Global Futures

In the final episode of the Global Futures podcast, we look back at 10 years of the Global Governance Futures (GGF) program and talk with some of our alumni about their experiences and insights gained through the multilateral dialogues forum. We asked: What were their highest hopes for the program when they started? What had attracted them to GGF and what had they wanted to get out of the dialogues? During the program, what did they find worked well? What did not? Why do they think multilateral forums are important for young policy professionals and change makers? And how has the GGF journey impacted their personal and professional lives? Guests: Max Bouchet (Project Manager and Senior Policy Analyst, Brookings), Tessa Dooms (Director of Jasoro Consulting), Nurma Fitrianingrum (Good Governance Project Officer at Tifa Foundation), Felipe Oriá (Co-founder of Movimento Acredito), Helidah ‘Didi’ Ogude (Social Development Specialist, The World Bank Group), Natalie Schnelle (Senior Strategic Consultant at SAP), Liz Schuelke (German Chancellor Fellow).

Climate change is disrupting weather patterns and leading to extreme weather events, such as wild fires, all around the world. Climate-related natural disasters also cause unpredictable water availability, exacerbate existing water scarcities and contaminate established water supplies. In some situations, scarce and valuable fresh water has contributed to conflicts by being a causal factor, target, tool, or weapon. In this episode, we explore what the effects of climate change means for water security around the world and talk to four guests about the weaponization of water, water scarcity, international conflicts over water, and more. Guests: Scott Moore (Director, Penn Global China Program), Jasdeep Randhawa (International lawyer and policy specialist, currently working in the adaptation team at the United Nations Climate Change agency), Susanne Schmeier (Associate professor, IHE Delft), Michelle Toxopeus (Legal researcher, Helen Suzman Foundation).

The coronavirus has paralyzed trade, caused stock markets to plunge and global economic activity to shrink. The pandemic has reached Latin America: Venezuela is under quarantine and Chile has declared “estado de catástrofe“ (state of catastrophy), sending in the military, while Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to gather large crowds and hug his supporters. In this episode, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) sits down with Yaotzin Botello to talk about the reaction to COVID-19 in Latin American countries, situation in Europe and Germany and what it means to work for the global media outlet in the time of pandemic. Yaotzin Botello is the head of talk-shows and own productions at Deutsche Welle Latin America. Before joining Deutsche Welle in 2011, Yoatzin worked as a Germany correspondent and writer for prestigious Mexican newspaper group “Reforma” for 15 years.

In this episode of the Global Futures podcast, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) sits down with Andres Schipani in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They talk about the role that cities can have in national and international politics and how cities could be more active on the global arena. Andres Schipani is the Brazil correspondent for the Financial Times. Before moving to São Paulo, he was the newspaper's Andes correspondent, covering Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, as well as parts of the Caribbean. Before that, he worked in the Financial Times' New York bureau as a markets and emerging markets reporter.

International cooperation and multilateral approaches are being strained by rising populism and nationalism. The unabated march of the novel coronavirus (COVID19) across the globe threatens to further entrench unilateral approaches and nationalistic attitudes at a time when a global response is needed to combat this pandemic. Yet, we see travel bans being introduced, countries closing their boarders, schools and offices closing their doors, and shortages of medical and household supplies on the rise. COVID19 is the most recent example of how seemingly unpolitical and unideological issues can be politicized, becoming a potentially decisive matter such as this year’s US presidential elections. In this episode, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) talks with Mara Pillinger about what makes COVID19 so different from other epidemics and pandemics. Mara explains the difference between an epidemic and pandemic; whether travel bans could work to tackle COVID19; whether she thinks the US is doing enough to prepare itself for the pandemic; and now that its 2020, what impact is this pandemic going to have on the upcoming US elections. Mara is an Associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC where she is part of the Global Health Policy and Governance Initiative. Her research focuses on the political, organizational and power dynamics at work behind the scenes of the World Health Organization and major multisectoral global health partnerships.