Can dialogue truly shift power? | Power Shift

02/13/25 • 28 min

People affected by crises, and the people who respond to them, have been calling for change and equity for years, but for every reform pledge in Geneva or New York, there’s little movement in Yangon or Juba.

Changing an entire sector is a tall order. But how can an entire system change? In reality, it has to begin with conversations between people.

For months, The New Humanitarian and the Center for Transformational Change sent out invites to people across the power spectrum in the aid world: heads of international humanitarian agencies, environmental, and refugee right activists, you name it. The goal? To set up one-on-one dialogues between people with the power to make decisions and mobilise resources and people who are affected by such decisions.

“People need to be listened to, and when they come in with their own stories, that is a form of power,” argues Lina Srivastava, Power Shift’s moderator and founder of The Center for Transformational Change.

In this first episode of Power Shift, host Melissa Fundira, Adeso executive director Degan Ali, and Srivastava set the stage for conversations to come by highlighting how power inequalities prevent us from addressing humanitarian crises adequately and fairly, and by discussing whether dialogue can ever truly shift power.

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Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app.

You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website.

Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

Changing an entire sector is a tall order. But how can an entire system change? In reality, it has to begin with conversations between people.

___

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app.

You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website.

Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

Previous Episode

Introducing ‘Power Shift’: An experiment in dialogue

The term 'decolonising aid' is everywhere. And yet, many decisions about aid are made behind closed doors in the West, and those most affected by aid policies have little power in shaping them.

But what if people who are rarely in the same room together sit down and talk? No talking points. No self-censorship. Just open, honest, and moderated one-on-one conversations.

Introducing Power Shift: A new podcast from The New Humanitarian and the Center for Transformational Change that presents moderated conversations between decision-makers in aid and philanthropy and those affected by their decisions.

Can they use honest and sustained dialogue to create shared visions for fairer humanitarian responses? Find out on Power Shift.

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Participants & Interviewees Nadine Saba: Grand Bargain Sherpa; Co-founder and Director of Akkar Network for Development Michael Köhler: Grand Bargain Ambassador Hafsar Tameesuddin: Co-Secretary General of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN); Rohingya activist and refugee Raouf Mazou: Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at UNHCR Degan Ali: Executive Director of Adeso Lina Srivastava: Founder of the Center for Transformational Change

Production Team Host: Melissa Fundira Moderator: Lina Srivastava Producers: Lina Srivastava, Frederica Boswell, Melissa Fundira Editor: Irwin Loy Theme song: “Chill 2.0” by Barno Sound engineer: Tevin Sudi ___

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube, or search “The New Humanitarian” in your favourite podcast app.

You can find transcripts of all podcasts on our website.

Are you or anyone you know interested in participating in future Power Shift conversations? Email us with the subject line ‘POWER SHIFT”.

Next Episode

Is Haiti better off without aid? | What’s Unsaid

The fallout from the US aid funding freeze continues. In Haiti, one of USAID’s largest recipients, could this actually be a moment for optimism?

“My instinctive reaction was, maybe now we can take better care of ourselves,” Haitian anthropologist and aid reform advocate, Isabelle Clérié tells What’s Unsaid host, Obi Anyadike.

What’s Unsaid is a podcast by The New Humanitarian, where we explore open secrets and uncomfortable conversations around the world’s conflicts and disasters.