across the world. Their work has focused on a range of thematic areas across the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The firm’s clients include some of the world’s most recognised for-profit and non-profit organisations. They’re headquartered in Singapore with a presence in New York, London, Zurich and New Delhi.
An insightful conversation that's perfectly aligned with today's global development needs and technological advances.
Anurag’s key takeaway: The Internet is still in its infancy. We think of it as something that’s been here forever but it’s still relatively new. The next version of the Internet, the way information is indexed, the way we experience it, these things are all still to come. These are fascinating times.
Editor's Note: This interview was conducted in August 2020. In October 2020, Quilt.AI became a corporate sponsor of The Do One Better! Podcast. The original interview was conducted well before there had been any conversations around sponsorship. Anurag Banerjee was invited as a guest on The Do One Better! Podcast purely on the merits of his work.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app and share widely with others – thank you!
Sunday Oct 25, 2020
Sunday Oct 25, 2020
We hear how Afam’s father, and his dream to improve lives in Nigeria, was the inspiration that led to the creation of the Geanco Foundation – a charity based in Los Angeles. His father is originally from Nigeria and Geanco is very much a family story; they led with a dream and figured everything else from there.
Afam studied at Harvard and Stanford Law, yet his calling to serve guided him to the world of philanthropy and development work, and he co-founded the Geanco Foundation in 2007 right after completing his law degree.
He explains how declining numerous corporate law job offers in order to launch a foundation was not an easy choice – and indeed his mother certainly raised an eyebrow when she learned of this – but the decision simply felt right and Afam has never looked back.
Even though Afam had no experience in fundraising – an essential ingredient for any nascent charity – he was incredibly fortunate to get immediate financial backing from some of his classmates who organised a fundraiser for him early on and, also, from one of his professors who had done very well in the tech sector and had decided to support Afam and his work at Geanco for the first year.
The Harvard and Stanford networks played important roles and Afam advises listeners not to neglect the power and potential of your alumni networks. His base of support today has much to do with the thousands of emails he sent to Harvard alumni and Stanford alumni over the years.
Afam presents a sobering picture of the many challenges faced by the people of Nigeria today, from poor education and health, to gender inequality and the threat from terrorism. The Geanco Foundation tackles many of these challenges in its own way, by developing and driving highly targeted and meaningful interventions.
On healthcare, they organise medical and surgical missions in Nigeria, carrying out hip and knee replacements and various other types of operations. They also help improve outcomes in prenatal care by, among other things, helping to screen hundreds of women each month for anaemia and distributing ‘Mama Kits’ in rural parts of the country, which contain all the essentials one would need to deliver a baby safely in rural settings.
On education, they provide a variety of services and support, which range from delivering tablets to schoolchildren so they can read and study during lockdown, to helping build sports facilities and ensure schools have the right equipment.
Afam talks with great passion of the David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship for Girls, which the Foundation launched with the invaluable support of David Oyelowo, a world-renowned actor who cares deeply about the work of the Geanco Foundation. David is just one of the many Hollywood celebrities who supports Geanco in a meaningful and substantive way – a partnership in the true sense.
The Scholarship supports girls – many of whom have been left orphaned by terrorism in the country – in a comprehensive and meaningful way by providing support ranging from school tuition, room and board, healthcare and even by having representatives of the Foundation attend parent teacher conferences.
The Scholarship started with just 3 girls in a single school in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, and today serves 35 girls in 4 schools throughout the country. In the coming years, Afam would like to see this grow further.
He notes that while these numbers may seem modest, the ‘Leadership Scholarships’ are truly comprehensive, meaning it’s not simply a matter of writing a cheque. In the case this Scholarship, they literally help girls across pretty much every meaningful aspect of their lives.
There is no question that celebrity support has been invaluable to the Geanco Foundation. Afam notes that this support took time to secure and nurture, but with transparency, trust and real partnership it is proving extremely fruitful. These celebrity engagements are true partnerships that go well beyond the simple endorsement one might think of.
Interestingly, Oprah Winfrey was the first funder of the David Oyelowo Leadershp Scholarship for Girls, and celebrities such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor ,Jimmy Kimmel and Charlize Theron have been invaluable in supporting the Foundation by making introductions, getting involved and being part of the Geanco family.
Afam’s key takeaway for listeners: He points us to his life’s mantra, which is simply to be kind to others and to serve. Our world is becoming angrier, sharper and more divisive. Just find ways to be kind and always ask yourself how can you serve in any given situation.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite app and follow us on LinkedIn. Thank you!
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Ben Davies provides great insight into the work of the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, their support of frontline healthcare workers, their $250 million investment and their aim to reach 100 million people... and much more.
Highly consequential work, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This conversation sheds much light on corporate philanthropy and how the private sector plays a role in driving forward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Sunday Oct 11, 2020
Sunday Oct 11, 2020
Danny Harvey has more than 20 years' experience in the humanitarian aid and development sector, working with a number of organisations, including Concern. She has lived and worked in a number of countries including Cambodia, East Timor, Uganda and Indonesia.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for full episode notes, guest bios and useful links. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app and share widely -- thank you!
Sunday Oct 04, 2020
Sunday Oct 04, 2020
A fascinating discussion on the urgency of the climate crisis, including insight into some highly innovative technologies being pursued to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to refreeze the polar regions.
Sir David King was the UK Government's permanent Special Representative for Climate Change from September 2013 until March 2017 and was previously the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor from 2000 to 2007, during which time he raised awareness of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the Energy Technologies Institute.
He also served as the Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford; was Head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University 1993-2000 and Master of Downing College at Cambridge 1995 -2000.
For full episode notes visit The Do One Better! Podcast website. Please subscribe to the show on your favourite podcast app and share widely with others. Thank you!
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Saturday Sep 26, 2020
Vikas is a repeat guest on The Do One Better! Podcast. He first came on the show in 2019 when he was heading the Varkey Foundation – the organisation behind the one million dollar Global Teacher Prize.
He is an education policy expert and in this episode Vikas talks about the upcoming inaugural World Education Week, taking place 5th to 9th in October, virtually. The event is organised by T4 and Vikas is driving it forward.
Vikas notes how the biggest lever of change we have in education is the teacher, so they’ve decided to have the inaugural World Education Week commence on 5th October, which is World Teacher Day.
A key driver behind all this is the need to accelerate progress in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), which focuses on education. The exciting thing is that digital platforms, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, allow for new voices of folks to share experiences and share perspectives. It enhances debate and discussion.
Vikas explains that teachers trust teachers, and schools trust schools, so when a school leader speaks from their experience as to how they’ve done XYZ, the likelihood of other teachers in similar situations listening and taking note is much greater.
This is why they’re also organising a ‘Global Showcase’ during World Education Week, where they have 100 schools from around the world that are going to demonstrate an area of expertise to others.
There are 5 areas they’re asking schools to consider: (1) the use of technology, (2) employability, entrepreneurship and the development of life skills, (3) deepening family and community engagement, (4) the science of learning and the science of teaching and (5) wellbeing.
The power of World Education Week is in its targeted approach. Vikas prompts listeners to keep in mind that events are a tool in one’s efforts to promote or take part in some sort of advocacy effort. In the case of World Education Week, it’s an important initiative to drive the conversation as to what is possible with regards to accelerating progress in SDG4, as opposed to merely having 100 events around the world on education.
Capturing of knowledge and making the conference freely available to people is important. By amplifying the teacher experience you really do change the discussion. It’s important to make sure teachers are included.
Vikas also underscores the need to increase the social status most societies grant teachers. COVID-19 has in some ways prompted parents to recognise exactly how much work teachers do every single day; something that came into sharp focus as parents had to deliver home schooling during lockdown.
To achieve SDG4 by 2030 (the target year of the UN Sustainable Goals) we need 69 million new teachers to be brought into the profession. Vikas remarks: How can you recruit so many teachers if we keep on treating teachers the way they’ve been treated thus far.
Vikas’ key takeaway: The parting thought is one that fills Vikas with hope and optimism, born out of seeing what happens in schools all around the world. There’s so much excellence in all parts of the world that by convening and bringing teachers and schools together we actually have for the first time, because of the use of digital communications platforms, the ability to influence schools in other parts of the world, and also in ours, to do a better job and to raise the standard of education, and that fills Vikas with a lot of hope.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app and share widely with others – thank you!
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sandro notes that the world is experiencing breakthrough scientific discoveries at unprecedented pace. He asks: if we can anticipate these emerging technologies, can we then unlock their potential to improve our world for the benefit of society?
GESDA was started by the Swiss government, who provided approximately 50% of the initial funding; this was matched by philanthropy. The organisation is now an independent foundation.
GESDA aims to bring in key multilateral stakeholders, mixing science and diplomacy, to anticipate what future technologies could look like. Information technology, quantum computing, bio-inspired computing, artificial intelligence, human augmentation, eco-regeneration – what will be the impact of these technologies for the future of humanity and our planet?
GESDA has reached out to the best researchers on these topics and has created an academic forum; essentially, they’re identifying some of the world’s best researchers who are in their labs developing the future right now, today.
Key questions at GESDA: 1) Who are we, what does it mean to be human; 2) How are we going to live together, what technologies can reduce inequality; 3) How can we ensure the wellbeing of humanity and a sustainable planet?
Sandro explains how he will be looking at creating an impact fund focused on enabling the development and testing of these technologies and solutions. He will be developing key alliances with the right partners in philanthropy, the corporate world and beyond.
Sandro’s key takeaway: Ask the question about anticipation and embrace it. What is science able to do in 5 to 10 years and how are we now anticipating solutions. Anticipatory thinking can be quite transformative. He invites everyone to ask what can an anticipatory approach bring to the work one is doing.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app and please share widely – Thank you!
Sunday Sep 13, 2020
Sunday Sep 13, 2020
Vodafone Group is one of the world’s leading telecoms and technology service providers – covering such things as connectivity, convergence and the internet of things. They also have strong expertise in mobile financial services and digital transformation in emerging markets. They mainly operate in Europe and Africa, with mobile operations in 24 countries.
Dorothée explains how the role of the sector in society is crucial. The nature of the products and services they’re involved with means they have the potential to leverage digitisation to enable the speed and scale needed to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At Vodafone, their drive is about connecting for a better future; it’s about building a digital society that leaves no one behind and protects the planet.
We explore what it takes to embed a sustainability mindset within the organisation. Dorothée notes that it’s very helpful that, at Vodafone, sustainability is a CEO-led agenda and it can be found throughout the whole organisation, including in functions such as Vodafone procurement, Vodafone business, brand and commercial.
Dorotheée’s key takeaway for those working in sustainability within a corporate environment is (1) Purpose: really finding that genuine articulation of why you exist as a company; and if that exercise hasn’t been done yet, try to make that exercise happen at the highest level; and (2) Pace: the window to avoid a climate catastrophe is closing. There’s a drive and energy and a passion to go very fast and go where we need to go. But sometimes this doesn’t work in a big organisation, and sometimes you need to take a step back and bring the organisation along.
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Sunday Sep 06, 2020
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
IKEA was founded in Sweden, in 1943, by Ingvar Kamprad, whose vision was to improve everyday life for the many. The IKEA Foundation is independent from the retail business with a sole focus on creating brighter lives on a liveable planet through philanthropy and grant-making
They work to create more family wealth; to enable families to afford a better life. When families have a sustainable income they will invest it in their children’s health and education. They also focus on protecting the planet and reducing greenhouse gas emissions because if nothing is done urgently there won’t be a planet for the children they’d like to help.
They support work around five themes: 1) Employment and entrepreneurship; 2) Regenerative Agriculture; 3) Climate Action; 4) Renewable Energy; and 5) Special Initiatives and Emergency Response.
Per delves into the huge challenges posed by COVID-19 and notes that for many of the people they help, the medical side of COVID-19 hasn’t been as much of an issue as have been the economic challenges presented by this pandemic; challenges in being unable to work and feed their families. Despite the challenges, this pandemic presents opportunities to accelerate development, to think outside the box and to take risks.
The IKEA Foundation has 130 partners and 185 active programmes around the world. Per explains how challenging it has been for the Foundation to engage with these 130 partners as the pandemic struck and many of them required additional funding and flexibility to survive.
Per also sheds light on the work being done by the Foundation to help refugees and invest resources towards building lives for refugees and helping them become self-reliant.
Working closely with IKEA business – they look at how refugees can get a start by having a 6-month internship with IKEA and then be able to apply for job at IKEA. This has the power to change a person’s starting point in their new environment.
Per gives insight into his personal career trajectory, coming originally from the private sector. He explains how he faced a steep learning curve coming into philanthropy from the private sector and faced scepticism from those who view business as something bad.
Encouragingly though, this sentiment has evolved a lot over the past decade and now NGOs and philanthropies see business and the private sector as an important player in trying to drive forward the big global agendas such as climate change.
Per’s key takeaway: We have very limited time left to preserve the planet and ensure the world lives within the planetary borders and does whatever it can to reduce greenhouse gases, because without that almost everything else becomes secondary.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful resources. Please subscribe and share widely with others – thank you!
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Cynthia will be hosting the 'National Prenatal-to-3 Research to Policy Summit' on 15th September 2020. A virtual event open to everyone which will feature Prof Jack Shonkoff of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, Gov DeWine of Ohio, Gov Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and various other experts and policymakers.
The Summit is presented by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at The University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs.
During the podcast, we hear how early childhood is a period of incredible importance. It is the time when brain development is happening most rapidly. Cynthia notes how children who are exposed to early adversity have higher rates of lung disease, heart disease, cancer and they engage in more risky behaviour – the earlier years really do shape the development of our brains and our body’s systems. In the USA, children who are exposed to extreme adversity early in life have a life expectancy that is 20 years shorter than children who are exposed to very limited adversity.
We also hear Cynthia’s insight on the most effective policies that states can implement now and how different states in the USA compare to each other.
Cynthia’s key takeaway: She wants folks to understand just how important these first three years are, and to understand that we can actually do something to make it so that kids get off to the healthy start they deserve. Policies do represent the choices and the priorities that we have, and if we prioritise the fact that children deserve this healthy start then we know some of the answers for how to make that happen.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button and share widely with others -- thank you.
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Jeffrey is a Washington DC-based philanthropist who’s been practising Transcendental Meditation (TM) for more than 40 years and he’s a Co-Founder of the Rona and Jeffrey Abramson Foundation.
He started thinking about improving the world when he was just 8 years old. He knew he wanted to end suffering and he wanted the solution to be one thing that could be given to people everywhere to change their circumstances, so they were the ones who lifted themselves up, and it needed to make them self-sufficient; not dependent on others.
Many years later, when Jeffrey was 20 years old, he learned TM and experienced the benefits from meditating. He realised that maybe TM was the one gift that could deeply effect and empower everyone.
A key goal of his philanthropy is to expand the research into TM and give people around the world access to their potential; to unleash their drive so they can impact their own lives and their own communities.
Jeffrey sheds light on his experience working with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who launched TM in the 1950s, which he describes as a defining moment in his life; an experience he thinks about often.
Among his various philanthropic activities, Jeffrey is the Chairman of the Board at Maharishi International University (MIU) – he’s been on the Board for 20 years. He’s very proud of this and he notes how MIU develops the whole person and includes TM as part of the curriculum.
A few years back, Jeffrey’s Foundation agreed to a multi-year pledge to the David Lynch Foundation – a foundation committed to ensuring that every child anywhere in the world who wants to learn to meditate is able to do so. Jeffrey sheds light on a specific community project in Washington DC called The Ark that brings TM to marginalised segments of the local community.
Jeffrey also explains how he aligns business with philanthropy and how TM is integral to his company’s success and operations.
Jeffrey’s key takeaway: He notes that solutions exist for the global issues we’ve discussed. They just need to be implemented by people who care. Change is possible and it always starts with one person. And, Jeffrey has found that for real systemic change to happen it must begin first within each of us. It’s important to reflect on where real sustainable passion comes from. It comes from the fullness of an ever-flowing free heart and soul. Every act counts. There’s always a domino effect to the people you touch with simple generosity and kindness. Do something that drives you, that fills your heart. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Plant a tree; meditate; donate; volunteer. It’s simple. Help put proven solutions to work; make a difference and trust in your goodness.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Click the subscribe button and share with others -- thank you!
Sunday Aug 16, 2020
Sunday Aug 16, 2020
Practical Action is an innovative international development organisation; their Patron is Prince Charles, HRH The Prince of Wales, and they partner with diverse organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IKEA Foundation and DFID – the UK’s Department for International Development.
The organisation is comprised of various entities, which include a charity running projects internationally, a publishing company and a consulting company as well – together they work hard to find ingenious solutions, capture and share learnings, and to bring about big change.
Practical Action works in about 12 countries at any one time. In total they have 600 staff and partner with many organisations. Their operating budget for charitable actives is about £30m annually.
They’re a very practical organisation and focus on farming that works; energy that transforms people’s lives; helping to build resilience; and making urban centres safer places for people to live in – particularly looking at water sanitation.
The thrust of the conversation with Paul revolved around Practical Action’s work in Bangladesh (where they have a team of approximately 100 staff) as it pertains to water sanitation. Paul is a water and sanitation engineer – so he gets very excited about this topic. He’s not shy to say that in the case of their water sanitation project work in Bangladesh, essentially, “we’re talking about poo”.
They’ve been working with marginalised, urban communities in slum areas in towns and cities around Bangladesh and helping them to improve their living conditions. Again, in his candid manner, Paul notes that a particular problem is “the problem of shit”. Many people have access to a latrine, which people use as their toilet – but the challenge they found was that emptying the latrines was a huge problem.
Across the whole of Bangladesh, something along the lines of 80,000 tonnes of human waste is produced every day, and over 90% of it remains untreated. What happens often is that emptying these latrines becomes the task of informal waste workers, literally emptying pits by hand and disposing of the sludge in open watercourses. We’re talking about something that fills the equivalent of 30 Olympic swimming pools every day.
This poses a terrible health threat to people living in these areas. The total population of Bangladesh is around 160 million people; of which perhaps 40% are living under the poverty level. Safe sanitation is a matter for the whole population – not just those living in slums.
Practical Action focused on developing a market system for sludge, working across the board with diverse stakeholders, including micro finance outfits, government representatives and foundations.
They tried to answer the question of: How do you get these pits emptied in a safe and reliable way?
Practical Action’s solution turned this activity into a business, in a sustainable way – in partnership with a broad range of actors, developing a workforce and turning sludge into fertiliser.
They worked with municipalities to license operators; they developed an app so city dwellers could order this service and leave feedback for a job well done. In turn, service providers got decent pay - and so the market works.
Their work started approximately 10 years ago, when they were working with WaterAid. They could see that while latrine coverage in the country was going up, the problem of sludge was not actually being addressed. So, they started piloting urban-based sewage treatment systems and things have progressed very well since then.
Paul also sheds light on his career trajectory. He’s an engineer by background and at the start of his career was working in the construction industry in the UK. In his 20s he took a posting with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to work in Sudan and he found this experience highly stimulating and full of purpose. He learned much and shifted from a traditional career path, from what he classifies as a construction engineer, in order to become a development engineer.
Paul’s key takeaway: It’s all about the team. If you have a motivated team that is ready and willing to work together for a common purpose, then you’re powerful!
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful resources. Please click the subscribe button and share widely -- thank you!
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
United Way is the world’s largest privately funded non-profit organisation. It is 133 years old, has 3 million volunteers, 8 million donors and operates across 40 countries – including the UK where they’ve had a presence since 2014. Last year it raised around $5 billion.
United Way Worldwide is a social franchise; it owns the brand and sets rules on financial reporting, governance, ethics and inclusivity across 1,800 communities globally. It also manages relations with the United Nations (UN), the World Economic Forum (WEF), corporates and governments.
Brian sheds light on his background. He formally joined United Way as a trainee back in 1981 and has thoroughly enjoyed the journey. A word of wisdom he likes to share with folks who are just starting out on their careers is simply ‘be prepared to say yes’ – we’re so wired to say no. So, just say yes.
Last year United Way generated around $5 billion in income, which is a remarkable sum. Brian notes the breakdown of this income is roughly split as follows: 15% from corporations (such as IBM, UPS, FedEx, Samsung and IKEA); 35%-40% from the employees of the 65,000 companies they work with (employees who tend to give via payroll); and the other 50% comes from individuals.
United Way has approximately 8 million donors. There are 600 donors who have given $1m+; 40 donors who have given $10m+; and approximately 25,000 donors who are regularly giving $10,000 annually. The average donor gives $300 per year. Brian notes that United Way is most effective when it reflects and looks like its community. And, in order for a community to succeed, everyone in that community needs to succeed.
When asked about what success looks like for the next 10 years, Brian responds that, for him, inequality is the biggest issue in the world today. In 10 years from today the world is going to have to be more equitable, more just and cleaner environmentally. This change will either happen through enlightened political, corporate, and non-profit leadership; or it’s going to happen through social unrest. He is optimistic about how things will shape up for the next 10 years, although he notes he’s less optimistic about the next 18 months.
On the issue of COVID-19 around the world: Brian observes that it’s the countries with strong public health systems (countries who look after the health of all their citizens) that are doing much better than places like the US. Likewise for countries where there’s a strong social contract, a commitment to the common good and where people care about each other – these are the countries that are coping better. For him, the pandemic is wildly instructive in terms of what success looks like in the next 10 years; there needs to be a focus on the common good.
There is a great deal of digital transformation and innovation taking place at United Way. Brian sheds much light on how the organisation has evolved; he provides insight into their traditional business model and how they’re now embracing digital technology to increase efficiency and transparency in their philanthropy.
United Way helps to take the resources in a community and to match these with people in need. The business model at United Way was to pool your money; United Way will then assess who are the best non-profits out there, and then they’ll give them that money and ensure they’re doing a good job, and then they’ll tell the donors about it.
However, Brian notes that digital technology is now eliminating the middleman in transactions. So, you don’t necessarily need to go through institutions any longer, you can do it individually. So, what United Way has been working towards is how to build this community exchange without individuals having to come to them as a vertical institution.
What United Way has done is build individual donor and volunteer digital profiles. They’re working with Salesforce – building first in workplaces and then beyond – on the ability to build your own profile (what do you care about philanthropically in terms of where you want to give; how you want to volunteer; what you want to advocate) and they’ve taken all of their work in education, income, health, migration etc and they’ve digitised it all. They have also taken all of their impact content and turned it into digital.
They’re putting their donors and volunteers together with this content on one platform so they can interact with each other without necessarily going through United Way.
Brian notes that if United Way is to go from 8 million donors to, say, 18 million donors, they’re going to have to give up some control as an institution and instead create an environment and a technology ecosystem that allows the donor and the volunteer to get directly to the service provider or even the person who needs help – so that United Way facilitates that process instead of managing it. Fundamentally, it’s about how can United Way help individuals connect directly to what they want to achieve philanthropically.
This digital platform they’ve created with Salesforce is called Philanthropy Cloud; it is now live in around 350 companies in the US and there are around 70,000 people using it.
As the users use Philanthropy Cloud, the tech gets smarter. The Salesforce AI (artificial intelligence) is in the tool itself. Brian has Philanthropy Cloud installed on his phone; it tracks things for him, it makes recommendations for him to read about certain philanthropic topics, it provides stories and information that are relevant to him.
The way Brian describes it is: why can’t the philanthropy on his phone be just like his Spotify account? Why can’t it watch him use the service and then make suggestions to him – so that’s what Philanthropy Cloud is about. That’s what it does.
Brian’s key takeaway for listeners: We need to connect with each other. We’re better together than we are apart; this applies to philanthropy. Let’s be generous; let’s share with each other. If we do this there’s nothing that will stop philanthropy generally, and therefore society. Brian is increasingly learning that there are so many things he doesn’t know. Appreciating this has allowed him to be freer, to think abut United Way’s work differently; to think about who they might partner with that they wouldn’t have partnered with before. It’s that old adage: if you hold the bird too tightly in your hand you kill it, and if you open up your hand it flies away; so you have to hold on to these things gently. United Way now finds its thinking to be much more open. For those of us in philanthropy – no matter what segment of philanthropy – you have to be open, you have to be willing to learn, you have to be a bit vulnerable and you have to trust more than we trust right now. We have to be open and generous and, if we are, good things will happen!
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful resources. Please click the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app and share widely with others. Thank you!
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Humanity & Inclusion exists to support people with disabilities and vulnerable people who are affected by poverty, conflict, disaster and exclusion to achieve their rights and live in dignity.
They were founded in 1982, initially supporting victims of landmines who were fleeing to Thailand from Cambodia.
Today, Humanity & Inclusion is active in 60 countries. It is a federated network with members around the world. They work in partnership with diverse stakeholders – including UNICEF, the WHO and the UK Government – and their work is a combination of advocacy and operations.
Ninety per cent of their staff are local to the countries they work in, so they’re closely embedded at the community level, which then also makes it much easier to identify good local delivery partners.
Aleema notes the importance of their work by highlighting that 1 in 7 people in the world live with a disability, and their problems are exacerbated in settings of crisis and poverty. Those with disabilities are at increased risk.
Women with disabilities are twice as likely to be a victim of sexual and domestic violence than non-disabled women. In humanitarian crises people with disability are at an even more increased risk.
Aleema sheds light on her personal trajectory. She has travelled extensively and worked in many countries, including Haiti, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This global experience drives much of her passion today, even though as CEO of Humanity & Inclusion in the UK she is no longer in the frontlines as much.
Aleema grew up in a philanthropic family but never thought of development work as a career. She trained as a physiotherapist and at some point started to feel something was missing in her career. Then, while working in Bangladesh, something clicked and she realised she wanted to work in development work and make a real difference leveraging her clinical training to train key stakeholders in the frontlines.
Aleema’s key takeaway: Remember that people with disabilities are the world’s largest minority and all of us have a role to play. Everyone from philanthropists to campaigners, to companies, to foundations and governments – we all have a role to play. Look around you and see what you’re supporting; where are you giving your gifts? Are you giving in a way that ensures that the most marginalised people are impacted? We all have a role to play to leave no one behind and to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful resources. Please click the subscribe button and share widely with others - thank you!
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Monday Jul 27, 2020
Plan International is a global charity operating in more than 50 countries. It was established in 1937 and strives to ensure the rights of children and equality for girls. Several decades ago, it established the ‘sponsor a child’ model, which successfully supports the local communities where these children live.
We hear how Plan International engages with a truly broad and global range of partners, from small, local NGOs, to the likes of the LEGO Foundation, Unilever and AstraZeneca.
Rose grew up in a farm in Northern Ireland – one of five children – and didn’t even know what international development was back then. She grew up in a country that was in conflict, and that had an impact on her.
Northern Ireland at that time was quite inward looking and Rose could never envision as a child that she’d end up travelling the world and running international development endeavours. She started off in the private sector but once she ventured into the international development world she never looked back.
Rose admits she’s had good luck during her career. Rose never had a great career plan but she broadly knew the direction she wanted to take and knew she wanted to do something she was passionate about and believed in. She captured the opportunities as they materialised and now finds it truly humbling being in such a leadership role.
Being in London is certainly a departure from her previous postings in the global south, and she very much misses life in the frontlines. As a CEO in London, you can get a bit removed from what’s happening in the field, which is why visiting their programmes overseas is so very important – and, now with COVID-19, this means watching the videos that come back from the frontlines.
We hear how working in international development requires one to be an optimist. However, despite feeling optimistic, Rose is indeed concerned.
The impact of COVID-19 on girls is massive: education, child marriage, infant mortality, gender-based violence – the coronavirus pandemic has wide-ranging, negative implications.
Rose notes there are estimates that by 2030, there will be 13 million more girls who find themselves in early forced marriage because of this pandemic. There is the real risk that COVID-19 will roll back the progress that has been made thus far on gender equality and girls rights. Therefore, it is important for governments around the world to recognise the vulnerably of girls in crisis.
Rose’s key takeaways: (1) This [pandemic] is a global crisis; while the UK has been terribly impacted, we need to realise we won’t solve this crisis until it’s solved all around the world. We need to focus on our interconnectedness and embrace a global outlook. (2) It is vital to raise awareness of the impact this crisis has on girls. The girls of today are the women of tomorrow. We need to be aware and support the voice of girls, and listen to what they have to say; we need to recognise that in a crisis it is girls who carry a greater burden than boys.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please subscribe and share widely. Thank you!
Monday Jul 20, 2020
Monday Jul 20, 2020
The Foundation focuses on global, social and environmental concerns, particularly in helping the most disadvantaged. In 2019, the Oak Foundation made 377 grants, to 342 organisations in 37 countries, totalling around $300m.
The Foundation backs a wide range of initiatives focused on the environment, housing and homelessness, international human rights, issues affecting women, learning differences, preventing child sexual abuse; and special interest areas such as health, humanitarian relief, education and the arts. They also have four national programmes in Brazil, Denmark, India and Zimbabwe.
Doug sheds light on the Foundation’s main programme areas and provides insight on their transformative work on the environment and climate justice – aiming to strengthen the ecosystem of climate funding.
We hear of the Climate Leadership Initiative hosted by Climate Works, for instance, where the focus is on helping individual philanthropists identify where they can enter the climate space. For many donors it can be very challenging to ascertain exactly where and how they can get involved in this space – it can be daunting since it’s a very technical and scientific field.
The next campaign they’re very excited about is around food. Creating a big tent to bring a wide range of voices and stakeholders together, from those concerned with food production and land use to local sourcing and plant-based solutions. There’s a lot of engagement but there hasn’t been a lot of movement on the food side of things. By helping to fund this platform they want to bring people to the conversation, letting them know there are others interested in this space and letting them know there are many examples showing how people can get involved.
Doug talks about how they go about their grant-making and the work they do with different platforms, collaboratives, intermediaries and grantees. They place much effort to ensure their processes are streamlined and not bogged down by red tape.
Doug joined Oak Foundation in January 2019. In his role as President, he is thrilled to knit together his professional experiences advocating for human rights, humanitarian relief, social development and environmental protection.
Dough was a career diplomat; he held various roles including that of US Ambassador to Mozambique. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Notre Dame. He has lived in Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, Haiti, Mozambique, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States.
Doug provides two key takeaways: (1) [for those in the foundation and philanthropy space] he hopes we all continue to explore our aspirations to be good grant-makers and that we, to the extent possible, trust grantee organisations and are as unburdensome as possible. (2) Doug also notes that we are in desperate need globally of kindness and empathy, so we should take care of each other. Be kind to your family, your colleagues, your staff and, yes, even your boss.
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Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
An insightful conversation on serendipity, success and leveraging opportunities to improve the world. We explore how to breakdown the barriers to serendipity, spotting opportunities, connecting the dots, and turning serendipitous encounters into opportunities for success.
Christian Busch is an expert in entrepreneurship, social innovation, and purpose-driven business. He teaches at New York University (NYU) and at the London School of Economics (LSE), and directs the NYU Global Economy Program.
The conversation provides real-life examples and behavioural tweaks that are both thought-provoking and entertaining. A must-listen for anyone who’s open to framing the world in a slightly different light and appreciating that one can be proactive when it comes to luck.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please click the subscribe button and share widely. Thank you!
Sunday Jul 12, 2020
Sunday Jul 12, 2020
The Foundation was founded in 2003 and focuses on school readiness; they invest approximately 10m Swiss Francs (roughly US $10m at the time of writing) annually supporting children to transition into school.
UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.2 is a key reference for their work, aspiring to ensure that by 2030: all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.
Geographically, the Foundation works across six countries in Africa – Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe – and also in Switzerland. Roger’s mother is South African and his father is Swiss.
When asked what it’s like to work with Roger, Sandro replies that it’s pretty cool. Roger is running the Foundation strategically and is very hands on. For Sandro, it’s not just about working with someone who’s very high profile, it’s also a matter of working with a philanthropist who truly wants to transform children’s lives for the better. It’s a lot of fun and a privilege; it is incredibly rewarding.
We hear how the Foundation has a strong executive team and is very lean. There are only around three team members based in Switzerland and another three based in South Africa. Their CEO is Janine Händel, who has been with the Foundation from the outset.
The Foundation’s approach is community based; they work with teachers through their partner organisations (the Foundation is not an implementing organisation); they work with local partners directly in the local communities they serve and have reached more than one and a half million children.
Sandro notes the Foundation is working on an innovative project right now called the ‘Early Learning Kiosk’, which is a tablet-based app that is used by pre-primary educators to train themselves; and it also helps teachers assess a child’s development. It is easy to scale since it is a tablet-based solution. They are currently testing the Early Learning Kiosk with 5,000 teachers; and we hear how it was developed with universities and local partners. Even though the Early Learning Kiosk is currently being tested, it is already available for download for anyone who wishes to sample it. Once testing is completed, the Foundation aims to scale it and deploy it across Africa. The Early Learning Kiosk is available for download on both Apple and Android tablets.
Sandro adds that the Foundation is in an enviable position, whereby they can combine rigorous testing and innovation with a strong brand name and a personality that can engage effectively with policymakers. First they focus on excellence and then they use the power of Roger to promote their work.
During these challenging times with COVID-19, the Foundation aims to ensure that teachers learn, maintain and increase their competence while in remote areas. There is a focus on teacher workforce and quality; and they need to use technology to strengthen the role of the teacher; not to replace the teacher.
Sandro remarks that this is an exciting platform for scale; to reach millions of kids through various partners who are active throughout Africa. The development of the Early Learning Kiosk at the beginning was in collaboration with Hansjörg Wyss, one of the biggest Swiss philanthropists.
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Monday Jul 06, 2020
Monday Jul 06, 2020
Peter Jones is one of the UK's best known entrepreneurs and in 2005 he founded the Peter Jones Foundation to improve the socio economic outcomes for young people by helping them develop enterprise skills. They aim to ensure at least 60% of the young people they work with come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
This wide-ranging conversation introduces listeners to the Foundation's various initiatives, including their Tycoon Programme, which aims to back children's and young people's business ideas by lending money to them that is risk free and encourages them to develop and execute innovative business plans.
The Foundation currently works with approximately 700 schools and has supported 12,000 young people to set up and run their businesses.
Bill Muirhead delves into the question of what, precisely, are enterprise skills and underscores the importance of learning through doing. There is room for the UK's school system to embrace enterprise skills more robustly and, indeed, Bill notes how these skills are vital to increasing self-esteem and confidence.
In addition to working with schools, the Foundation has also developed a strong alumni programme that supports those young people who have engaged in its programmes over the years.
Bill's key takeaway for listeners: He asks you to talk to the educators and young people in your lives; we all have the opportunity to ask the question: what did you do today that was enterprising? What's your school doing to encourage enterprise? If the answer is a blank stare, then look up the Peter Jones Foundation; explore its Tycoon Programme. Have enterprise education on your radar. You may not have thought of it before but it's really important in the world that we're facing up to.
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Monday Jun 29, 2020
Monday Jun 29, 2020
World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a Canada-based organisation dedicated to expanding education, economic and empowerment leadership opportunities for youth in Canada and around the world, with a particular focus on refugees, displaced youth and young women.
WUSC has its origins in the 1920s and today has a team of approximately 15 staff in Canada and a strong presence in the frontlines of the developing world. They’re actively supporting refugees from eastern Africa – Uganda, northern Kenya, Malawi – and the Middle East – Syria and Iraqi refugees based in Jordan and Lebanon. They’ve done some work in Myanmar and are exploring needs in Latin America.
We also hear how their current operations are being negatively impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, they were due to assist 140 refugees to come to Canada for the start of the 2020/2021 academic year but that’s on hold for now due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Chris provides useful insight into the difference between the opportunities available in many developed countries, such as Canada, and countries of first asylum – the countries where refugees first go – which are usually in the global south and often struggle to provide higher education opportunities for their own populations, even without any refugees in the equation.
The pathway to higher education for refugees is full of challenges. Funding is a hurdle; scholarships are often restricted to specific countries of origin, religion, age; the equivalency of academic qualifications is not always straight forward to assess; university admissions processes can be cumbersome for many reasons; and even in the final country of destination incoming refugees may experience xenophobia, racism and many cultural challenges. WUSC tries to assist refugees to overcome all of these challenges.
WUSC is fortunate to engage with like-minded organisations, such as the Shapiro Foundation. Chris notes how Ed Shapiro is a philanthropist who is interested in expanding opportunities for refugees. He has engaged with a number of charities, both in terms of helping expand the work going on in Canada and, also, in exploring how Canada can share its expertise to help the work being undertaken elsewhere.
WUSC has been working very closely with the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) around expanding education pathways for refugees globally. They’re part of a global effort to share and develop capacities in other countries to do this kind of work. Chris sheds light on a report WUSC prepared in conjunction with UNHCR and UNESCO ("Doubling Our Impact: third country higher education pathways for refugees" – Feb 2020) which is useful reading for anyone interested in making an impact in this space.
The key takeaway Chris shares with listeners: Think about the challenges that you’re trying to address, at the scale commensurate with the challenge itself. This has been a key piece for WUSC as they think of the growth of their own programming.
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Monday Jun 22, 2020
Monday Jun 22, 2020
Spring Impact is a registered charity in the UK and a 501(c)(3) in the USA. They help other charities and innovative organisations of various sizes and degrees of experience to scale up, replicate and increase their impact.
Dan sheds light on his professional trajectory and highlights how he learned a great deal by observing the likes of McDonald’s and Oxfam.
Unlike many commercial advisory firms, Spring Impact is happy to share their intellectual property (IP) so that others can learn from their processes and strategies. They publish a ‘Social Replication Toolkit’ that is publicly available and transfers insight to anyone who’s interested in learning more.
Interestingly, Spring Impact often works with organisations that are already well on their scalability journey – not just nascent ventures. For instance, Dan noted Spring Impact works with several Skoll Awardees.
Spring Impact is also deploying much attention to drive forward the field of early childhood development (ECD). They have helped many clients in this space and are now looking at how they might be able to create toolkits and processes that would be of use to any ECD organisations looking to increase their reach.
Dan explains how they work with charity Boards and CEOs and, also, he notes that oftentimes the funding for their work actually comes from third party Foundations that have identified a specific charity in need of gaining scale and, consequently, they approach Spring Impact and fund their work in support of the charity in question.
Dan’s key takeaway: Keeping in mind the current COVID-19 backdrop, he notes that, yes, do think about emergency response and risk but, also, go ahead and hold your head up to the possibilities to really expand and create more impact. Once we’re in recovery mode post-pandemic, you should really think systematically and strategically about scale.
Visit The Do One Better! Podcast website for guest bios, episode notes and additional resources on a wide range of topics focused on philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Please subscribe to the show and share widely with others -- thank you!
Monday Jun 15, 2020
Monday Jun 15, 2020
ACEVO is a network of more than 1,400 CEOs and aspiring chief executives based in the UK. They represent members from organisations across all sizes. They are a charity themselves and aim to ensure the leaders they serve are able to make the most impact possible. They support leaders and, in turn, these leaders inspire their own organisations. ACEVO helps CEOs be the best they can be.
Vicky sheds light on how ACEVO’s members are responding to COVID-19 – a crisis that is stretching many charities to the limit. She notes there are serious concerns and, indeed, demand for charities’ services has gone through the roof. At the same time, many fundraising and income streams have been negatively impacted. Yet, there is much hope and much consideration in the sector for how we can build back better.
ACEVO has actually weathered this pandemic quite well. They have had to shift all their events on to digital platforms but that has led to good engagement. Whereas before they were convening their members through 50 different in-person events annually, now they’re doing approximately four weekly events using digital platforms. Engagement with their members has increased, as have their membership renewal rates. Members see the value of being part of this community of CEOs and aspiring leaders at this time of crisis.
On 17th June 2020, ACEVO have a report on racism coming out called ‘Home Truths’. They have been working on this report for more than a year in conjunction with a partner organisation called ‘Voice for Change England’.
The report looks at racism within the charity sector. Its insight is derived through various sources and methods: by talking to people from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who work in the charity sector; surveying more than 500 people; conducting in-depth interviews with people from diverse backgrounds; and holding roundtable conversations.
Vicky notes that the experiences BAME individuals have while working in the UK charity sector are often not good. This report aims to understand exactly what BAME individuals are experiencing in this sector and how best to address the problems highlighted. The report is called ‘Home Truths’ because it delivers some fairly robust truth to, particularly, white leaders in the sector about how the sector is falling short in areas of equity and inclusion.
Vicky notes the problem is not just an absence of BAME people in the charity sector but, also, that those who are in this sector are often not having a positive experience. She also notes that, historically, organisations serving BAME communities are underserved in the funding arena.
During the podcast she also sheds light on ACEVO’s work and coalitions with other organisations who represent this sector, such as the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF). Interestingly, she notes there is room to explore international coalitions.
Vicky’s key takeaway: As leaders we need to imagine better to create a better world, so let’s not be limited in our imagination for what things could be, let’s think big and then work collectively to move towards achieving some of those bigger, bolder visions.
Visit Lidji.org for guest bios, episode notes and useful links. Please subscribe and share – thank you!
Sunday Jun 07, 2020
Sunday Jun 07, 2020
Debbie sheds light on how Sage – a business solutions company and accounting software developer – launched the Sage Foundation five years ago. She was instrumental in launching the foundation which, today, entices more than 13,000 Sage colleagues to volunteer their time (last year, they volunteered an aggregate of 31,000 days), works with 300 charities at any given time, and supports local communities through grants, resources and innovative initiatives.
Debbie notes that philanthropy and volunteering are a great way to create happiness and her passion is unmistakable. We hear how the Sage Foundation focuses on young people, women and military veterans and engages around work-readiness, education and entrepreneurialism.
Each Sage colleague is granted 5 days per year to volunteer for a charitable cause close to their heart. This can take many forms and today, with the pandemic and COVID-19 impacting the world, they’re doing a great deal of remote volunteering – such as online mentoring, helping children to read or even working with wildlife charities by reviewing live cams and assessing animals’ migration routes.
Moreover, at the Sage Foundation they’re helping charities better manage their finances in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic – for instance, by helping charities be more effective with their cash-flow and by facilitating knowledge-sharing between organisations.
They’ve also launched the FutureMakers initiative, which is aimed at teaching young people aged between 11 and 18 about artificial intelligence (AI) and considering the likely impact AI could have on their future careers. In addition to volunteering and grants, the Sage Foundation also helps with resource by discounting their cloud-based software and supporting charities in their local markets.
Debbie shares her experience of what it was like to launch the Sage Foundation from scratch, how she advocated for this philanthropic initiative to sit at the very top of the Sage corporate structure and also gives insight into the work required to introduce the notion of a foundation and volunteering to the firm’s 13,000-strong workforce and, ultimately, ensuring everyone is strongly engaged with philanthropy.
Debbie’s key takeaway for listeners: “Action speaks louder than words. Get on and do it!”
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Monday Jun 01, 2020
Monday Jun 01, 2020
Carol became Chief Executive of Coram in April 2007 and was awarded a CBE in 2013 for her contribution to services for children and families.
Carol sheds light on the charitable work of Coram in supporting the rights, welfare and education of children throughout its 280 year history. She speaks of its Founder, Thomas Coram, describing his life and passion to help children.
The conversation explores a wide range of topics, from Carol’s professional trajectory and Coram’s impact to COVID-19 and pressures on funding.
The key takeaway Carol would like listeners to keep in mind: quoting Thomas Coram, carol notes that everyone ought in duty to do any good they can, and she prompts us to ask how each of us is serving. She concludes by quoting Anne Frank: How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before they start to improve the world.
Monday May 25, 2020
Monday May 25, 2020
Sanj starts off by providing an overview of ShelterBox’s origins; from a small outfit conceived 20 years ago in Cornwall, UK, to a global NGO providing disaster relief on the ground and via remote technical assistance.
It has only been a few days since super cyclone Amphan made landfall in Bangladesh and eastern India, and the latest estimates are that 10 million people have been impacted and 500,000 have lost their homes; this is on top of already being in an incredibly precarious situation as they grapple with COVID-19 in extremely densely populated areas where coronavirus is present.
It’s worth noting that a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh has 40,000 people per square kilometre, whereas Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) started has 6,000 people per square kilometre.
Sanj remarks that when the cyclone hits people are losing their homes and then moving into even more crowded settings for shelter, which then adds to the risk of coronavirus transmission. Therefore, ShelterBox needs to act quickly to provide family shelter; they’ve also got to provide hygiene materials to help people keep their hands clean.
This is a disaster on top of a disaster. This super cyclone is a natural disaster which is an acute emergency; you also have the coronavirus which is becoming a chronic emergency; and you also have the much wider development disparity with people living in extreme poverty. When you live in extreme poverty, you have less resilience and little ability to support your family. You don’t have a government that can provide you with a furloughing scheme and pay your wages, or that can bail out businesses, or provide healthcare.
Sanj recalls a conversation he had with someone in Monrovia, Liberia, in reference to the earlier Ebola outbreak. The man noted that Ebola doesn’t scare him since he’s already exposed to many risks that are alien to most Westerners. For him, dengue fever can kill him, malaria can kill him; he can’t afford healthcare, if he doesn’t work he’ll die. And so, for much of the world there is a lack of safety nets – the extreme poverty faced by millions is already life-threatening, on top of the acute and chronic emergencies.
Interestingly for a global disaster relief NGO, ShelterBox’s headquarters is in Cornwall, UK. They have approximately 110 staff in Cornwall and 20 staff in London. Sanj describes ShelterBox as both a community and an organisation. It relies to a great degree on volunteer support, from Rotary Club members to individual ambassadors.
ShelterBox has created response teams that go out into the frontlines when needed – made up both of professional humanitarians as well as volunteers. They have over 200 volunteers who are response team members in addition to their professional staff.
They run training programmes for volunteers that include a wide array of information, from how to run distribution to doing needs assessments. Training makes a big difference. They assess people for their qualities, for their appetite for learning and for their raw skills; but not necessarily their previous experience. They look for the potential in people.
ShelterBox works closely with the public and has a strong following of supporters. They’re working on developing more of an international base and now also have opened an office with a team full time in the Philippines and are looking at other countries, too. They take pride in partnering with local organisations on the ground – sometimes in very difficult circumstances in Syria, in Cameroon, in Somalia – and sticking with them, investing in their capacity and ultimately handing over responses to them.
Innovation is important. They have a ‘Horizons Team’ whose job is to spot new products for distribution and getting on top of the tech wave – thinking about what the world is going to look like in 10 or 20 years, what’s climate change going to do, what’s the scenario for that disaster they haven’t predicted. They’re also looking at new ways of working, such as remote technical assistance, which they’re currently doing in Paraguay with local partners.
Sanj sheds light on his professional trajectory. He was a Captain in the British Army and did two tours in Iraq, then joined the IRC (the International Rescue Committee) where he worked for close to a decade. He joined the Army in a pre-9/11 world. It was exciting and it was different, and he enjoyed the comradery, but through two tours in Iraq he did become disenchanted with what militaries do and can achieve versus what are the real human needs. So, he left with some good memories and some useful lessons. He then did a master’s degree and then went to the IRC – an organisation that taught him much about what it means to be a humanitarian and that’s where he got his grounding.
Today, Sanj notes that collaboration is improving between international NGOs and even with the UN, but there’s still a long way to go. Questions need to be asked around why do we have various NGOs doing the same type of work in the same country; why not have a single NGO doing each type of work and start to consolidate? There’s a long way to go but Sanj is very encouraged by the direction of travel.
Sanj posits a pragmatic idea to improve how the global community tackles some of the more intractable development problems. He doesn’t believe we can look to a deadlocked UN Security Council to resolve some of the conflicts and global issues we face – to get the Paris Climate Accords up and going for instance. Rather, he feels we need to look at more regionally led solutions and alliances. For instance, he points to ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) one such example that can help where global frameworks struggle. Likewise, he refers to conflict resolution in places such as the Sudan and South Sudan, where east African states have been very involved. So, he believes that investment and support by Western countries in those types of mechanisms is a very pragmatic way to solve problems region by region.
Sanj’s key takeaway for listeners: As a senior (or aspiring) leader there is a fine balance to strike between having sufficient humility and having too much deference to what people think. It is important to keep the humility while having a lodestar that guides where we need to go without being afraid to bring people along for that journey. Try to take time to get feedback from those around you to help you strike that right balance – this will serve you well.
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Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
This episode follows from an earlier episode of The Do One Better! Podcast featuring Matt Reed, which aired in October 2019. It is worth listening to that episode in conjunction with this one.
This conversation sheds light on the Aga Khan Foundation and the Aga Khan Development Network at a global level and provides tangible insight to their work in India.
Matt Reed is CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in the UK (and was formerly CEO in India between 2013 and 2016) and Tinni Sawhney is the current CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in India. Together, they provide a multifaceted account of how they’re helping the most marginalised communities and individuals.
The Aga Khan Foundation is one of 10 development agencies that together form the Aga Khan Development Network, founded by His Highness the Aga Khan. They work across all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aim to:
- Improve the quality of life, in all its dimensions, in all the communities where they are active
- Promote pluralism
- Enhance self-reliance and civil society
They’re active in approximately 20 countries across central and south Asia, east and west Africa, and the Middle East. They focus on the poorest of the poor, in some of the most remote regions of the countries where they’re active.
Across the Network, they employ between 80,000 and 90,000 people – excluding the communities and volunteers they work with – and the Foundation itself works with approximately 40,000 civil society organisations annually. Annual operations across all 10 agencies is roughly $5.5bn.
Tinni Sawhney sheds light on the work of the Aga Khan Foundation in India. Their interventions span many sectors, including girls’ rights, women’s economic empowerment, gender equality, early childhood development and agriculture. Prioritising the needs of women is central to all their work.
On the issue of society’s attitudes in India towards women being active in the labour market; girls staying in school for as many years as boys do etc: Tinni notes that oftentimes, women’s work is unseen and unheard. At the Aga Khan Foundation, they want to make sure women realise just how important women's work is both to the communities in which they reside and also in their own households. It is also important to help men realise that the work of women is so fundamental to the economic development of their work and, therefore, they need to allow women to step out of their home.
Tinni talks with passion about an intervention that helps schoolgirls and young women have a voice. She sheds light into one programme that had identified that many girls were dropping out of school to stay at home and manage the house. But these girls definitely had aspirations.
So, they launched learning centres that provided a welcoming environment and enabled participants to gain some qualifications and vocational life skills - also making them aware of their rights and entitlements.
This life skills education led girls to realise they could have a different life. In the eyes of their immediate household these were now women who were contributing to the running of the household economy, so that increased their status within the household and, importantly, within the community there was also a greater acceptance of women working.
Many girls who complete this vocational training end up becoming role models to other girls in their communities. And, ultimately, that’s how change across the whole of society happens.
The Aga Khan Foundation is very much a facilitator and their interventions are sustainable, whereby they continue to yield benefit to local communities even after the Foundation is no longer directly involved, and whereby many of the benefits and ideas that result from their interventions actually originate within the local communities themselves.
Tinni goes on to shed light on her own professional trajectory and how she ended up becoming the CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation in India. She notes that while growing up she didn’t feel she was going to be active in the development field. But that changed when she joined the Institute of Rural Management in Gujarat . As part of her training she had to live two months in a village that had no running water and the only house that had a toilet was the house where Tinni was sent to live by her institute. That’s when she realised that if we are really going to make a change then perhaps this is the setting where one starts. She was very enthused by Mahatma Gandhi’s sayings that India resides in its villages. That’s where Tinni found her calling.
Tinni’s key takeaway for listeners: Sometimes we find the greatest stories of courage and empowerment among those we would think of as poor. She has found some of the greatest stories of empowerment among the women she works with. She feels the potential to overcome great odds is present in everyone. With a little bit of support, people can take this potential so much further – one cannot even imagine. With a little support that potential can really become an agent of change. This is very inspiring!
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Sunday May 10, 2020
Sunday May 10, 2020
Home for Good is the charity Krish founded 5 years ago, which came out of his own family’s experience of fostering and adopting.
We hear how in the UK there’s a shortage of foster carers and adoptive parents; in the USA there are over 110,000 children who are in the care system waiting to be adopted and are ready for families. Globally, there’s a whole issue on how we care for children.
In the UK, the government is the corporate parent of every child that’s in the care system. There has been a huge upturn in the number of kids who are in care in England with 75,000 kids in care at present. The government is struggling to find carers.
Krish works very closely with the UK Department for Education and, also, he is increasingly working with the UK Home Office, since there is a pressing need for unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have fled war and terror in places like Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
Krish notes that asking someone to become an adoptive parent or foster carer is a really big ask. It goes well beyond asking someone to give money. Rather, we’re asking people to open their homes and welcome into their families strangers’ children who have had all sorts of on-going trauma; to love these kids as their own flesh and blood, not just for a hobby or a weekend but for the rest of their lives – that’s a huge ask. It’s a hugely philanthropic way of living.
During the conversation, Krish also shares his fascinating personal story and sheds light into his mixed race background, his mother’s experience growing up as a child in an orphanage and his own six children – three of whom are his birth children.
Krish’s dad was born in Malaysia, and his dad’s dad was born in Sri Lanka. His mother was born in India, and her dad was Irish. Krish notes how in the 1940s and 1950s it was quite unusual for a mixed race marriage to take place and, because mixed race children were not socially acceptable, his grandfather’s three daughters ended up in three different orphanages all over India. This was the case even though their mother was around and able to care for them.
As a consequence of discovering his own personal family history, Krish is now also quite focused on the issue of de-institutionalisation.
Most children in orphanages around the world have living parents. However, he notes that because of social stigma or well-intentioned philanthropy that hasn’t necessarily been thought out we are unnecessarily institutionalising children. This was Krish’s mom’s story – she didn’t need to be in an orphanage as a child yet she grew up in one unnecessarily.
Krish goes on to explain how, today, he now has three birth kids and three permanent other members of their family through fostering and adoption. It is through these experiences that Krish and his wife know both how challenging fostering and adopting are and, also, just how very rewarding they are as well.
Krish’ passion comes across loud and clear and he explains how the goal of finding a home for every child that needs one has been the operating vision of Home for Good since the very outset.
To underscore how consequential this issue is to society, he presents some sobering statistics: for instance, kids who age out of the foster system in the UK make up 1% of the population but they make up 25% of the homeless population and make up between 40% and 50% of our prison population.
Krish's takeaway for philanthropists: Passion and heart are not enough to do effective philanthropy. As philanthropists we have go to be absolutely informed and clear that our interventions are actually doing good.
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