Iran has been experiencing renewed waves of protest and strikes alongside intensifying repression, including a widely reported escalation in executions. This conversation explores what people inside the country are demanding, how resistance is being organised over time, and why many advocates argue there is a “third option” beyond either foreign military intervention or accommodation of authoritarian rule. It also centres women’s leadership as a practical and strategic force—examining how plans, legitimacy, international advocacy, and collective discipline shape the prospects for democratic change, and what lessons this holds for changemakers working in difficult, high-stakes contexts elsewhere.

About Our Guest: Zolal Habibi is an Iranian human rights activist and a leading international advocate for justice, democracy, and women’s rights in Iran. She serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), where she works to advance global support for a free, secular, and democratic Iranian republic. With more than two decades of sustained activism, her work has focused on amplifying the voices of political prisoners, dissidents, and civil society actors inside Iran, through engagement with international institutions, human rights forums, and global media. Her commitment to this work is deeply personal, shaped by the killing of her father—a prominent Iranian writer and political dissident—during the 1988 massacre, an event that solidified her lifelong resolve to challenge impunity and state violence. Zolal’s advocacy has contributed to concrete outcomes, including international recognition of the 1988 massacre as a crime against humanity and the successful relocation of thousands of at-risk dissidents, demonstrating the capacity of sustained, principled advocacy to translate moral claims into tangible protection and change. Learn more: ncr-iran.org

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of Tiyana J and are not reflective of all members of the Humanitarian Changemakers Network.

Policy often gets talked about as the way social change happens because it’s formal, visible, and easy to point to—but it’s really just one piece of a much bigger picture. This episode offers a practical, down-to-earth introduction to what policy actually is, where it comes from, and how it tends to move through the Australian policy system in ways that are far more messy and iterative than the textbooks suggest. Using ideas like policy windows, “bottom drawer” proposals, and punctuated equilibrium, the conversation unpacks why big reforms can seem to come out of nowhere, even though years of advocacy, research, and behind-the-scenes work have usually been happening long before. Along the way, it walks through who’s involved—from public servants and ministers to media, researchers, and communities—and shows how different policy tools, like laws, funding, regulations, strategies, and partnerships, turn shared priorities into real-world action.

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of Tiyana J & guests and are not reflective of all members of the Humanitarian Changemakers Network.

As loneliness rises to epidemic levels across the world, many are asking: how can we rebuild the connections that make life meaningful? This episode explores the future of friendship through the lens of Friending, a new app designed to encourage genuine, face-to-face relationships. Founder Gabor shares his journey from Europe to North America and how personal experience of isolation led him to design a platform that blends technology with humanity. We explore why making friends becomes harder after our 20s, how remote work and social media have reshaped community life, and why proximity, shared interests, and safety are vital for sustaining friendships.

About Our Guest: Gabor is the founder and CEO of Friending, a technology platform designed to help people form real, meaningful friendships in an increasingly disconnected world. Originally from Hungary, he has lived and worked across the UK, Canada, Spain, and the United States — experiences that shaped his deep understanding of how modern life, mobility, and technology impact our ability to connect.

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of Tiyana J & guests and are not reflective of all members of the Humanitarian Changemakers Network.