Rethinking Development Podcast

Richard Morgan has over 20 years of experience working in international development. He is currently the International Advocacy Director at Plan International. Prior to this he was the Director of the "child poverty" theme for Save the Children, where he co-founded and co-led the Global Coalition to End Child poverty. Previously he was a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UNICEF on the post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda where he co-led a global consultation and policy analysis on inequalities. Richard earlier served as the director of policy and practice at UNICEF HQ where he was responsible for leading on policy, standards and practices in the areas of gender equality, children's rights, child and youth participation, social statistics and communication for development. Richard speaks to us about the MDGs and SDGs, disaggregating data on inequalities, using a human rights approach, child participation in policy processes, the interface of children's rights with economics, and more. He joins us from London, UK.

Dr. Sabina Faiz Rashid is the Dean of the BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University in Bangladesh. Dr. Rashid specializes in ethnographic and qualitative research with a focus on urban slum communities and marginalized groups. She's particularly interested in examining the impact of structural and intersectional factors on the ability of those populations to realize their health rights and access to services. In 2008, she founded the Center for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and in 2013, co-founded the Center for Urban Equity and Health. Both focus on research, capacity building and influencing program designs and policies in Bangladesh.

We speak about:

• BRAC’s approach to development
• co-thinking and co-creating with communities
• unpacking assumptions about the ‘Global South’
• solution-based thinking
• competency based learning
• building a youth friendly research culture
• decolonizing global health - and much more!

She joins us from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mahrukh 'Maya' Hasan is as a designer, researcher and strategic advisor who helps social impact organizations build joyful, equitable and innovative teams. She's the Founder and Director of Azura Labs, a social design and research studio that builds the capacity of international NGOs and UN agencies serving communities in Sub Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Last March, Maya also founded the Fearless Project, a diversity, equity and inclusion firm, which aims to champion trust, belonging and joy in the social impact sector.
We speak about:

• entry barriers in the sector
• research ethics and design justice
• moving beyond the binary of quantitative and qualitative data
• diversity, equity and inclusion work
• the culture of fear amongst leaders
• emotional agility
• learning from other sectors - and much more!

Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda is a human rights lawyer who has a decade of experience working with UNICEF other UN agencies and NGOs in the US, France, DR Congo, Mauritania, Nigeria and other countries. Her work has focused on strengthening national policies for the most vulnerable populations around the world, including working on child protection issues in emergencies. She has led the release and reintegration of children associated to armed groups and forces, incarcerated children as well as survivors of sexual violence. She is also a writer and one of the co-founders of the Collective for Black Iranians. She speaks to us about :

• double standards in law
• power inequalities in securing funding
• the white/western savior industrial complex
• questioning the relevance of big HQs
• advocating governments
• being declared persona non grata
• applying a constructively critical lens
• hierarchies amongst staff
• activism as a way of life - and much more!

She joins us from California, USA.

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