Terms Of Reference Podcast

Even if you are a newbie in the humanitarian aid and development community, I'm willing to bet you've heard about cash. And, by cash, I mean the very-much-growing interest and support for providing assistance to those in need by giving them cash. The theory is simple: people in need of help, especially in situations of poverty and emergencies, know the specifics of their situation better than anyone and cash provides them the best tool to getting those needs met quickly. My guest for the 119th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast is no newcomer to the cash discussion. Paul Niehaus is a co-founder and president of GiveDirectly, which is currently the top-rated nonprofit by GiveWell and ranked among the 25 most audacious companies (Inc) and 10 most innovative companies in finance (Fast Company). GiveDirectly is a recognized leader in the use of modern technology to transfer funds directly to the extreme poor, and in the use of rigorous scientific methods to document its impact.

You can go ahead and admit it your yourself - I won't judge, because I do it too - that its nice when you have a substantial number of people "like" or follow something you've posted on social media. For most of us, this revolves around a picture of a vacation, something the kids did, or random silliness we happened across on the street. But what if your post went viral? I mean really viral... so much so that it resulted in you receiving so much feed back that you decided to start an organization to fulfill the need that you just uncovered? Well, this is exactly what happened to Annamaria Olsson, who is my guest for the 118th episode of the Terms of reference podcast. As you'll hear in the episode, she wrote a post that launched a vibrant growing organization called Give Something Back To Berlin, that seeks to connect people in the city, especially migrants who are looking for ways to thrive in a place that has welcomed them with open arms, but may not necessarily with all the resources they need. Annamaria i

When an emergency happens, whether its unexpected like an earth quake, or the result of a steady build up like many of the violent conflicts we have in the world today, people scatter. They scatter from where they live to not only remove themselves from immediate harm, but then to also find and connect with those they care about. This movement presents one of the larger challenges with delivering humanitarian aid to those who need it. But what if there was a way to detect where people are going, or where they've gone - and determine if, or when, they might come back to their homes... without having to physically see them? This is one example of the work of Flowminder, an organization that uses anonymized data from mobile operators and household surveys to help humanitarian agencies and governments understand the movement of people before, during and after an emergency. On today's 117th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, I speak with Linus Bengtsson, who is one of the co-founders and the Executive Dire

What is it like to not have a voice? More specifically, what is it like to have a voice - a powerful, intelligent, passionate voice - but one that no one can hear? This is the case for, literally, millions of people in the world today who have stories to tell, and stories that need or should be heard, but who are not able to access mainstream media channels that we all still turn to for our news. These are stories about fleeing violence, about what its like to be disabled or about trying to see where the road from poverty to prosperity begins. Now, I know that social media has evolved this equation, to be sure. However, I also know first hand that even when you have access to all the right tools, and resources and great stories, it is still a massive effort to break out of the overwhelming ocean of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and thousands of other "individual voice outlets" to be heard at scale. Libby Powell, my guest for the 116th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, is implementing a vision for givin

We have spent a fair amount of time on the Terms of Reference Podcast talking about data - big data, data collection, using (and not using) data. While I'm sure that we will continue to talk about data a lot in the future, and hopefully (and more importantly?) the useful information that data creates, today's episode focuses on the portion of the innovation spectrum in development and aid where the truly tangible, potentially game changing product or service that someone (or group of people) who has poured blood, sweat and tears into making a reality... is actually becoming a reality. For the 115th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, I speak with Ryan Oksenhorn of the company Zipline. A member of the founding team, he is the company's Software Team lead and and also runs the flight testing program. Zipline is a complete rethinking of the delivery of critical and emergency health care products, like blood or vaccines, for hard-to-deliver-to places. They fly them there. On demand. Within minutes of recei

There is a good deal of energy in the development and humanitarian space focused on building an evidence base for what works - and what doesn't. Here on the Terms of Reference Podcast, we've talked with numerous individuals and organizations who are building data sets towards that end, and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation - or 3ie - has been contributing to this conversation since its founding in 2008. To date, they've funded 146 impact evaluations, 33 systematic reviews and 38 other studies in over 50 countries. But how do we properly reflect on and communicate about the evidence we've collected, and its resulting analysis, so that it can be used by development and humanitarian actors to design (and deliver) better programing? I discuss this and a host of other topics on the 114th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast with my guest, Dr. Jyotsna Puri. Jo is the Deputy Executive Director and Head of Evaluation at 3ie and has more than 21 years of experience in policy research and developm

Those of us in the innovation space in development and humanitarian aid often talk about making sure that what we do is market driven. Not only should following this path provide the best solution to those who are interested in using your product or service, it should also create a clear roadmap to sustainability. Because, after all, if you have created a solution with such value that the demand not only sustains your organization, but allows you to continue to refine, grow and take risks (or, in one word, thrive), you're doing something right. This relentless pursuit of providing a product of consistent high value is the passion that drives my guest for the 113th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast. Chris Robert is the founder of Dobility, which produces SurveyCTO, an electronic data collection platform used worldwide by leading researchers and evaluation professionals. Chris has literally seen and done it all as a technologist, an entrepreneur, an economist, a researcher, and a lecturer. He's been a t

The field of international development and humanitarian aid is so broad and diverse that it is essentially impossible to keep up with everything that is going on. Combine that with the rapid pace of technology development, communication and all-things-internet and you wouldn't be alone if you felt a bit overwhelmed by it all. The good news is that there are a growing number of forums, groups and conferences that interested professionals can tap into to dive deeper into their area of interest, connect with others of like mind or, perhaps most importantly, take time to look up from their desks to see how the rest of the universe is out there trying to help those in need. My guest today on the 112th episode of the Terms of Reference podcast is Dr. Silvia Hostettler and she spends a good deal of her time convening spaces where development and humanitarian professionals can interact. She is the Deputy Director of the Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV) at EPFL in Switzerland where she is responsible for coo

It is no secret that there is a very strong push from donors and policy makers that programming for development and humanitarian aid be "evidence based." This push has, to a large degree, driven the technology revolutions we are seeing in data collection and analytics, and it is also responsible for the more difficult conversations that are had around value for money. So what if you were in a position where you were responsible for both testing and building a viable path to scale for promising evidence-based interventions? This dream job is currently held by Karen Levy, our guest here on the 111th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast. Karen is the Director of Global Innovation at Evidence Action. She leads the organization’s innovation strategy and oversees the “Evidence Action Beta” department that looks for new ideas and tests them to see if they'll work.

Similar to essentially any other industry, the problem of efficiently collecting project or program level data that can be readily crunched, analyzed and, ultimately, used by managers for decision making has been, and will continue, to be a conundrum for the development and humanitarian aid community for the forseeable future. I have often heard the frustration from professionals in the field, who wonder out loud why we haven't be able to put together one, or perhaps a small set of, technology solutions that can be used for monitoring any output, anytime. Beyond the actual technology itself, a key part of this conversation is the question of how to implement such a solution in a way that is not only relevant for a project, but also for the workers tasked with the actual data collection. And, going further, how to build a tool that doesn't add a massive time burden to those who are already tasked with the impossible. Dimagi is one company who are attempting to solve these problems and today's guest on the 110t

It is no secret that we live in a truly connected world. I can speak from experience that it is possible to be online in every nook and cranny of the planet - from deep inside the Ugandan countryside, to the middle of war torn Syria to the Islands of Fiji. The opportunity to connect to "the net" anywhere, for whatever reason - business, social, and yes, even evil - is here, now. There are many consequences, externalities and unknowns associated with this connected reality - some of which we are painfully aware of, like trolling, and some we don't have the ability to image yet (for example, what happens when virtual reality becomes ubiquitous)? One of the things we know, is that every time you use your mobile phone, swipe a credit card, surf the internet or basically any other activity that involves passing digital information across the internet, you leave a small, unique breadcrumb or fingerprint behind. If you were to capture and review these breadcrumbs for one individual, across any length of time, you wo

If you're like most people, you're probably listening to this podcast on a smartphone of some type - maybe your on your commute, or an after-work walk with the dog. Others will listen to it on their laptop or office desktop machine in the background as they perform some other task. When I talk about using technology, these types of examples are, what I believe, pops into most people's mind. And, rightly so. I can attest to the fact that, even in the most remote corners of Uganda, technology - as mobile devices and their applications - play a front and center role in the minds of everyone. But the term technology - the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes - extends far beyond smartphones and laptops. Technology can be as simple as a pulley system, a dam for a reservoir, or a hand cranked water pump. As amazing as it sounds, for a huge amount of people in the world today, these simple types of technology are not only breakthrough, they are the key to a hand up out of poverty through the ef

For most of us, a critical factor in creating a sustainable and satisfying career is the formal education we acquire. In the in development and aid space, a master's degree from a credible institution is really the minimum bar for even an entry level position at any top shelf organization. Access to this type of education, and its benefits, are things many of us simply take for granted. But what if your community were caught in the grips of conflict? Or what if you find yourself growing up in camp for displaced people? Or what if higher education infrastructure just simply doesn't exist in your neck of the woods? My guest today for the 107th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast is Barbara Moser-Mercer. She is the founder and Director of InZone, an initiative that pioneers innovative approaches to multilingual communication and higher education in communities affected by conflict and crisis by designing, developing and scientifically validating learner-centered and technology-supported pedagogical models.

If you've been a part of the "innovation" conversation in the humanitarian aid and international development sector for any amount of time, you have - more than once - admitted to yourself two things: Innovation is only second to strategy as the most overused and abused word in the development/aid lexicon, and When people are talking about innovation, they're usually talking about technology. While I am as guilty as the next person, I try my best to avoid stumbling into the trap of either of these pitfalls. However, when we mentally get past these two speed bumps, oftentimes, we find that what we're really talking about is how do we get more/better data in a cost effective way. Technology is helping to answer that question in a big way and, increasingly, I find myself having conversations with individuals and organizations that have access to some fairly large datasets. But then we quickly run into the next speed bump which is, unfortunately, much bigger than the first - how do we use this data to actually ge

So often these days we hear about the need for real time monitoring, fail fast, quick results and projects that make an immediate difference in the lives of those we are serving. While these are often excellent goals to have, the cost, complications and ability to implement and simply deliver on these demands can be overwhelming to the average development worker or aid provider. At the same time, our community has often acknowledged the need for a deeper, more rigorous approach to understanding how the programming we implement ultimately creates short and medium term outcomes, and ultimately produces longer term results. This is where the work of Annie Duflo and the people of Innovations for Poverty Action excel and I'm happy to have her on the show for our 105th episode. As the Executive Director of IPA, Annie is responsible for leading the organization to implement its strategic plan and day to day operations. Previously, Annie served as IPA's Research Director where she managed its research network, staff

How do you go about monitoring and tracking the work that you've accomplished as an implementer of humanitarian aid or development assistance? This question has been answered 1000s of times by 100s of organizations around the world. Even though we're in the year 2016, the reality of tracking progress for the vast majority of initiatives out there is one of two things: written reports in Microsoft Word or numbers on an Excel spreadsheet.... that then get translated into a narrative report in Word. I'm not kidding. I've been evaluating programming in this world for more than 10 years and I have yet to be hired for an assignment where, as a first step, my client sends me a username and password for their online information management that has the ability to instantly report on total program progress with a complete package of visualization and analytical tools. This isn't to say this doesn't exist: in fact, when I first cut my teeth in development with a large NGO back in the early 2000s, they already had built

How much time did you spend wondering about the potential quality of the last medical procedure you were involved with? More specifically, did you spend a lot of time consternating about whether or not the tools being used in the procedure (either by you or the medical professionals you were with) were reliable and safe? This is an intriguing question for many of us. For example, I was born in the United States, but I have lived outside the US for the last 11 years and I spend a good deal of my time in parts of the world that do not have running water, reliable power or iron clad hygiene practices. When I consider the question of reliability and safety while wearing each of those three hats, I come up with very different answers, as I'm willing to bet, so would many of you. This is a question that has plagued Kate Michi Ettinger since 2010, and, as our guest today for the 103rd episode of Terms of Reference, I talk with Kate about OpenQRS - an organization she founded to the issue. Kate is a social innovation

The idea of innovation has become so popular in the development and aid community that, unsurprisingly, it is difficult to keep up. There seem to be forums, conferences, blogs (and yes, even this podcast) that are putting information out there for your consumption to the point of overwhelm and it can be difficult to cut through the noise to create a better understanding of what works - and more importantly - what doesn't when it comes to better serving those in need. Luckily, there are also people out there like Alice Obrecht who are helping to curate some of the learning around innovation and make it accessible to everyone. In this 102nd episode of Terms of Reference, I speak with Alice about her work as a Research Fellow at the Secretariat for the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP), where she is currently leading research on the themes of innovation and effectiveness. And, as part of this work, she has led the ALNAP Secretariat’s involvement in the World Humanitarian Summit p

Peace Corps has had an office of innovation for almost 5 years now, and there are some very cool things happening. To learn more about them, I spoke with Patrick Choquette, who has served as the director of Peace Corps’ Office of Innovation since 2012. He is the agency’s second director of Innovation and manages a small team within the Director’s office with the mission of empowering staff and volunteers with a work environment that breeds innovation. As you've come to expect from guests here on Terms of Reference, Patrick is no slacker: In 2014, he was awarded the prestigious NextGov Bold Award for his accomplishments in creative problem solving and innovation. He has also previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, a middle school educator, and was one of the first field operatives hired in Iowa for President Obama’s 2007 primary campaign.

Andrew Schroeder is the co-founder of WeRobotics, a global non-profit organization which works with local communities and international organizations to accelerate aid, development, environmental protection and global health with robotics technologies. Andrew is also the Director of Research and Analysis for Direct Relief, a non-profit organization based in Santa Barbara, CA which distributes essential medicines to local healthcare programs in over 100 countries. Andrew is a globally recognized leader in the use of spatial analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) for humanitarian aid and health. In 2013 Andrew won the President's Award from ESRI for his contributions to GIS for social good. He received his PhD in Social and Cultural Analysis from New York University and his Master's in Public Policy from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.​