
Episode #5 Sarah Klassen and Jon Stone
11/26/20 • 37 min
Sarah Klassen from Start Network and Jon Stone from the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership Secretariat (REAP), discuss how early action could help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities, in this interview with Patricia Atkinson, IKEA Foundation Chief Programme Officer. You’ll hear more about preparedness and examples from the field. Sarah and Jon explain how local actors are leading the way in responding to the pandemic and look at how climate change is severely impacting people in remote parts of the world.
Guests Bio Sarah Klassen is a Crisis Anticipation Technical Advisor with Start Network, supporting humanitarian agencies to act in anticipation of crises. Her goal is to help put projects in place on the ground to mitigate escalating risks before a disaster occurs. Previously, Sarah worked with World Vision in a humanitarian context analysis team. She project managed context analyses and scenario planning in places such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Afghanistan and Mali. Before this, Sarah worked in humanitarian policy and advocacy roles with a focus on child protection in emergencies.
Twitter handle: @sarahWVUK
Jon Stone is passionate about enabling the poor to reduce losses and suffering from disasters. He is seconded from the UK Government Department for International Development to the Red Cross to be the Head of the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership Secretariat. This aims to make 1 billion people safer from climate extremes and disasters by 2025.
Twitter handle: @EarlyActionREAP
Mentioned in this episode
To get questions that have been asked during this session:
https://ikeafoundation.org/ask-an-expert-with-sarah-klassen-and-jon-stone/
To know more about Start Network’s partnership with IKEA Foundation:
https://ikeafoundation.org/story/start-network-rapid-funds-covid-19-response/
To know more about Start Network’s call to action:
https://startnetwork.org/news-and-blogs/why-we-need-anticipatory-approach-humanitarian-crises-and-covid-19
To learn more about Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP):
http://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/REAP-two-pager-230819.pdf
Show credits
Host: Altaf Makhiawala, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
Executive Producer: Truus Huisman, Chief Communication Officer
Researcher: Blanche van de Stolpe, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
An Andy Clark Media Production for the IKEA Foundation
Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | INSTAGRAM
Learn more about IKEA Foundation: www.ikeafoundation.org
Programming Note:
This conversation was recorded as part of the Ask An Expert series livestreamed online on 30 April 2020. This is an edited and produced version of the conversation for this podcast.
Sarah Klassen from Start Network and Jon Stone from the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership Secretariat (REAP), discuss how early action could help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities, in this interview with Patricia Atkinson, IKEA Foundation Chief Programme Officer. You’ll hear more about preparedness and examples from the field. Sarah and Jon explain how local actors are leading the way in responding to the pandemic and look at how climate change is severely impacting people in remote parts of the world.
Guests Bio Sarah Klassen is a Crisis Anticipation Technical Advisor with Start Network, supporting humanitarian agencies to act in anticipation of crises. Her goal is to help put projects in place on the ground to mitigate escalating risks before a disaster occurs. Previously, Sarah worked with World Vision in a humanitarian context analysis team. She project managed context analyses and scenario planning in places such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Afghanistan and Mali. Before this, Sarah worked in humanitarian policy and advocacy roles with a focus on child protection in emergencies.
Twitter handle: @sarahWVUK
Jon Stone is passionate about enabling the poor to reduce losses and suffering from disasters. He is seconded from the UK Government Department for International Development to the Red Cross to be the Head of the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership Secretariat. This aims to make 1 billion people safer from climate extremes and disasters by 2025.
Twitter handle: @EarlyActionREAP
Mentioned in this episode
To get questions that have been asked during this session:
https://ikeafoundation.org/ask-an-expert-with-sarah-klassen-and-jon-stone/
To know more about Start Network’s partnership with IKEA Foundation:
https://ikeafoundation.org/story/start-network-rapid-funds-covid-19-response/
To know more about Start Network’s call to action:
https://startnetwork.org/news-and-blogs/why-we-need-anticipatory-approach-humanitarian-crises-and-covid-19
To learn more about Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP):
http://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/REAP-two-pager-230819.pdf
Show credits
Host: Altaf Makhiawala, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
Executive Producer: Truus Huisman, Chief Communication Officer
Researcher: Blanche van de Stolpe, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
An Andy Clark Media Production for the IKEA Foundation
Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | INSTAGRAM
Learn more about IKEA Foundation: www.ikeafoundation.org
Programming Note:
This conversation was recorded as part of the Ask An Expert series livestreamed online on 30 April 2020. This is an edited and produced version of the conversation for this podcast.
Previous Episode

Episode #4 Jane Burston
Episode Introduction
Everyone has the right to breathe clean air. Yet, every year, the health of millions of people is threatened by air pollution. So what needs to happen to ensure all people enjoy clean air, blue skies and better health? Jane Burston, Executive Director of the Clean Air Fund, speaks with Liz McKeon, our Climate Action Portfolio Lead, about the economic impact of air pollution and clean air solutions.
Guest Bio
Jane Burston runs the Clean Air Fund, a global re-granting institution funding projects to improve air quality. Previously she worked as Head of Climate and Energy Science in the UK Government, responsible for the UK greenhouse gas inventory and a £45m science programme. She managed a team of 150 scientists working in air quality, greenhouse gas measurement and renewable energy. Jane has been named as a ‘Young Global Leader’ of the World Economic Forum, as one of the ‘40 under 40 European Young Leaders’ by Friends of Europe and is a previous UK Social Entrepreneur of the year.
Mentioned in this episode:
The economic impact of air pollution: Jane Burston, Executive Director at the Clean Air Fund, and Rain Newton-Smith, Chief Economist at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), have shown that you can indeed put a price on clean air. See report:
https://www.cleanairfund.org/blog-post/can-we-put-a-price-on-clean-air-yes-we-can/
To know more about Clean Air Fund’s partnership with IKEA Foundation:
https://ikeafoundation.org/story/making-clean-air-a-human-right/
https://ikeafoundation.org/story/clean-air-healthier-lives/
Show credits:
Host: Altaf Makhiawala, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
Executive Producer: Truus Huisman, Chief Communication Officer
Researcher: Indra Heerkens, Strategic Communicator, IKEA Foundation
An Andy Clark Media Production for the IKEA Foundation
Programming Note:
This conversation was recorded as part of the Ask An Expert series livestreamed online on 10 September 2020. This is an edited and produced version of the conversation for this podcast. YouTube link to the original video conversation.
Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | INSTAGRAM
Learn more about IKEA Foundation: www.ikeafoundation.org
Next Episode

Episode #6 Willy Foote and Katie Naeve
Episode Introduction
Women farmers in rural communities are responsible for feeding much of the world, but they often don’t get enough to eat themselves. They struggle to access financial support that would help them earn a decent income—and the pandemic is making this situation even worse. In this episode, we discuss how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting women in rural communities and how we can support them to become the leaders and food producers our world needs. Willy Foote and Katie Naeve of Root Capital discuss this with Nico Janssen, Programme Manager for our Agricultural Livelihoods Portfolio.
Guest Bio
Willy Foote is the Founder and CEO of Root Capital, a nonprofit that offers credit and financial advice to small agricultural businesses, especially women, so that they can build profitable and climate smart livelihoods. Foote is a Skoll Entrepreneur and an Ashoka Global Fellow. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008, one of Forbes’ “Impact 30” in 2011, and was a 2012 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Katie Naeve is the Director of Impact and Partnerships at Root Capital. She works on developing and growing strategic partnerships that present opportunities for Root Capital to scale growth and impact. Previously, she conducted evaluations of a number of international development projects around the globe with Harvard’s Center for International Development and Mathematica Policy Research. She has also worked in Colombia with children affected by armed conflict.
Mentioned in this episode:
To know more about the IKEA Foundation’s partnership with Root Capital, read this story: https://ikeafoundation.org/story/how-root-capital-and-the-ikea-foundation-are-building-the-resilience-of-smallholder-farmers-in-east-africa/
Show credits:
Host: Altaf Makhiawala
Executive Producer: Truus Huisman
Researcher: Lotika Mehta
An Andy Clark Media Production for the IKEA Foundation
Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected]
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | INSTAGRAM
Learn more about the IKEA Foundation: www.ikeafoundation.org
Programming Note:
This conversation was recorded as part of the Ask An Expert series livestreamed online on 7 May 2020. This is an edited version of the conversation for the podcast.
Youtube link to the original video conversation.
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