Episodes

  • Trailer: What went down at WEF '23?

    Trailer: What went down at WEF '23?
    Feb 2 2023
    Davos 2023 has wrapped, and Devex was there to experience it all. In this installment of Davos Dispatch, Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar compared notes with reporter Vince Chadwick on what the conference means for development, the private sector and how the two can, and must, work together. And despite their differing Davos experiences—Raj moderated a number of WEF panels while Vince joined a frozen press scrum waiting in vain for Greta Thunberg—they both agree that the conference is quite unlike anything else.

    Search for Davos Dispatch, wherever you get your podcasts.
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    40 mins
  • Colum Lynch peels back the UNGA curtain

    Colum Lynch peels back the UNGA curtain
    Oct 7 2022
    In the final episode of UNGA Decoded, Michael Igoe sits down with Colum Lynch – who recently joined Devex as senior global correspondent, focusing on the UN’s health, humanitarian, and development work – to find out what he made of this year’s UNGA, how the global gathering has changed since he first started reporting on the UN, and about how his own views about the UN’s role in the world inform the way he does his reporting.
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    27 mins
  • Shannon May on tackling the learning crisis

    Shannon May on tackling the learning crisis
    Oct 4 2022
    The world is in the midst of a learning crisis. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of kids in low- and middle-income countries were living in what the World Bank calls “learning poverty.” Now, in the wake of school closures and remote learning, that number could spike to 70% — with huge implications for the opportunities available to kids for the rest of their lives and for the global economy.

    Leaders and educators are still looking for a way out of this problem. The Transforming Education Summit during UNGA was supposed to be part of the solution, but reviews have been mixed. For years one organization that’s been stirring up a bit of controversy on the education front is NewGlobe — previously better known as Bridge International Academies. The company is known for offering for-profit education in a handful of countries, and is now shifting to work more directly with governments. Devex editor in chief Raj Kumar sat down with Shannon May, one of NewGlobe’s co-founders, who said their critics have sometimes failed to appreciate what the organization brings to the table.
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    29 mins
  • Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma on African health leadership

    Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma on African health leadership
    Sep 30 2022
    The COVID-19 pandemic revealed stark inequalities in the global health architecture. As the virus spread, a handful of mostly wealthy countries proved to have the money, the private sector relationships, and the power to be first in line for vaccines, treatments and supplies — and global health institutions struggled to even the playing field.
    Health leaders on the African continent have taken that lesson to heart, and one institution at the forefront of a new vision for African health security is the Africa Centers for Disease Control. Raj Kumar, editor in chief of Devex, spoke to Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, second in command at Africa CDC, about how the continent’s quest for greater self-reliance is unfolding — and what a more regional approach to preparing for pandemics might look like.
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    25 mins
  • Gerda Verburg on building a nutrition movement

    Gerda Verburg on building a nutrition movement
    Sep 28 2022
    The world is in the midst of a food crisis. While nearly everyone on the planet has seen the cost of food increase or supply chain bottlenecks, some countries are now teetering on the edge — or already falling into — major food security declines, or even famine.

    At the sidelines of Devex’s “Reversing malnutrition trends” event at the 77th United Nations General Assembly last week, Gerda Verburg, who leads the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, sat down with Devex Senior Reporter Teresa Welsh to discuss why nutrition is the fundamental building block of development, and what can be done to achieve fundamental food systems reform.
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    21 mins
  • Nazanin Ash on grassroots refugee resettlement

    Nazanin Ash on grassroots refugee resettlement
    Sep 26 2022
    America's refugee resettlement system has been battered by politics and bureaucracy. Nazanin Ash leads a new coalition of grassroots resettlement networks called Welcome.US, which is built on a simpler premise: that when asked to help those in need, most people will say "yes."

    Before joining Welcome.US, Ash served as Vice President of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, and held senior positions in the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development.
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    29 mins
  • Marinel Sumook Ubaldo on climate loss and hope

    Marinel Sumook Ubaldo on climate loss and hope
    Sep 23 2022
    Marinel Sumook Ubaldo has channeled the firsthand experience of climate-related disaster into a voice of youth advocacy. Working with the nonprofit Living Laudato Si' Philippines, Ubaldo is fighting for the rights of those with the most to lose from a warming planet.

    A Filipino climate activist, Ubaldo helped organize the first youth climate strike in her country in 2019 and continues to lobby governments worldwide on environmental issues.
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    15 mins
  • Raj Shah on unlocking climate leadership

    Raj Shah on unlocking climate leadership
    Sep 22 2022
    The president of the Rockefeller Foundation says the World Bank and other financial institutions must do more to rise to the challenges of economic and climate crises that threaten to unwind global development gains. Michael Igoe sits down with Rajiv Shah to talk about this, and how the foundation’s historical ties to oil money have affected its present-day focus on climate transitions.

    Before becoming president of The Rockefeller Foundation, Raj Shah served as USAID administrator under President Obama, as Chief Scientist at USDA, and in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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    18 mins