Episodes
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We're flipping things for the final episode of season five, and host Leigh Mathews is being interviewed by the wonderful Mel Harwin who has over 15 years experience working as a leader, implementor, human designer and evaluator in the international development, social, and environmental programs globally. Mel's experience, curiosity and critical thinking thinking skills contribute to a wonderful interview unpacking the privilege of doing good.
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Ethics is a term we throw around quite often in the doing good sector. But what does it really mean? Where do ethics apply? Is it at the organisational level, the individual level, or both?
In the humanitarian sector, where staff are regularly placed in situations where they are required to make decisions that can deeply affect the lives of others, how does ethics apply? Is it ok to be placed in that situation? In a sector with a high burnout rate, and an expectation to just accept working conditions – who is responsible when things go wrong?
Today, we are talking about my absolute favourite topics, ethics and philosophy, with Dr. Matt Beard. Matt is a husband, dad, and pop culture nerd, who also happens to be one of my favourite moral philosophers and ethicists. He is also the resident philosopher on one of the best kids ethics podcasts around – Short and Curly. Matt is the Program Director for the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship at the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership.
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In the aftermath of the #metoo movement, we saw the emergence of #aidtoo and the resulting exposure of harassment, abuse and discrimination in the development and humanitarian sector. While the reports are shocking to read, it’s no surprise – abuse, sexual misconduct, racism, and discrimination have been long prevalent in the sector, and we continue to see reports naming major agencies in scandals.
The rise of #aidtoo has resulted in long overdue attention on these issues, and the voices are only getting louder. The latest report to come out is by Decolonise MSF, an organic, unofficial anti-racism and anti-discrimination movement composed of more than 1200 current and former MSF staff, formed in response to decades of unanswered calls for change within the organisation.
The report, called Dignity at MSF, was a survivor led initiative to publicly assess and disclose findings on abuse and discrimination within MSF, and the first to involve MSF’s global and historical staff base, as well as community partners. On reading the report, it is damning: more than 50% of respondents witnessed or experienced one or more forms of abuse in a one year period.
I invited the report’s authors, Monica Mukerjee and Arnab Majumdar onto the podcast today to talk us through the report, their own experiences working in MSF and what it means to have publicly authored a report like this.
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Organisations all over the world are engaging in a long overdue self-analysis and reflection of how they operate and how they engage with communities whom they have traditionally worked ‘on behalf of’. This can be both confronting and challenging, but it’s also entirely necessary if we want to dismantle the harmful systems and structures rooted in colonialism that underpin how we operate. So how do organisations best go about this when they are still part of, and beholden to these systems?
I’ve invited the amazing Aleem Ali onto the podcast today to talk about what this journey looks like in practice. Aleem is the CEO of Welcoming Australia, working with leaders and organisations across the country to cultivate a culture of welcome and advance communities where people of all backgrounds can belong, contribute and thrive. Aleem has spent the past 20 years seeding and mentoring the development of leading initiatives and social enterprises that advance welcoming and inclusive communities. He is also a mentor and advisor to various startups, community enterprises and government agencies.
Follow Aleem on Twitter
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Working in a sector that is traditionally seen as ‘doing good’ can mean that often, actions and behaviours that are not good at all, and in fact, cause harm are able to proliferate.
The international development sector is built upon colonial ideals and has traditionally perpetuated those through a harmful system of top-down do-gooding that actively suppresses development instead of encouraging it.
In recent times, voices speaking out against the system have gotten louder and louder, and in fact, a number of them have been guests on this podcast. Today, I’ve invited Mary Ann Clements on to the podcast. Mary Ann is one of AltoLearn's course creators, and is someone who has been speaking loudly about these issues for years now and actively interrogating her own role in the system. Mary Ann is currently Chief Transformation Officer (interim CEO) at ADD International.
She’s a feminist author, facilitator, activist, and coach and has spent two decades working in the international development sector.
She’s also the creator of Healing Solidarity, a project that brings together activists, practitioners, and thinkers interested in welcoming the change we need in international development practice and figuring out how to care for ourselves and one another in the process.
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As somebody who has spent their entire career working to protect the rights of vulnerable children, today’s episode was challenging to record. While we know that children’s rights are violated daily, we don’t expect that harm to be caused by the very institutions created to protect them.
Australia’s family court was established in the 1970s, underpinned by a naive belief that if couples could separate quickly and easily, family violence would perhaps disappear. Forty six years later, we are faced with an institution that has, and continues to cause irreparable harm to children and families.
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was damning and resulted in the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, which are designed to guide how institutions are required to protect and safeguard children from harm. Sadly, despite being an Australian Government institution, the Family Court does not follow the Principles.
I’m joined today by the wonderful Camilla Nelson, co-author of the new book Broken, a searing account of how Australia’s family law system is failing. The book explores the complexities and failures of the family courts through the stories of children and parents whose lives have been shattered by them.
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Today’s episode is a deep dive into exploring doing good in the context of activism. This podcast exists to explore why we do good, how we do good, and what the implications of our do gooding are. In activist communities, we often see a spectrum of people – from those who participate in activism sporadically, to those who dedicate their entire lives to the causes. At this extreme end, we see the outcasts and visionaries – those living on the fringes of society and making change in their own unique way.
In spaces where emotion is high, and beliefs are held closely about the ‘right’ way to do things, we often see tensions. People tearing each other down – a dogma of the right way to do things. How does this impact the cause itself? And is something good if it still causes harm?
I’ve invited author and poet Lisa Wells on to today’s podcast to talk about her new book, Believers – Making a life at the end of the world, which introduces us to these visionaries and outcasts who have found radical new ways to live and connect to the Earth.
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Today’s conversation is a topic very close to my own heart, and one that’s formed a core part of my professional career: children living in orphanages.
The evidence tells us that growing up in an orphanage is harmful, yet it’s still happening at scale with millions of children globally stuck in institutions. A key fact that I want to continue to drive home is that the idea that there are millions of orphans in orphanages waiting for the love, care and attention of well meaning foreigners is a myth. These children have families. In fact, anywhere between 70 and 90% of them have one or more living parents who with support, would be willing and able to care for them. Orphanages are harmful and result in the unnecessary separation of children from their families.
It’s a complex, and often emotive issue. There’s no single driver for children ending up in orphanages, there are many: trafficking, exploitation, poverty, abuse, neglect, child protections systems that don’t function, and the insatiable desire to do good among those more fortunate.
I’ve invited Brandon Stiver onto today’s podcast to unpack these issues with me. Brandon is the Community of practice director at 1MillionHome, an organisation that works to shift mindsets about orphan care and scale community based care models that reunite children with families and eradicate practices that lead to family separation. Brandon is also an evangelical Christian who was called to work in an orphanage in Tanzania, where he and his wife adopted a child.
Brandon and I have a wide ranging, and at times challenging conversation about the intersections between evangelism, missionary work, colonialism, race, adoption and orphan care.
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Ethics don’t exist in a vacuum, they are developed over time, at an individual level through the course of our relationships with people, animals, the environment, and systems. In our modern world, it’s difficult to be independent of systems we don’t ethically align with. Advances in medical technology are moving at an unprecedented pace, and the frameworks we have to guide the ethical application of these are unable to keep up. At what point does innovation become destructive?
My guest today is Eben Kirksey, an anthropologist known for his work in multi-species ethnography which argues that all species, however small have agency and importance. That lifeforms such as invertebrates, microbes and plants are not simply the backdrop for the agency and action of animals and people.
Eben is also the author of the utterly riveting book, The Mutant Project published by Black Inc Books, which explores bioethics through the story of CRISPR technology and how it led to the birth of the world’s first genetically modified children: Lulu and Nana.
Find out more about Eben here.
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Today’s episode unpacks a topic that can be uncomfortable for some of us, but is something that we will all experience. Death. \
Death is the natural end of life, one certainty that every human being will experience, yet something we are often deeply unfamiliar with and shy away from. My guest today is Zenith Virago, a professional Deathwalker of over 20 years. Zenith is a leader in the field and has pioneered the concept of empowered continual care at the end of life.
So what is a Deathwalker? A Deathwalker is a person who walks their own journey towards their death as openly, courageously and as best they can. They also walk with, or accompany someone else in their death journey – whether it’s their own, or a loved ones.
Zenith joins me today to talk about her own journey through life and places and spaces she navigates daily.
You can find out more about Zenith here.
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This week alone, in the midst of a devastating global pandemic, we have seen a massive earthquake hit Haiti, and horrific images and stories streaming out of Afghanistan documenting the fall of government and takeover by the Taliban. It’s difficult to process these events when we are already suffering collectively, and difficult to know what to do next, if anything.
These events, and others like them continually raise the question of the role aid and development work play in these crises, and the effectiveness of humanitarian responses. Aid and development effectiveness should be continually interrogated. Maintaining the status quo and doing things how they’ve always been done will never result in the outcomes those in the global north profess to want for those in the global south. And herein lies the problem – the power imbalance inherent in aid as a construct.
My guest today is someone infinitely more qualified than me to talk on these topics. Themrise Khan has spent that last 25 years working in the international development sector in Pakistan, South Asia and globally. Her work focuses on social policy, aid effectiveness, gender, and global migration and she actively speaks, writers and advises the global community on notions of decolonisation, North-South power imbalances in development, race relations, immigrant citizenship and integration.
You can find Themrise on Twitter here.
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Opening season 5 with this episode seems fitting, with the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) damning report that found escaping human caused climate change is no longer possible. Even if earth’s climate was stablised in the near future, some of the climate change induced damage could not be reversed in centuries, or even millenia. We should expect worse fires, longer droughts, and more severe floods.
My guest today is Scott Ludlam, former deputy leader of the Australia Greens and Senator from 2008 – 2017. Scott is a lifelong climate activist and for his first book, Full Circle is a deep exploration of the failures of the financial and political systems that have led us to this place in time, where political, human and natural systems are on the verge of collapse. While the book is sobering, Scott also asks “How can we can make our systems more humane, regenerative, and more in tune with nature?”
Join Scott and I for a wonderfully explorative dive into the book!
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The concept of shared value has gained popularity in recent years, with recognition that solving social and environmental problems requires the input, participation and action of all stakeholders. Leveraging the resources and innovation capacity of the private sector is key to solving the world’s most pressing problems, and as the logic goes – if businesses can benefit at the same time, it’s a win win.
But is shared value a panacea for solving all of our problems? Or is there still a role for philanthropy and charity, and activism?
My guest today is Phil Preston, author of Connecting Profit With Purpose, a practical roadmap for (re)building trust and creating high-performing, sustainable businesses.
Phil is reading Stakeholder Capitalism, by Klaus Schwab
Connect with Phil on Twitter.
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Working in the international development sector is complex. From the outside, it can seem like an exciting, adventurous life – living in places that are perceived to be dangerous, or hard. But for humanitarian workers, it’s not always easy – especially for those working in conflict zones, or emergencies. Burnout and PTSD are common, and often left untreated.
It’s also common for humanitarian workers to ask themselves whether what they are doing is really helping. It can be easy to get caught up in the delivery of projects, and ignore the bigger questions about effectiveness, impact and ethics.
My guest today chose not to ignore those questions, and not to accept the status quo. Taking a sabbatical from her long career in the sector, Cornelia Walther decided to explore these questions in detail and has recently published the book: Development, humanitarian action and social welfare: Social change from the inside out.
Check out Cornelia's work here.
Cornelia is reading Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
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Accessibility is often taken for granted by people who are not disabled. Everyday situations like shopping, catching transport, accessing public bathrooms, using the internet can be extremely challenging for those who have a disability. Disability is so individual, and so misunderstood, and our world does not do well at accepting, accommodating and including individuals who are disabled. We need to do better.
My guest today is the amazing Carly Findlay, an award winning writer, speaker and appearance activist. Carly is the editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia, an anthology of stories written by disabled Australians and published this week by Black Inc Books. Carly is also the author of Say Hello, published in 2019. She writes regularly for CNN, ABC, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and SBS and appears regularly on television and radio. Carly identifies as a proud disabled woman.
Carly is reading People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd
Carly is listening to the Conversations series by ABC
Vist Carly's blog.
Follow Carly on Facebook and Twitter.
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Today’s guest has quite the life story. Born in a remote village in the far west of Nepal, At the age of 7, Sushil went for a walk beyond the hills that surrounded his village and a few months later found himself homeless, living on the streets of Kathmandu.
Sushil’s story of street living, his time in an orphanage and his perspective on volunteers that want to help children like him is invaluable. It’s Sushil’s and my hope that by sharing his story, we can amplify the voices of other children and adults who have been on the receiving end of people’s good intentions to support children in orphanages and through that, change the way we care for vulnerable children.
Sushil is listening to the suite of VICE podcasts.
Follow Sushil on Twitter and on Facebook.
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Everything is connected, and every action we take impacts somebody, something, or someplace. As I get older, and learn more about the world, the connections become clearer. Things that seem straightforward on the surface are incredibly complex, and intersect with things that seem completely unrelated. I love this about the world – how we can seem to be on opposing sides of an issue, yet have a shared goal that will benefit us all.
Ghost Gear is one of those things – A staggering 640,000 tonnes of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing nets, lines and traps are left in our oceans every year, trapping, injuring, mutilating and killing hundreds of thousands of whales, seals, turtles and birds annually. But this doesn’t only affect wildlife – it affects livelihoods, biodiversity, climate and human rights.
To unpack this, I invited Ingrid Giskes on to the podcast. Ingrid is the Director of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) at Ocean Conservancy. The Ghost Gear Initiative brings together a multi-stakeholder approach to solving the problem of ghost gear, with over 100 partners involved, including governments around the world.
Ingrid is reading Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama.
Ingrid is listening to the Yoga Girl Daily podcast.
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I’m fascinated by the different ways humans express what it means to do good: why they do good, how they do good, and what their consequences of their actions are. One of most widely used mechanisms for doing good is through religion. As with everything humans do, this is interpreted in vastly different ways: all driven by a personal interpretation of what it means to be a believer in one’s chosen religion.
Evangelism and missionary work are expressions of this and each year, millions of Americans travel overseas for missions trips. Some of them head off for a short term mission, while others dedicate years of their lives to mission, fully supported by their home churches to set up home in far-off places and embed themselves and their beliefs in communities they deem in need of saving.
Race and power dynamics play a huge role in how missionary work is conducted and to help me unpack this, I invited Dr. Andreana Prichard on to the podcast. Andreana is an Associate Professor of African History at the University of Oklahoma whose work deals with the history of gender, Christianity and development in Africa and explores the history of evangelical child sponsorship initiatives in East Africa and the American Bible belt.
Andreana is listening to Serial by NPR, the Undisclosed Podcast, Missing and Murdered by the CBC,
Andreana is reading The Searcher by Tana French, and Cribsheet by Emily Oster
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I often lament that doing good is not done well enough, and talk about the need to pay more attention to the why, the how, and the impact of doing good. I’m a strong proponent of not engaging in the act of doing good unless you have a deep knowledge and understanding of the cause you are wanting to support, and the charity you want to support it through.
But behind all this doing good is a deeper problem, one that challenges our willingness to do good in a meaningful, connected way. It’s the question of civic engagement. My guest today is Andrew Leigh MP, co-author of the book Reconnected, and Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities within the Australian Labour Party.
In Reconnected, Andrew tells us of the overall decline in civic engagement across all domains including involvement in community associations, membership of political parties, union membership and participation in organised religion. We have less close friends, we give less, we volunteer less, and we vote less. Reconnected calls for more engagement in helping, giving and volunteering as ways to increase social cohesion and resilience to improve outcomes for all Australians.
As I was reading Andrew’s book, it occurred to me that while both Andrew and I are calling for more involvement in doing good, we are doing so with a slightly different lens. When Andrew speaks of the need for more engagement in doing good, I speak of the need for caution, and for ensuring that you don’t cause further harm. When Andrew speaks of the need for systems to be in place to transform spontaneous altruism into a lasting volunteering ethos, I talk about the need to examine spontaneous altruism itself.
Andrew is reading Truman, by David McCullough
Andrew is listening to the Freakonomics Podcast, the Radiolab podcasts, and The Jolly Swagman Podcast by Joseph Noel Walker.
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We need to talk about power.
In the doing good sector, the people who are in the positions of power are those who make decisions about money. Who gets it, how much, when, how and why. In many cases, these decision makers are not representative of the communities who are meant to benefit from these decisions. They don’t have lived experience, they don’t share cultural backgrounds, and their understanding of the issue itself is limited.
In a time when diversity and inclusion is high on the agenda for many organisations, there is a serious need to examine power structures and how they impact the allocation of resources. To unpack this further, I invited Weh Yeoh on to the podcast. Weh lived in Cambodia for 5 years, where he founded OIC Cambodia. Now back in Australia, he’s the co-founder of Umbo - an initiative to improve access to services for children in rural and remote communities.
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