Useful Outsiders

This month’s podcast episode features a conversation with José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor. Being a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, the country’s first foreign minister in 2002 and initially serving as president in 2007, Ramos-Horta is an experienced and inspiring leader. In this interview, he calls for accountability from world leaders and the need for more compassionate, democratic, and practical leadership. He also touches on East Timor during Covid19, how countries in the global south should be helping each other, and how NGOs should best be supporting populations in crisis. Josie Pagani spoke with President Ramos-Horta at the Council for International Development Annual Conference 2022.

In this episode, speaker dicuss how aid agencies and donors are implementing measures to promote accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption, in their operations. They looked at transparency initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and across the Pacific, highlighting what is working, where there are areas for improvement, and why transparency matters. Speakers Chair: Julie Haggie, Transparency InternationalJaydene Buckley, OSACO and CID Code Committee ChairTerence Wood, Development Policy CentreJade Jackson, Senior Adviser Transparency, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)

Ahead of the climate conference COP27 in Egypt, we bring you a timely discussion with Brianna Fruean, a climate and environment advocate from Samoa, and the youth representative of the Pacific Climate Warriors Council of Elders.Brianna took the stage at the opening ceremony of the World Leaders Summit at COP26 in Glasgow last year. Sounding the warrior call of Pacific youth, declaring “We are not drowning, we are fighting.”At 11 years old, Brianna became a founding member of the Samoan chapter of the climate advocacy group 350.org. Since then, she’s emerged as a powerful advocate for climate justice, bringing small island representation and young Pacific voices to the forefront of global climate conversations.Vaitofiga Fuimaono from the Tula´i Pasifika Youth Leadership Programme in Auckland is speaking with Brianna Fruean.With thanks to Tikilounge Productions

In this episode, Justin Purser from Trade Aid New Zealand, speaks with two of Trade Aid’s small producer trading partners - Suita Nolasco, who works for COMSA, a sustainable coffee business in Honduras, and Gautam Mohan who works for Tea Promoters India. We hear about how the Covid pandemic impacted their businesses, livelihoods, and communities.Despite the major disruptions and challenges that Covid presented, it also accelerated innovation, and this episode tells a story of resilience in the face of adversity. So grab yourself a cup of fairtrade tea or coffee, and sit back and enjoy the discussion.SpeakersSuita Nolasco, works a Commercial Assistant at COMSA, a sustainable coffee business in Honduras. She represents the farmers and promotes their work to develop long term business relationships. Suita grew up working with her dad in their coffee family farm, and believes that coffee provides the means to bring about development to her country through education.Gautam Mohan, is the Managing Director at Tea Promoters India. Gautam works in the organic tea regions in Darjeeling, Dooars, Assam and South India. He is a specialist in growing and exporting Organic Fair Trade Teas, with a strong focus on Small Farmer Tea Cooperatives in India.Justin Purser is the food buyer for Trade Aid New Zealand, and is responsible for managing the organisation’s trading relationships with its food trading partners around the globe. A key focus within his role is ensuring that Trade Aid maximises the value that it can channel to small-scale food producers through fair trade.Resources:Trade Aid NZ websiteCOMSA websiteCOMSA IntagramGautam Mohan, Owner, Tea Producers India

This fascinating discussion explores faith and religion in international development and humanitarian response. It looks at the relationship of faith to programming, partnerships, inclusion and rights, global standards, and challenges some of the assumptions people might hold. The speakers talk candidly about their organisation’s relationships to faith, as well as their own personal journeys.Speakers:Aaron Davy, Humanitarian and Standards Manager, Council for International Development: Aaron has been involved in the development and emergency response/humanitarian sector since the late 90s. With a background in policy and operations, personnel and organisational compliance, training and human resources, Aaron has previously worked for MFAT’s NZ Aid Programme, and managed the International Aid Worker Programme for NZ Red CrossIan McInnes, CEO, Tearfund New Zealand: Ian worked on the front lines of humanitarian responses across the globe for many years, starting with the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 in Sri Lanka. He brings his faith, humanitarian background and passion for Tearfund’s unique mix of partner agencies to the role. He has had a varied career, working also with challenged young people in outdoor education and even once built buses at one stage in his life! Linabel Hadlee, International Programmes Director, cbm New Zealand: Linabel has contributed with work and research in the international development field for the last 15 years. Linabel’s previous experience includes roles in the United Nation’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs based in New York and as an advisor for the United Nations Environmental Programme. Born and raised in Mexico, Linabel moved to NZ from the United Kingdom in 2008.Michael Hartfield, Director, Anglican Missions: Michael has been part of the Anglican Missions team as Operations and Projects Officer since 2017 and part of its wider circle of supporters all his life. He arrived at Anglican Missions from a career in international development, most recently in the role of Development Manager for Disaster Risk Reduction for the New Zealand Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

This conversation centres around the recently published Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022. The report looks at the global and regional progress towards the 17 Goals with in-depth analyses of selected indicators for each Goal. According to the Report, “cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival.”We were interested to hear from people working for International NGOs, particularly those working in the Pacific and working to support children, to hear about how these cascading crises are impacting their work? How are competing priorities managed? What are the impacts on intergenerational change? And where can we find some optimism?Speakers:Paul Brown, Council for International Development’s interim Director, and ex-CEO of Childfund NZ Paul is Interim Executive Director with the Council for International Development, while also building his own practice, Paul Brown Consulting which works alongside for-profit and for-purpose organizations to enhance social impact. Prior to this Paul was CEO for ChildFund New Zealand for over 16 years, and Paul has also worked in management roles in the automotive industry, and financial services sector.Rachael Waugh, Save the Children NZ’s International Programmes Director.With extensive experience working across all aspects of international development management from project design to delivery, Rachael is helping build programmes that create lasting impact for children throughout Asia and the Pacific. Rachael joined Save the Children in late 2021 after more than a decade working in international development, including as Head of International (community development) Projects for Australia’s Salvation Army. In that role, she oversaw some 25+ community development projects across Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Rachael specialises in strategic alignment, project quality and compliance, alongside stakeholder and government engagement. Ronesh Prasad, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Pacific (based in Fiji)Ronesh is an economist by background working for UNICEF Pacific as Social Policy Specialist. Ronesh leads Pacific portfolio for the Social Protection and Public Finance. He provides technical support and assistance to strengthen social policy programming and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete, inclusive and sustainable results. Resources:SDG reportSDG report video

This month we have a really interesting discussion about some of the challenges around humanitarian response and support to war-affected communities, with a focus on the current conflict in Ukraine.CID's Humanitarian and Standards Manager, Aaron Davy, speaks with Virginia Pycroft from ADRA, and Mike Seawright from ReliefAid.Among other things, they talk about working with local teams and volunteers whose lives are directly impacted, the safety and wellbeing of aid staff, interaction with the military and maintaining impartiality, and funding and fundraising mechanisms.Speakers:Virginia Pycroft is a New Zealander who has worked for ADRA for ten years in both humanitarian and development sectors in NZ and the Pacific. She is and currently serving in ADRA Timor-Leste. As a member of ADRA’s Emergency Response Team she has been deployed in the Asia Pacific region supporting local ADRA teams as they respond to natural and man-made disasters over the last ten years. The latest, outside the region, supporting the ADRA Ukraine team respond to the conflict.  Mike Seawright has been delivering humanitarian assistance to families living in the world’s conflict zones. He has provided medical aid in Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan and Pakistan, economic development and energy projects in Afghanistan and most recently emergency humanitarian aid, leading multiple interventions in Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Frustrated that not enough was being done to help families affected by war and conflict Mike founded ReliefAid. With a simple vision of helping families who had no one else to turn too, ReliefAid has delivered life-saving aid to over 250,000 people in war torn Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and they are not stopping there.Links:ADRA’s work in Ukraine ADRA Ukraine AppealReliefAid Ukraine Appeal

This month we look at how NZ can better support people who are forced to flee their homelands. Speakers discuss NZs refugee and asylum seeker policy, and the lived experience of people navigating the system from application through to resettlement and support services. They look at NZ’s commitments, quotas, and they raise some questions around equality.  Speakers:Rachel O’ConnorRachel O’Connor is the Lead Advisor to the Race Relations Commissioner, at the NZ Human Rights Commission. She previously worked for the NZ Red Cross, managing their national migration programmes including the refugee quota community settlement programme.Bernard Sama came to New Zealand from the Southern Cameroons seeking protection from New Zealand as an asylum seeker and was formally recognised as a refugee in 2008. Following the positive outcome of his application, he had several years of what he now describes as difficulties coping in New Zealand as a refugee, and separation for a decade from his family. He successfully reunited with his immediate family from the Cameroons in 2019 and lives with them in Auckland. Bernard chairs the Asylum Seekers Support Trust and is a cultural advisor for Refugees As Survivors New Zealand. He is also in the final year of a PhD study at the University of Auckland. His research, supervised by Professor Jay Marlowe and Dr Anna Hood, explores how the therapeutic jurisprudence perspective could inform and improve the New Zealand refugee status determination procedure.Jay Marlowe is a professor of social work and co-director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies at the University of Auckland. His research focuses on refugee studies and settlement futures as it relates to migration policy, role of technologies and disaster risk reduction. In 2019 he became a Rutherford Discovery Fellow to pursue a 5 year research programme related to refugee settlement trajectories. As a social worker and former visiting fellow with the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University, he has worked with refugee communities as a practitioner and researcher publishing more than 80 peer reviewed papers.Safe Start, Fair Future report

This episode looks at how Covid has shifted a more localised approach to aid and development, and how we can make the most of this moment to really embed locally-led processes.Former Council for International Development Director, Josie Pagani, speaks with Duncan Green, Senior Strategic Advisor at Oxfam GB and Jennifer Kalpokas Doan, Director, Strategy & Programs at Balance of Power Vanuatu. Jennifer is an advocate for inclusive leadership. She has over 14 years’ experience in the field of development, from working in government; from a strategic donor perspective, and from implementation of development programs.Duncan, as well as working for Oxfam, is a Professor in Practice in International Development at the London School of Economics, honorary Professor of International Development at Cardiff University and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies. He is author of How Change Happens and From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States can Change the World.The series is produced by CID's Communications, Events and Office Manager, Sarah King. Please get in touch if you have any questions, feedback, or ideas for future episodes and speakers.