Displaced

Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a sharp reduction in the number of refugees the U.S. would take in over the next year: 30,000. Grant and Ravi talk to IRC colleague Nazanin Ash for some context on this dramatic shift. Nazanin is Vice President of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, and discusses the current administration’s approach to refugee admissions, and how it contrasts not just to previous administrations, but also to public support for refugees. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: https://www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stefan Dercon is professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford, and is the former chief economist at the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK, where he was involved in political discussions about how to shape aid. This episode is a deep dive into the financing model of humanitarian response, and how insurance instruments could change that model, and potentially reshape how we respond to crises. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: https://www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost a quarter of the world’s population now live in some form of fragility, and we talk often about fragile states and fragile contexts - but what does the term mean? Nancy Lindborg is the president of the United States Institute of Peace, and she explains why the definition of fragility matters so much to shaping foreign policy and humanitarian response.  Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: https://www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode looks at how humanitarian response works - the rules of the game, the players, their incentives - and how these elements impact lives of displaced people. Jeremy Konydyk calls this the ‘humanitarian business model,’ and as senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development and former director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, he has unique insight on that model and its flaws. He offers potential solutions, and also shares his experiences on leading the U.S. response to humanitarian crises under President Obama.  Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: https://www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"When people look back on our time they will wonder why we tolerated refugee camps for so long.” Owen Barder, Vice President at the Center for Global Development, talks in this episode about why we should abolish refugee camps, and what’s wrong with the humanitarian aid system more broadly. Barder talks about the alternatives to keeping displaced people in camps, and how to make the humanitarian system more simple, more focused, and serve the interests of displaced people receiving aid, rather than those providing it.  Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we speak to Alix Zwane who is the CEO of the Global Innovation Fund – an organization that invests in generating and growing products and services that help people on less than $5 a day. During the conversation, Zwane talks about the weaknesses of traditional philanthropy, the challenge of delivering financial returns and social impact, and the solutions she’s invested in that she’s most excited about. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee.  Find our show notes here: www.rescue.org/displaced Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Education in low- and middle-income countries is becoming increasingly private: as many as one in four young Africans could be enrolled in some form of private education by 2021. Paul Skidmore is CEO of the Rising Academies Network, which is part of this sea change in education, and which started its first school in Sierra Leone in the height of the Ebola outbreak in 2014. In this conversation, Skidmore discusses how he built his network of schools, the lessons he's learned, and why the conversation about private education versus public is missing a major point.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Halpern is the Chief Executive Officer of the Behavioural Insights Team in the UK - unofficially known as the ‘Nudge Unit'. In this episode, we dive into how behavioral science works to change people’s behavior and how small tweaks can actually create massive change. This is the episode to listen to to understand how behavioral science can help prevent malnutrition, reduce inter-group conflict, generate savings for retirement, and help NGOs and government craft more effective policy.  Find our show notes here: www.rescue.org/displaced Rate and review the show, or email us: displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No conversation about social impact is complete without an understanding of randomized control trials, or RCTs. In this episode, we delve into what they are and how they measure impact with Rachel Glennerster, the new chief economist at the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK. In an episode recorded in London, Glennerster gives her insights on the randomization movement, and also talks about the divide between academics and policy makers, and why it’s important that they find ways to work together better. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. Find our show notes here: www.rescue.org/displaced. Rate and review the show, or email us at displaced@rescue.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoff Mulgan, head of the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) talks about what he calls ‘Collective Intelligence’: how machines and humans can collaborate to solve problems -- like dealing with epidemics, predicting war and conflict, or collecting data during natural disasters. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. Find our show notes here: www. rescue.org/displaced. Rate and review the show, or email us: displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Elias is the president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program, which spends $4 billion a year on health and poverty programs. With great power comes great responsibility, and a set of tough decisions on which of the world's many crucial health problems they can strategically invest in. In this conversation, Chris talks about how they make these decisions, assess and take on risk, and work with the private sector to generate breakthrough health solutions for the world’s poor.   Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show and show notes, go to https://www.rescue.org/displaced, or email the show at displaced@rescue.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan Egeland is one of the world’s most experienced peace negotiators, having worked on the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Peace Accords, as well as mediation efforts in South Sudan, Uganda, Guatemala, and now in Syria. He is currently the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world. This is the episode to listen to if you want to understand how to broker a peace deal. They unravel the complex questions of who to invite to the negotiating table, how to negotiate once you have them at the table to get to a solution, and when pursuing negotiations doesn’t make sense. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show and show notes, go to https://www.rescue.org/displaced, or email the show on displaced@rescue.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is a taping from a live recording at Devex World in Washington DC, where Grant and Ravi talked to Kanika Bahl, CEO of Evidence Action. 'This interview gets into the nuts and bolts of how to innovative in aid, how to take solutions developed in one place to new contexts, and how to scale them to many contexts while maintaining quality. They discuss the perils and promises of how lessons from the development sector apply to humanitarian contexts and what we should expect of innovation in the future.  Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show and show notes, go to https://www.rescue.org/displaced, or email the show on displaced@rescue.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a social entrepreneur and founder of Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani is uniquely placed to talk about innovation - and the role of failure in that process. She talks to Ravi and Grant about creating ideas, taking them to scale, and the culture of ‘failing fast’, and what that looks like when you’re running a global non-profit. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show: www.rescue.org/displaced. Email us at displaced@rescue.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilmot Collins is mayor of Helena, Montana, and in this episode, he tells Ravi and Grant about his journey from Liberia, and the harrowing story of how he left the country. He went on to resettle in Montana, and last year won the mayoral election to become the state’s first black mayor in over 100 years. He talks about how he deals with anti-refugee sentiment, and why his experiences have led him to advocate for refugees in the national conversation around resettlement. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show: rescue.org/displaced. Email us at displaced@rescue.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Kitchen spends every day makings decisions on if - and how - to respond to rapid onset humanitarian emergencies globally. As the International Rescue Committee’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, he directs the team at the IRC that deploys into crises within 72 hours to provide life saving assistance to those critically in need.  These decisions are rife with complexity and in this episode, Bob, Ravi and Grant dive into the challenges of launching responses in places like Syria and Yemen. They also discuss how to think about deploying response teams to wealthy countries like Europe to the role of innovation in emergency settings. This is the episode to listen to in order to understand how major organizations launch emergency response. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show: rescue.org/displaced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The war in Afghanistan is the longest war in U.S. history and it has cost roughly 1 trillion dollars, left over 170,000 dead, and displaced another 4 million people. In this episode, we examine how to end wars through the lens of Afghanistan with Vali Nasr, the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and former senior advisor to Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.  Vali Nasr brings unique insight into how the conflict has played out, how the US foreign policy apparatus failed to effectively end this war, and what lessons there might be for ending war in Syria. This conversation not only provides an intellectual architecture for understanding conflict termination, but also explains the dynamics between Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regional actors. This is the conversation you should listen to if you want to understand what options there are for ending wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s not about a technology that we’re looking for something to do with, it’s about a problem that we’re trying to solve and and then thinking about how technology helps with it.” Carolyn Miles is CEO of Save the Children USA, and in this conversation she talks to Grant and Ravi about innovative solutions for helping children in crisis situations. She also talks about why women and girls are disproportionately affected by war and conflict, and the challenge of changing behaviors to adopt new solutions to old problems. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show: rescue.org/displaced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Helene Gayle has unparalleled experience in leading organizations that respond to crisis. Dr. Gayle spent over 20 years working on HIV/AIDS at the Center for Disease Control while also serving as the Chief of the HIV/AIDS Division for USAID, was the CEO for CARE International, led the McKinsey Social Initiative, and now serves as the head of the Chicago Community Trust. In this episode, Dr. Gayle shares lessons learned of how to lead, refine strategy, and focus. She reflects on the parallels between the HIV/AIDS crisis of 30 years ago and the refugee crisis of today, how to change the politics of toxic narratives, and how to make difficult decisions in the face of crisis. This interview covers a lot of ground and explores crucial organizational and political questions. Displaced is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. For more on the show: rescue.org/displaced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over half of the 65 million people displaced right now are children, yet only 2% of total humanitarian spend is allocated to education during crises. Given that refugees are displaced for over 12 years means that entire generations often forgo education. In this episode, Grant and Ravi talk with Sarah Smith, the IRC’s Senior Director of Education, a leading expert in education in humanitarian settings. They discuss how to think about education in crisis settings, what models are promising for delivering education at scale, and explore frontier innovations in education - including the IRC’s new partnership with Sesame Street, which aims to bring muppets (and social change) to a generation of refugees and host communities in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices