Philanthropod

In our first episode of our new season, Philanthropod’s host Anubha Rawat sits down with Eleanor Loudon.Eleanor is an experienced international development leader with a deep, lifelong commitment to social and environmental justice. She has spent over 10 years in professional leadership roles, including in Sri Lanka (ChildFund International), and Cambodia and Thailand (Australian Volunteer Program). Eleanor is also on the board of the social enterprise ATEC.Eleanor is currently the CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) – a humanitarian engineering charity that uses the power of engineering to help create a more equitable and sustainable world. They work with communities in Australia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu in need to provide access to clean water, renewable energy, disaster recovery and develop sustainable infrastructure. At the heart of their programs they ask: How do we engineer differently? How do we engineer sustainably? How do we engineer with community?In the episode, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about EWB’s huge remit - from being integrated into university engineering curriculums, to building technical capacity of in-country engineers, to challenging gender norms and supporting women engineers, to working on major infrastructure projects in Timor-Leste. A focus on Indigenous outreach is also core to their ethos. The episode, launched on IWD 2023, is also a must-listen for those interested in the intersection of gender, engineering and women's leadership more broadly. Eleanor and Anubha discuss women’s leadership in a sector where women’s representation drops from 70% across the sector to 40% at a senior level. Eleanor provides sound advice for other women looking to take up leadership positions in the international development sector and beyond. Eleanor sheds light on her experience of a changing ecosystem – it is now the private sector who come to EWB to ask about Sustainable Development Goal 2030 strategies. For Eleanor, this represents the fact that issues like climate change are no longer ‘dirty words’ in the urgent development context of today. To learn more about Engineers Without Borders follow the link: https://ewb.org.au

Content Warning// trauma, violence, gender-based violencePlease be advised that listener discretion is advised as some parts of this conversation are distressingIn 1995, Benson Wereje's village in the Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked by rebels. He was separated from his parents and he endured unimaginable bloodshed before reaching a refugee camp in Uganda. More than five million of Benson's friends and countrymen have been killed in his home area. Dedicated to empowering youth and imbued with a deep admiration for the transformative impact that education can provide his country, Benson co-founded and became Executive Director of CIYOTA in 2005. Today, CIYOTA educates thousands of children and youths in refugee camps, focuses on community building and strives to unite tribes in the DRC to bring enduring and sustainable peace. Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in an eye-opening and honest discussion with Benson about experiencing and overcoming trauma, how a commitment to equality, forgiveness and education was instilled in him by his father, and how he continues to be inspired by his wife - a modern ‘heroine’. Benson leaves you with a powerful message as to why he believes it is his mission to train young people in responsible leadership and create a unified vision for their country.For his work, Benson has been awarded the Desmond Tutu fellowship with African Leadership Institute at Oxford University in 2013, an Echoing Green fellowship in New York, the ASHOKA fellowship in 2015 and was a Tony Elumelu Foundation awardee in 2019.To learn more about CIYOTA follow the link: https://www.coburwas.org/ 

Anna Robertson first travelled to Ghana as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. With a natural interest for entrepreneurship, innovation and accessible finance for the financially excluded and underserved, Anna quickly learnt that 80% of populations in developing contexts earn a precarious and often dangerous living in the informal sector, and the most vulnerable in this group are women. Inspired by the transformative impact of economically empowered women, Anna founded Yevu in 2012. Yevu is a for-profit social enterprise, manufacturing and selling its clothes online to a global customer base, whilst economically empowering women in Ghana’s informal sector through fair and sustainable employment opportunities.  Anna has also worked as the Head of Innovation Labs at Affinity Africa, which delivered a patentable prototype for Ghana's first digital retail bank, and as a Policy Advisor Deputy Lord Mayor at the City of Sydney. Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in discussion with Anna who reflects on privilege, power and the role that she can play in connecting the bespoke and beautiful Ghanian textile industry to overseas markets. Anna highlights the importance of always centering the Ghanaian women who work with Yevu at the core of the business, collective and transparent decision-making, shared learning, and mutual goal-setting. Anna also speaks to the changing social enterprise landscape she has witnessed since Yevu’s inception.