Twasiima Bigirwa in collaboration with Disrupt Development present to you, The ebyeshongoro Series.

The series is inspired and drawn from Twasiima’s debut collection of poems titled ebyeshongoro bya Debra (songs of Debra). ebyeshongoro bya Debra is a collection of poems written in runyankore and english that chronicle the times we find ourselves in, the state of the world and the feelings of our hearts. Using humour, wit, and honest recollections, Twasiima looks at the ways our histories continue to influence our current times and makes demands of us to sit with both the contradictions and un-comfortabilities that emerge from current events and geopolitical shapings. As she writes Twasiima intends to inspire others who read to sit with the truths of our world and societies and from there imagine something new and liberatory.

The poems speak to some of the pressing development challenges of our time; from the crises in Sudan and Palestine, the ways in which media and narratives continue to perpetuate harm, questions of systemic remedy with reparations and so on, and so forth. The collection is a total of forty-four poems and in this series, Twasiima reads and reflects on nine poems.

Twasiima Bigirwa is an African writer, interested in the ways history has been shaped and altered, and dedicated to the work of conjuring into existence new worlds. Her work is founded on undoing and reconstructing from the colonial imaginations and focuses on exploring paths towards liberation. Twasiima has several years of experience working within the development sector and works to support organisations and individuals that are looking to review and invest in new ways to include a decolonial praxis to international development. She has extended experience serving as a community mobiliser and organiser and believes deeply that the work of movements that exist on the peripheries of society are crucial to our collective liberation. Twasiima has an LL.B. from Makerere University and an LL.M. from Georgetown University – Law
Center.

Twasiima Bigirwa in collaboration with Disrupt Development present to you, The ebyeshongoro Series.

The series is inspired and drawn from Twasiima’s debut collection of poems titled ebyeshongoro bya Debra (songs of Debra). ebyeshongoro bya Debra is a collection of poems written in runyankore and english that chronicle the times we find ourselves in, the state of the world and the feelings of our hearts. Using humour, wit, and honest recollections, Twasiima looks at the ways our histories continue to influence our current times and makes demands of us to sit with both the contradictions and un-comfortabilities that emerge from current events and geopolitical shapings. As she writes Twasiima intends to inspire others who read to sit with the truths of our world and societies and from there imagine something new and liberatory.

The poems speak to some of the pressing development challenges of our time; from the crises in Sudan and Palestine, the ways in which media and narratives continue to perpetuate harm, questions of systemic remedy with reparations and so on, and so forth. The collection is a total of forty-four poems and in this series, Twasiima reads and reflects on nine poems.

Twasiima Bigirwa is an African writer, interested in the ways history has been shaped and altered, and dedicated to the work of conjuring into existence new worlds. Her work is founded on undoing and reconstructing from the colonial imaginations and focuses on exploring paths towards liberation. Twasiima has several years of experience working within the development sector and works to support organisations and individuals that are looking to review and invest in new ways to include a decolonial praxis to international development. She has extended experience serving as a community mobiliser and organiser and believes deeply that the work of movements that exist on the peripheries of society are crucial to our collective liberation. Twasiima has an LL.B. from Makerere University and an LL.M. from Georgetown University – Law
Center.

Despite various strides made by the global development sector in reforming its communication, humanitarian campaigns still (too) often contain racial stereotypes, dehumanizing images, and colonial narratives. In our Beyond Poverty Porn series, which we make together with Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen from the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication (HuCom), we open up the conversation about ethical, respectful, and inclusive communication in and on global development. 

In short episodes of about 15 minutes each, Martens and Oomen will take a critical look at trending genres within the field of humanitarian communication. Following their general critique on the 'new' approach of hope-based communications in the previous storycast, they now zoom in on the challenges of celebrity humanitarianism - i.e. celebrity involvement in humanitarian issues and the media coverage that this creates. They do so by first discussing the colonial tradition of white saviorism and then by approaching the celebrity humanitarian as a white savior who unavoidably but problematically takes center stage in stories of the suffering of global Others.


Music credit: Shapes in the Clouds on Hooksounds

The world has changed since INGOs became prominent actors on the global stage. The current model for INGOs seems no longer fit for purpose. The Ringo Social Lab - Re-imagining the International NGO - brings together a group of influencers, thinkers, leaders, and disruptors from across civil society around the world in the quest to re-imagine the role of INGOs and global civil society. In this series, we explore the future of global civil society through the lens of the Ringo social lab.

In this episode, Keith Slack -Director of Strategy and Campaigns at EarthRights International-, will be sharing his perspective on the international development field through the lens of human rights and environmental issues. Keith coins the term 'foreign aid industrial complex' to raise the critical question of whether or not development professionals are trying to work themselves out of a job. He poses the challenging question: are we willing to fundamentally challenge the powers that be, to produce meaningful change that is uncomfortable and possibly threatening to some people? 

About Keith Slack: Keith is EarthRights International’s Director of Strategy and Campaigns. Prior to joining EarthRights in May 2018, Keith spent nearly two decades building and directing Oxfam America’s Extractive Industries Global Program. In that role, he led campaigns and advocacy to promote greater transparency and respect for the human rights of affected communities.

Interested to learn more about Ringo: https://rightscolab.org/ringo/
Interested to learn more about Disrupt Development: https://www.disruptdevelopment.org/

In 2021 development and humanitarian campaigns still show harmful stereotypes, negative framing and traces of white saviorism. Yet we also see alternative frames in communication that question the status quo.

In this Beyond Poverty Porn series, we open up the conversation about ethical, respectful, and inclusive communication in global development,  together with the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication. In this and upcoming episodes,  Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen will take a critical dive into trending genres and topics within the field of communications.

In this episode, they dive into hope-based communications and provide some strong critiques of this currently very trendy approach of communicating in international development.


Music credit: Shapes in the Clouds on Hooksounds

Each year the Dutch Development Cooperation Association Partos organises a call for innovation to showcase and promote recent innovative and inspiring initiatives in the development sector. This year, the “Collaborative Innovations Award” recognises and celebrates innovative collaborations in international civil society partnerships that developed creative solutions to deal with complex, volatile and uncertain scenarios in development cooperation.

In this third and final episode we introduce the 'Virtual Innovation Labs': creative spaces where participants work together to design innovative solutions for social problems with a design thinking methodology. We talk with Victoria Rodríguez Costi and Cristina Ordóñez from Innovation for Change. 

Each year the Dutch Development Cooperation Association Partos organises a call for innovation to showcase and promote recent innovative and inspiring initiatives in the development sector. This year, the “Collaborative Innovations Award” recognises and celebrates innovative collaborations in international civil society partnerships that developed creative solutions to deal with complex, volatile and uncertain scenarios in development cooperation.

In this second episode we introduce VOICE +. An activist digital hub connecting networks of people living with HIV from across the globe through applications, in order to access accurate information related to HIV, share learning and raise advocacy issues.  We talk with the project lead Nomtika Mjwana from the Global Network of People Living with HIV. 

The world has changed since INGOs became prominent actors on the global stage. The current model for INGOs seems no longer fit for purpose. The Ringo Social Lab - Re-imagining the International NGO - brings together a group of influencers, thinkers, leaders, and disruptors from across civil society around the world in the quest to re-imagine the role of INGOs and global civil society. In this series, we explore the future of global civil society through the lens of the Ringo social lab.

Exploring leadership from the global south in the development sector with an emphasis on the impact of the sector on women leaders. The moving ‘closer to the ground’ policy means there are more branches or offices of INGOs in the global south headed by nationals. However, how do these organisations deal with cultural notions of what leadership should look like and the challenges women leaders, especially women of colour, face in delivering on the promise of a better world within their organisations and in the communities they serve?

About Osai Ojigho: Osai is a feminist, human rights expert, gender equality advocate, civil society leader, and the Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria. She is well-traveled and widely published, contributing to various publications. Find her on Twitter and Instagram: @livingtruely

Interested to learn more about Ringo: https://rightscolab.org/ringo/
Interested to learn more about Disrupt Development: https://www.disruptdevelopment.org/

Each year the Dutch Development Cooperation Association Partos organises a call for innovation to showcase and promote recent innovative and inspiring initiatives in the development sector. This year, the “Collaborative Innovations Award” recognises and celebrates innovative collaborations in international civil society partnerships that developed creative solutions to deal with complex, volatile and uncertain scenarios in development cooperation. 

In this first episode we introduce a project of CNV international - Making facts work for workers. We talk with the director of CNV International Elles van Ark and project manager Olivia Bwalya. 

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this final podcast episode Bart Romijn and Merel van der Woude reflect on the Partos Future Exploration and share their main insights. What has Partos learned from the Future Exploration, what topics have received priority and how will the outcomes benefit Dutch Development Cooperation?

Bart Romijn is the director of Partos.  Merel van der Woude is creative director at Butterfly Works, the social design studio that facilitated the Partos Future Exploration.

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode, we talk with Krizna about Foresight. What is foresight? How can we envision and prepare for different futures? Or even better, how can the global development community create its own future?

Krizna Gomez is a foresight practitioner. She started as a grassroots activist in the Philipines, is trained as a trained human rights lawyer and worked with civil society around the world. Krizna currently works as an independent consultant, using design thinking, foresight, systems thinking and other methods to help NGOs tackle long-standing problems with a fresh perspective.

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode, we talk with Donald Pols about climate action. We discuss the current state of the climate and its consequences on inequality, migration and conflicts. We further dive into the importance of investing in resilience and also talk about the historic victory in the court of Milieudefensie against cooperation Shell.

Donald Pols has a lifelong commitment to a society in harmony with nature – in the interest of nature, and of human society that is dependent on nature. In his capacity as Director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie), he supports the global transition to sustainable energy. As an expert on financing the transition towards renewable energy, Donald has participated in both the delegations of WWF International and the Dutch government to the UNFCCC negotiations. He worked as Program Director for WWF International’s global natural resource program in Beijing; Director of WWF China's Climate and Energy Program; Head of the WWF Netherlands Climate Program, and as senior advisor environment and nature in the Dutch parliament.

Twasiima Bigirwa in collaboration with Disrupt Development present to you, The ebyeshongoro Series.

The series is inspired and drawn from Twasiima’s debut collection of poems titled ebyeshongoro bya Debra (songs of Debra). ebyeshongoro bya Debra is a collection of poems written in runyankore and english that chronicle the times we find ourselves in, the state of the world and the feelings of our hearts. Using humour, wit, and honest recollections, Twasiima looks at the ways our histories continue to influence our current times and makes demands of us to sit with both the contradictions and un-comfortabilities that emerge from current events and geopolitical shapings. As she writes Twasiima intends to inspire others who read to sit with the truths of our world and societies and from there imagine something new and liberatory.

The poems speak to some of the pressing development challenges of our time; from the crises in Sudan and Palestine, the ways in which media and narratives continue to perpetuate harm, questions of systemic remedy with reparations and so on, and so forth. The collection is a total of forty-four poems and in this series, Twasiima reads and reflects on nine poems.

Twasiima Bigirwa is an African writer, interested in the ways history has been shaped and altered, and dedicated to the work of conjuring into existence new worlds. Her work is founded on undoing and reconstructing from the colonial imaginations and focuses on exploring paths towards liberation. Twasiima has several years of experience working within the development sector and works to support organisations and individuals that are looking to review and invest in new ways to include a decolonial praxis to international development. She has extended experience serving as a community mobiliser and organiser and believes deeply that the work of movements that exist on the peripheries of society are crucial to our collective liberation. Twasiima has an LL.B. from Makerere University and an LL.M. from Georgetown University – Law
Center.

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode we talk with Charles Kojo Vandyck about the localisation agenda. We discuss the current state of global development, the changing role of (I)NGO's, the collective responsibilities from actors in the Global North and Global South, and Charles shares some very practical suggestions on how you can accelerate the localisation agenda. 

Charles Kojo Vandyck has 14 years' experience working within the civil society sector in the Global South. Charles is a social justice activist and thought leader with experience in strengthening civil society resilience, sustainability, and southern leadership. Charles currently serves as the Head, Capacity Development Unit, West Africa Civil Society institute (WACSI), is a member of the Reimagining INGO (RINGO) Core team and is an advisory board member of Disrupt Development. 

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode we talk with Marie-Louise about digitalisation for development. What is digitalisation for development, what are the future uncertainties when it comes to the digital divide, digital economies and digital security and how is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Netherlands accelerating the digitalisation for development agenda?

Marie-Louise Wijne is senior policy advisor on digitalisation and development at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is also PhD Candidate at the Africa Studies Centre at Leiden University, where her research focuses on the use of digital data in development cooperation programmes.

1. The Netherlands' Digital Agenda for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation was published in June 2019.
2. The IT4D. no publication showcases 33 examples of of development programmes, funded by the Netherlands, with a strong digital component.
3. The Digital Inclusion Benchmark was developed by the World Benchmarking Alliance with support from the Netherlands. It uses a methodology bases on four themes (access, skills, use and innovation) to benchmark the world's most influential technology companies on their contribution to bridging the digital divide. 

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode together with Somaye Dehban we are going to talk about funding & financing for development aid. What do we mean with financing for development, what impact has COVID on financing for development, what is the current state of financing for development and how can we tap in to the new opportunities innovative finance instruments provide us with.  

Somaye Dehban is the principal consultant at Your Funding Network, a fundraising consultancy which supports CSOs to diversify their funding resources and increase self-financing. She is also a PhD candidate at Rotterdam School of Management where the subject of her research is "Scaling the Impact of Cross-Sector Partnerships to Accelerate the Collective Progress towards 2030 Agenda". On a part-time basis, Somaye is the Partnership and Development Director of Volunteer Activists, a Dutch based CSO that supports civic engagement in the Middle East and Iran and an advisor on Nexus-Based Policy Approach.

Links:
Innovative financing instruments
Article Tanya Cox Director Concord

The world has changed since INGO's became prominent actors on the global stage. The current model for INGO's seems no longer fit for purpose. The Ringo Social Lab - Re-imagining the International NGO - brings together a group of influencers, thinkers, leaders and disruptors from across civil society around the world in the quest to re-imagine the role of INGOs and global civil society.

In this series we explore the future of global civil society through the lense of the Ringo social lab.  In this first episode we talk with Deborah Doane and Nana Afadzinu to learn more about the why, how and what of this promising initiative.

Deborah Doane is partner of the Rights-Co lab and driving force behind the Ringo project. Nana Afadzinu is the director of the West-African Civil Society Institute and member of the Ringo core-team.

Interested to learn more about Ringo: https://rightscolab.org/ringo/
Interested to learn more about Disrupt Development: https://www.disruptdevelopment.org/

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode, we talk with Marinke van Riet about diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging. What do we mean by these terminologies? How can organisations from the global North walk their talk and become more inclusive themselves? What is authentic leadership? And how can we tap into the power of social movements to decrease growing inequality?

Marinke van Riet is a passionate change-seeker with 20+ years of experience in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, inclusive economic growth, natural resource governance and sexual health and rights. A geek for creative strategies, open data, inclusive governance and accountability as in her opinion the latter two are among the key root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice. In the past years, Marinke served as the director of Voice - an innovative grant facility that supports the most marginalized communities globally in their efforts to influence and access social services and political participation.

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this episode, we reflect on the first phase of the Partos Future exploration together with Bart and Mariken. What has happened since the start, what have we learned and what are the next steps? Bart Romijn is de director of Partos and Mariken is the facilitator of the Partos Future exploration, representing Fonkeling and the Resilience lab of TU Delft.

Read more about the Partos Innovation Festival and register your innovation to be showcased at the festival on the 8th of October 2021.  

In 2021 development and humanitarian campaigns still show harmful stereotypes, negative framing and traces of white saviorism. Yet we also see alternative frames in communication that question the status quo.

In this Poverty Porn series, we open up the conversation about ethical, respectful, and inclusive communication in global development,  together with the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication.

In this third episode, the directors of the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication  Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen invite the jury to announce the winners of the Fly in the Eye and Highflyer award - the worst and best communication campaign in Dutch Development Cooperation. On behalf of the jury, Gigi Pasco Ong-Alok and Mina Etemad share their reflections on the jury process, what trends stood out and how they came to their final award selection. What should be the role of communication and media campaigns in the work of development organizations, and how does it relate to a commitment to social justice and anti-racism? Listen now!

In 2021 development and humanitarian campaigns still show harmful stereotypes, negative framing and traces of white saviorism. Yet we also see alternative frames in communication that question the status quo.

In this Beyond Poverty Porn series, we open up the conversation about ethical, respectful, and inclusive communication in global development,  together with the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication.

In this second episode, the directors of the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication  Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen provide their reflections on the 2021 nominees for the Fly in the Eye and Highflyer award - the worst and best campaign in Dutch Development Cooperation. 

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this podcast episode we dive deeper into the Future Pathway of shifting space for civil society together with international thought leaders Lysa John and Barbara Oosters. What is civil society, what is the current state of civil society and what are positive and negative trends that will influence the work of civil society in the next 5 to 10 years?

Lysa John is Secretary-General of CIVICUS,  a global alliance dedicated to protecting civil society and civic freedoms. She is passionate about governance accountability and social justice and has spent a large part of her work coordinating large-scale civil society campaigns. Barbara Oosters is Civic Space lead at Oxfam Novib. She is an experienced professional in the field of global development. She is a passionate human rights advocate having spent more than 18 years working on creating an enabling environment for civil society actors to thrive internationally.

Click here if you would you like to learn more about the Partos Future Exploration. Click here to explore how you can work together with Disrupt Development. Do you want to engage in thought-provoking conversations with fellow development professionals then make sure to join the 'Talk the Walk' sessions. Every Friday, 1 PM CEST!

In 2021 development and humanitarian campaigns still show harmful stereotypes, negative framing and traces of white saviorism. Yet we also see alternative frames in communication that question the status quo.

In this Beyond Poverty Porn series we open up the conversation about ethical, respectful, and inclusive communication in global development,  together with the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication.

In this first episode Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen focus on the topic of humanitarian communication. Why better communication is so important and how they aim to contribute to the so-called 'imagery debate' in the global development sector. Martens and Oomen are the directors of the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication, a non-profit organization aimed at better communication on international development.

The Change the Game Academy and Disrupt Development present you with stories of the brave who dare to change the game of funding development. In this brand-new Daring to Change the Game podcast series, you’ll hear the experiences from changemakers and donors from Kenya, Nepal and Brazil, where organisations are finding creative and entrepreneurial ways to source their funding locally and transcend the toxic dependency on western donors. In this episode, Claudia Fix dives into a new model of consultancy for local fundraising in Latin America.

This three-part podcast series is a stepping stone towards an event where we shall dive deeper into the topic and unpack the highs, lows, and lessons from the practice of domestic resource mobilisation as a vehicle for sustainable development. Join us on 29th September, 3-4.30 PM CEST.  Register here if you wish to be part of the change: https://www.changethegameacademy.org/

Claudia Fix has been working in international cooperation and development since 2002 both in Germany and Latin America. She is currently coordinating fundraising consultancy support in Latin America for Misereor. Hear her story on how she has pioneered new ways of fundraising and designed and implemented a successful model of consultancy for local organisations within the INGO she works for. Together with the Change the Game Academy she is now on a mission to extend local resource mobilisation models to other grassroots organisations, so they can become less dependent on international donors and thus more sustainable.  

Music credit: Warped Mind on Hooksounds

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In this 2nd episode together with Dr. Tina Comes we try to better understand the role of resilience in global development. What resilience and adaptive management is, why these concepts are important for global development actors, and how the 'dynamic and adaptive policy pathways' methodology is shaping the future of Partos. 

Click here if you would you like to learn more about the Partos Future Exploration. Click here to explore how you can work together with Disrupt Development. Do you want to engage in thought-provoking conversations with fellow development professionals then make sure to join the 'Talk the Walk' sessions. Every Friday, 1 PM CEST!

We live in volatile, uncertain, and complex times. So, how do we navigate an age of uncertainty and complexity in global development? In this series, we explore the Future of Partos - the Dutch Development Cooperation Association that brings together nearly 110 Dutch Development NGOs.

In the first episode, we start with a word of welcome from the Director of Partos, Bart Romijn who will explain the unique role of Partos, why a future exploration is needed and how the outcomes of the future exploration will serve Dutch Development NGOs.

Click here if you would you like to learn more about the Partos Future Exploration. Click here to explore how you can work together with Disrupt Development. Do you want to engage in thought-provoking conversations with fellow development professionals then make sure to join the 'Talk the Walk' sessions. Every Friday, 1 PM CEST!

In this AMID StoryCast series, students Aysegul and Carlo talk with Domenico Dentoni, full professor in Business Resilience and Transformation at Montpellier Business about the role that academia can play in facilitating coordination of stakeholders in the pursuit of sustainable change. Societal challenges are becoming increasingly complex and will require a systemic approach and collective action. Academia can certainly play a role in bringing heterogeneous groups of actors together as well as inform their decision-making with scientific evidence insights. Is academia ready and well equipped to drive this transition? Is there a need to re-organize science in a more transdisciplinary and innovative way? These are some of the questions that are addressed in this podcast.

In this AMID StoryCast series, students  Shelby and Felix had the chance to discuss how international negotiations change in the face of the corona crisis and the ongoing virtualization of the global meeting landscape. Based on their recent training on international negotiations the two also look deeper into what learnings junior professionals in the field of international development can draw from current best practices and practical experiences. For this, they took the chance to talk with the current First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations, Robin de Vogel, who shares with us her first-hand experience as a negotiator at the UN. 

In this AMID StoryCast series, students  Anke and Kathryn talk about effective online facilitation.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, development professionals have moved most of their work online. How has this made us rethink North-South development partnerships? And how should the facilitators of these partnerships hone their craft accordingly? 

In this AMID StoryCast series, students Matteo and Felix dive into private sector-driven development based on their recent learnings. They discuss the pros and cons of bringing together government and industry leaders as a driver of development, and they identify how civil society and INGOs can play a part in realizing inclusive value creation that goes beyond trickle-down economics.

 Pracademics are individuals with a position in academia, practice or both who straddle the boundaries between the two domains and have the ability to act as responsive connective tissues and as change agents towards the sustainable development goals.

In this episode together with Dr. Willem Elbers we are going to talk about pracademics.  Their experiences and the conditions under which pracademics can fulfil their potential as uniquely equipped change agents, innovators and disrupters to bring about transformational change in global development.

Dr. Willem Elbers has a position at Radboud University as a researcher and deputy director of the Advanced Master in International Development (AMID).  Dr. Willem Elbers seeks to combine academic excellence with practical relevance in the field of development. The interaction between science and practice is apparent in his research on civil society, partnerships, advocacy, disability and power and his upcoming book - the pracademic as change agent towards the Sustainable Development Goals. 
 
If you are interested in this book, reach out to Dr. Willem Elbers via w.elbers@maw.ru.nl.

In this storycast Inemarie Dekker & Nicky Wakou introduce you to the iMPACT direct foundation who change the story of giving by making it possible to direct donate to local non-profits. 

Their conversation touches on aid fatigue experienced by donors, donor recipients, the importance of building trust between donors and recipients, the inclusion of communities in the solutions seeking, and decision-making. 

Inemarie is the founder of iMPACT direct.  She worked 15 years in the development sector with expertise on social inclusion and gender. Presently she continues to build on her ten-year experience as a consultant for various NGOs (local, national and INGOs). Inemarie believes that power relations in global development impede lasting impact and shows an alternative with Impact Direct. 

Nicky  joined the iMPACT direct board and team with ten years of experience in Europe-Africa relations and in particular  political and humanitarian affairs. At iMPACT direct, she helms strategic communications and stakeholder management.  Nicky believes in a collaborative approach that includes local experts and affected communities.

The vast majority of global development actors are experiencing challenges when it comes to 'Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning'. Many organisations use MEL for accountability, to ensure compliance and prevent fraud than actual learning and improving. 

Outdated logical frameworks, once used for military planning,  that are still being used extensively. Theory of Changes that are being used predominantly as 'shiny' visuals for communication purposes and not to continiously test assumptions. 5 year projects that only start to seriously validate their assumptions in 'Midlines' evaluations after 2 years, Vanity metrics that spread like a disease in global development where all non-profit websites mainly show many people have been reached and speak little about the effectiveness and efficiency. 

In this episode I talk with Elianne about Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning - the journey towards effectiveness. We will talk about the major challenges of MEL in global development, the ineffective use of MEL tools, the importance of assumptions, experiments and minimum viable products and the journey of how RNW media became a data-driven organisation. 

Elianne Anemaat works as a PMEL specialist at RNW Media, a centre of expertise that builds digital communities for change. Elianne contributes to the non-profit sector with her roots in social and cultural anthropology with a specialisation in impact evaluation and data-driven innovation. She has worked with organisations in the field of HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and inclusive governance to support them in becoming more effective. 

International cooperation has never been more needed, but the current system of “aid” is outdated and ineffective. Global Public Investment calls for a wholesale restructuring of the aid project, a totally new approach fit for the challenges of the 21st century - a new common framework for financing social, economic and environmental challenges in rich, poor, and middle-income countries alike. 

In this episode we talk with Jonathan Glennie - the driving force behind the radical new approach to aid - Global Public Invesment. We will discuss the current challenges of the AID system, five paradigm shifts that we need to go through to create a new system to tackle global biggest challenges, and together explore how Global Public Investment could look like in practice. 

Jonathan Glennie is a writer and researcher on international development and cooperation. He was the director of sustainable development research at Ipsos MORI, a visiting fellow at the International Development Institute at King's College London, and has worked at the Overseas Development Institute, Save the Children UK and Christian Aid. He is the author of The Trouble with Aid: Why Less Could Mean More for Africa and Aid, Growth and Poverty and his most recent book The Future of Aid - Global Public Invesment’.

More info: https://www.globalpublicinvestment.org/

The Change the Game Academy and Disrupt Development present you with stories of the brave who dare to change the game of funding development. In this brand-new Daring to Change the Game podcast series, you’ll hear the experiences from changemakers and donors from Kenya, Nepal and Brazil, where organisations are finding creative and entrepreneurial ways to source their funding locally and transcend the toxic dependency on western donors. In this episode, Pastor and doctor Teresia Mwangi talks about how she helps to locally empower women in Kenya.

This three-part podcast series is a stepping stone towards an event where we shall dive deeper into the topic and unpack the highs, lows, and lessons from the practice of domestic resource mobilisation as a vehicle for sustainable development. Join us on 29th September, 3-4.30 PM CEST.  Register here if you wish to be part of the change: https://www.changethegameacademy.org/

Pastor and doctor Teresia Mwangi is the CEO of Baraka Women’s Centre, focused on local women empowerment in Kenya. When her organisation’s international donors withdrew in 2015, she had to pivot her fundraising strategy and tap into domestic resource mobilisation. Hear her story on how she has learned to build local partnerships and managed to sustain her organisation and its impact on the community.

Music credit: Warped Mind on Hooksounds

Disruptive changes have caused uncertainty in the development sector, specifically for NGOs that are grossly ill-equipped to adapt to the changing times. Although funding from traditional donors is becoming harder to come by, new actors have opened up new streams of development finance that were hitherto out of reach for NGOs. 

In this StoryCast Salman Khawar will explain why it's important to use investment  cases in Global Development to capitalize on new opportunities. 

Salman Khawar is a development professional who has a diverse range of experiences in research and communications. In the last three years, he worked directly with the Government of Pakistan, as a consultant for the United Nations. 

Organisations are better in developing innovations but often struggle to create a culture of innovation. In this episode Tanya Accone will share the story of how UNICEF scaled a culture of innovation in their global institution.

Tanya Accone has been at the forefront of advocating for and leading ground-breaking initiatives at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). As Senior Advisor on Innovation at Scale, she has led UNICEF’s Global Innovation Centre to support 90 countries to identify, adopt and adapt innovative solutions that have changed the lives of 130 million children and their communities.

In this episode Julio Garcia Martinez shares his journey of how he came to work in humanitarian innovation. A journey that is marked by inspiring visits to refugee camps in Nigeria, South-Sudan and Myanmar. 

 Julio works at ZOA as Change Manager and Innovation Coordinator. ZOA is an international relief and recovery organization supporting vulnerable people affected by violent conflicts and natural disasters in fragile states. With experience in the energy, environmental, development and now humanitarian sector, he enjoys exploring the challenges shared by us all: collaboration, mainstreaming processes and adopting innovative solutions to wicked problems. 

The world changes rapidly, and in many respects so does development cooperation. It is difficult to fully grasp the changes, let alone to make well-informed choices in an environment with many uncertainties. 

In this episode together with Bart Romijn we are going to talk about development cooperation. We will evaluate if development cooperation has been a success, what global biggest challenges are at the moment, what role development cooperation should play in it, four mind shifts development professionals need to go through and how we need to harness new opportunities. 

Bart Romijn is the Director of the Dutch Development Cooperation Association Partos. Partos brings together a membership of more than 100 Dutch development NGOs. Through defending the interests of its members, Partos enables them to work successfully towards a just and sustainable world for everyone. Before joining Partos, Bart was the founder and director the non-for-profit consultancy AidEnvironment, Director of Warner Strategy & Fundraising and worked at the European parlement and Greanpeace. 

In this pisode Olloriak takes the time to reflect on her experiences  using Human Centered Design approaches. She discusses some of the pitfalls but also the benefits.

Olloriak Sawade works for Plan International based in Amsterdam as the Business Partnership Manager. Within her portfolio she supports colleagues on innovation. Olloriak has worked in the development sector for over a decade with a focus on education, SRHR and youth economic empowerment. She has worked for a range of development organizations such as Right to Play, Oxfam and now for Plan International for the last 3 years.

Cash delivered electronically to a phone or credit card. Direct cash platforms are becoming new competitors of the traditional non-profits in global development. They give individual donors the sense of connection they want, a frictionless customer experience, and a clear value propositon based on results and not good intentions. 

100 weeks is a revolutionary way of giving, initiated by Gitte Büch & Jeroen de Lange. 100 WEEKS connects women living in poverty with organizations and people who support them with money for the duration of 100 weeks. The women decide how to spend the money, but receive entrepreneurial training. The cash is transferred to their phones using mobile money and within 100 weeks families are lifting themselves out of extreme poverty.

In this episode together with Gitte Büch we are going to talk about direct cash-transfers. What direct cash-transfers are, how 100 weeks is revolutioning global development and lifts women, families and entire communities out of poverty, the growing importance of data at your fingertips, and the opportunities direct-cash transfer bring for the broader development community.

Gitte Büch is the co-founder of 100 weeks, an revolutionary direct-cash platform. Before, Gitte worked on the intersection of communication, marketing and fundraising. After various commercial communication positions, she lived in Tanzania and Vietnam for a number of years. For the past fifteen years she has been active in various development organizations, including War Child. 

While efforts to develop novel interventions receive considerable attention and resources, organizations often struggle to turn innovation into impact --thus failing to achieve their full potential. Investments in innovation only yield impact if an organization is able to master the scaling part of the process. Everyone talks about scale, but there are only a few who master the skilsset to scale as Tanya Accone from UNICEF Global Innovation Centre.  

Together with Tanya we are going to unpack scaling strategies. We are going to talk about the importance of innovation in global development, and the role of UNICEF herein, what scale is and how to create succesful strategies to scale. 

Tanya Accone has been at the forefront of advocating for and leading ground-breaking initiatives at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). As Senior Advisor on Innovation at Scale, she has led UNICEF’s Global Innovation Centre to support 90 countries to identify, adopt and adapt innovative solutions that have changed the lives of 130 million children and their communities. Tanya joined UNICEF to design the organization’s first internet strategy and led its implementation in more than 100 countries. UNICEF received the internet-equivalent of an Oscar -- a Webby Award -- from The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in recognition of the excellence of part of this work. She went on to establish and lead the organization’s human capital futures and analytics portfolio.

We have an imperative to shape the new aid industry to be fit for today’s challenges. The “aid industry” is an antiquated term and most people use it pejoratively. But changes to this sprawling, $200 billion-a-year industry have come so quickly that we don’t yet have language to  describe it. Perhaps one day something like “impact industry” will catch-on, but for now we’re left with an alphabet soup of social  entrepreneurs, NGOs, impact investors, multilateral development banks,  philanthropies, socially responsible businesses, and on and on.

Drawing on two decades covering global development as the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, in this Podcast Raj Kumar and I will explore how development aid is going through disruptive changes. What ‘old aid’ vs ‘new aid’ looks like, the need to move from a project focus to a business approach, how billionaires, tech disrupters, and social entrepreneurs are transforming the global aid industry, the importance of decolonising aid and much more global trends that will influence your future work. 

Raj Kumar is the Founding President and Editor-in-Chief at Devex, the media platform for the global development community. He is a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His work has led him to more than 50 countries, where he has had the honor to meet many of the aid workers and development professionals who make up the Devex community. He is the author of the book "The Business of Changing the World," a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.

In this Podcast together with Jeroen Kelderhuis we are going to tak about the unique role of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in development cooperation. Why the Netherlands is one of the largest donor countries, the relationship between the Ministry and civil society organisations, lessons learned from the biggest funding instrument, and how we can be flexible and agile in future partnerships. 

Jeroen Kelderhuis is the Head of Civil Society and Education at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The Netherlands, being one of the smallest countries in the world, is the seventh-largest donor country of official development assistance. Jeroen Kelderhuis oversees the development assistance provided through civil society. About 25% of Dutch development assistance is implemented through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which puts the Netherlands among the leading donor countries for non-governmental delivery of development aid.

The colonial relationships and attitudes can clearly be recognised in the communications of international aid organisations. Like during the colonial times on 'expedition' to hike in Nepal. Cycle in Tanzania. Showing white saviourism when celebrities and ambassadors are visiting projects abroad emphasizing the suffering 'other'. Simulating misery of non-West countries by locking yourself up in a cage, painting faces of celebrities as if they have Ebola or organizing a sleap over party for children to simulate a night in a slum, with an actual giraffe.We all know these modern day campaigns. What do they have in common?

The portrayal of the donor, ambassador, participant or traveller as a helper is central to all these problematic genres. They are always placed on a pedestal, while the people being helped seem to be of secondary importance. This is not only painful, but it also undermines the core values ​​that should underpin development aid argue media scholars Emiel Martens & Wouter Oomen in a recent article on OneWorld.nl later published in English on ZAM Magazine.

Emiel Martens and Wouter Oomen  are media scholars respectively at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Utrecht. They are both part of the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communicaton who’s aim is to make non-profits aware of the importance of good communication and to rebuke them when they produce stereotypical or other unethical images. In the past 5 years they have awarded prizes for the best and worst campaigns of Dutch development organisations. 

The Change the Game Academy and Disrupt Development present you with stories of the brave who dare to change the game of funding development. In this brand-new Daring to Change the Game podcast series, you’ll hear the experiences from changemakers and donors from Kenya, Nepal and Brazil, where organisations are finding creative and entrepreneurial ways to source their funding locally and transcend the toxic dependency on western donors. In this episode, Mrs Urmila Shreshta talks about her ventures of funding women locally in Nepal.

This three-part podcast series is a stepping stone towards an event where we shall dive deeper into the topic and unpack the highs, lows, and lessons from the practice of domestic resource mobilisation as a vehicle for sustainable development. Join us on 29th September, 3-4.30 PM CEST.  Register here if you wish to be part of the change: https://www.changethegameacademy.org/

Mrs Urmila Shreshta is a women’s rights activist and ED of TEWA, the only women’s fund in Nepal. TEWA capitalizes on the giving culture in Nepal to fundraise domestic resources and support different women's groups through small grants. Hear her story of how she manages to create sustainable impact in different communities, through creative entrepreneurial projects that generate income locally.

Music credit: Warped Mind on Hooksounds

The call to change the balance of power in development cooperation is getting louder and louder. It is time for more local ownership of the global agenda, everyone seems to agree. There is even a real movement under the hashtag #ShiftThePower. The development community has been talking about this for decades now, but what has changed? In this new Podcast series of Disrupt Development I am going unpack the #ShiftThePower debate with great minds. 

Breaking power systems is difficult, and handing over power to marganialized groups requires a cultural shift. Community led funds are specifically designed to bring power to the disempowered and are part of a system-shifting paradigm in philanthropy, where more initiatives are starting to work through community-led or participatory grantmaking and enhancing community philanthropy. 

In todays episode together with Danielle we are going to talk about participatory grantmaking. What traditional grantmaking systems development aid needs to leave behind, how Both Ends is searching for the most inclusive system of grant-making, what the role of communities and grassroots organisations should be in grantmaking and what positive outcomes participatory grantmaking shows. 

Danielle Hirsch is director of Both ENDS Foundation that together with environmental justice and human rights groups  countries works towards a sustainable, fair and inclusive world. Both Ends has been disrupting grant-making since the 90’s in the search for the most inclusive community led grant-making system.

Read more about the research on participatory grantmaking of Both ENDS

The call to change the balance of power in development cooperation is getting louder and louder. It is time for more local ownership of the   global agenda, everyone seems to agree. There is even a real movement under the hashtag #ShiftThePower.  The development community has been talking about this for decades now, but what has changed? In this new Podcast series of Disrupt Development I am going unpack the #ShiftThePower debate with great minds.          

In this #3 episode of the #ShiftThePower series together with Robert Wiggers we are going to talk about dependancy in development aid. What changes development aid has gone through in the past 30 years, how local organisations have internalized the priorities of Northern-led organisations, why we need to go back to the roots of development aid and how we need to Change the Game. 

Robert Wiggers is the Deputy Director of Wilde Ganzen, a Foundation that supports hundreds of small-scale philanthropic initiatives globally. He is also the founder and driving force behind the Change the Game Acadamy, an innovative blended learning acadamy that aims to end the dependency of civil society from the global south on international donors.  Robert is an historian and having worked for more then 30 years in development aid he is strongly convinced that we need to change the game.

Many courageous organisations are taking on major humanitarian and sustainability challenges. Hack The Planet offers these organisations new perspectives on challenges, accelerating their efforts by creating  and implementing smart and pragmatic technologies in collaborative projects. 

In todays episode Tim van Deursen is going to talk about how technology offers new perspectives on global challenges. We will talk about Meet the Soldier, an international award wining innovative project that disrupts peacebuilding and conflict reconciliation through virtual reality. And we will talk about Hack the Poacher, a groundbreaking project that captures poachers through technology. 

Tim van Deursen founded Hack The Planet, a social enterprise that offers non-profits smart and pragmatic technologies to solve societal problems. Tim is an engineer on a mission to make a positive contribution to the world. He wants to super charge (high)tech ideas and concepts needed to solve global challenges. Tim believes many challenges we nowadays have can benefit from smart and easy to deploy technology. “Technology can and needs to be part of solving global challenges therefore, with Hack The Planet we are making this happen”.

Check out the trailer of Meet the Soldier here

In times of radical change and upcoming paradigm shifts in all industries, most organizations are not prepared to deal with the next waves of disruption. Travel with us to the future to explore and create scenarios for your industry and make your organisation Future Ready.

In this episode together with timetravellers and future architects Amrei and Manuel we are going to talk about creating learning experiences to become future ready. We will talk about what it means to be a future architect, how to create immersive learning experiences in virtual spaces, how to create paradigm shifts & desirable futures through future modelling and how you cam become a timetraveller yourself. 

Carl Manuel Funk and Amrei Andrasch are the founders of Knoweaux – a Strategic Time Travel Consultancy froim Berlin that developed Future Modeling, a game changing approach to (re)think and create desirable futures.   

Amrei, is a learning experience designer and entrepreneur, she designs tranformation engaging experiences and unique educational experiences to empower people to become activie citizens of great futures. Manuel is explorer, thinker and entrepreneur, founder of several companies in the field of tech, design and digital transformation, and strategic advisor for many national and international corporations.

If you want to know more about the Future Modeling, the tools and the future acadamy, click here.