GDP - The Global Development Primer

In this BONUS GDP podcast, we chat with Rob Belliveau from https://yclo.ca/ to discuss tips and tricks for profs taking their courses online for the Fall 2020 term.  Rob discusses how teaching philosophies and learning goals do not have to change in an online world, and in fact they can be strengthened.  If you're planning a course for Fall 2020, check out what Rob has to say, and feel free to get...

Teeth cleaning, knee surgery, plastic surgery, organ transplants, and a miscellany of other medical services can all be acquired overseas...for a price!  Medical tourism is the practice of crossing borders in order to receive medical care.  In some ways, it is an ancient practice.  But, in an era of deep public investments in health care services in rich and poor countries alike there comes risks,...

Cool apps, nifty phones, fancy technology and even electric cars have often been born out of start-ups in California's Bay Area.  According to Alex Lazarow, the global landscape of start ups is changing.  Opportunities for venture capitalism, innovation, and investment are increasingly taking place in the Global South.  In this podcast, we explore  why Silicon Valley may be too...

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be under-estimated for  Asia  - the world's largest developing region.  The social and economic impacts of COVID-19 for those living below the poverty line in Asia and the Pacific will be substantial.  So what are development actors doing about it?  In this episode of GDP,  we're happy to have Bart Édes joining us to talk ab...

It’s season 4 of the Global Development Primer. And needless to say, we’re starting this season in a state that no one saw coming:  The COVID-19 pandemic. There are no bystanders to this crisis. It has impacted everyone on earth in some way. University communities were among many who had to rethink "business as usual", and in this podcast Dalhousie University President Deep Saini is here to talk a...

For over 60 years Cuba has offered medical outreach and assistance to other countries in the Americas & Africa.  More recently the cooperation has grown to include countries in Asia, and now the Pacific.   In this episode, Dr. Bob Huish reflects on researching Cuban medical internationalism for the past 15 years.  He argues that Cuba's solidarity and outreach is truly on a globa...

Bhutan has a Gross National Happiness index.  The United Nations sought the development of the Human Development Index.  The exclusive World Economic Forum ran a series about the end of the "love affair" with GDP.   In this season 3 finale, Dr. Anders Hayden joins Dr. Bob Huish to talk about why development needs to go beyond GDP, what the consequences of it are, and what why we sho...

The Jasmine Revolution took place in Tunisia in January of 2011.  It led to the democratization of the country and to open elections.  How?  Matt Gordner is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, who is doing research in Tunis about the impacts of youth-led activism in Tunisia.  In this podcast he explains that activism is no accident, and that it is not just about public protests.  Activis...

Guatemalans have been coming to Providence Rhode Island for decades, changing the land, life, and landscape of the U.S.'s smallest state.  So too has this changed the geography of Guatemala as people continue to make their way to la "costa norte".  Patricia Foxen has followed this pathway of migration for two decades, and in doing so exposes a challenging experience that is embedded in g...

The panelists take questions from viewers about what other countries are doing in the face of the pandemic,  what to expect in the weeks ahead, and why we should be venerating our nurses, doctors, grocery store workers, Uber Eats drivers, and anyone else who is on the front lines of this global crisis.   This podcast is part of a special GDP Roadshow series featured a COVID-19 video pane...

What makes for good policy during times of pandemics and other such emergencies when it comes to managing risk?  How do we normalize risk, and how do we measure it?  In this podcast, Kevin Quigley gets into the nuts and bolts of how policy makers approach risk, and how they should approach it during the pandemic.   Kevin Quigley is the scholarly director at the MacEachen Institute f...

Quarantines are ancient methods of public health, and they come with ancient problems such as isolation, marginalization, and stigma.  During the Spanish Flu pandemic, most of the world was already sick and poor by today's standards.  In 2020 the world has never been more inequitable in terms of health and wealth outcomes.  So what happens when quarantines are ordered on societies f...

Dr. Alyson Kelvin's research couldn't be more vital and important.  Her research team is preparing evaluations and clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.  But how do viruses and vaccines work?  And how does this COVID-19 virus work?  If you have 20 minutes, she'll take you through the details.  You won't want to miss this excellent, factual, and crystal clear presentation...

On this special GDP Roadshow podcast, Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed takes us into the details of pandemic planning, and how real life never "follows the plan".   COVID-19 is Dr. Watson-Creed's 3rd outbreak.  She takes us into the details of planning for disease outbreaks and coping with pandemics. Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for the provinc...

Since when did grocery stores in Global North start selling mortgages, credit cards & loyalty programs?  For Dr. Ryan Isakson , it's a telling example of how financialization, meaning how corporations increase their influence in our lives, is ever increasing.  So too, is it occurring in the Global South, even with small-scale farmers in rural Guatemala.  In this podcast, Ryan Is...

Eduardo Galeano said that Dr. W. George Lovell "did not choose Guatemala for his career, but the land, in a magic way, chose him to tell us about the shining voices that whisper in the darkness."  In this episode, recorded in Antigua de Guatemala, Dr. Bob Huish chats with George Lovell about the 4th edition of his book "A Beauty that Hurts", which tells the story of how processes of 16th cent...

When you think about activism in the Middle East, what are the first things that come to mind? Emma Swan asks us to consider, and then reconsider the very images that just came to your mind.  Having worked in Israel & Palestine, Emma's research looks at how colonialism impacts the male gender identity of the Palestine Resistance movements.  In this episode, GDP is delighted to featur...

This week, in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Dr. Bob Huish is joined by Tari Ajadi to chat about the lingering effects of neoliberalism that Britain's Margaret Thatcher brought to the International Development Discourse.  From deep austerity, to re-imagining what the nation state is, in this podcast, we discuss the Iron Lady's long legacy (intentional or otherwise) in International Developm...

Johnny McPherson read about how important organic agriculture was, and is, to food security in Cuba.  But when he went to Havana, expecting to see bounties of organic produce, the unavoidable quantity of street pizzas and ham sandwiches made him curious.  Does organic agriculture really keep Cuba fed?  Maybe the question wasn't so much about understanding food security, as much as food sovereignty...

There's no better way to ruin the romance of Valentine's day than with this GDP podcast.  Chocolate, Flowers and Diamonds are all "traditional expressions" of love and affection, and they are all connected to problematic commodity chains.    Dr. Laura Parisi joins us at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia to take us through the reasons why some of the most popul...

Season 3 kicks off on Valentines Day 2020 with Dr. Bob Huish offering Dr. John Cameron flowers and chocolates over a chat about the importance of Love in International Development.  Mad Scientist Rick Sanchez called love "a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed", but Dr. Cameron's new line of research shows us that love is far more than that.  It is essential for human capabili...

The music you hear on The Global Development Primer is original work from none other than good friend and BINGO colleague, TAS, from TAS & The Semi-Superheroes.   Dr. Bob Huish  wanted original music for GDP that captured some of the deeper themes of the podcast series.  TAS & the Semi-Superheroes came through cutting three unique themes.  Tune in to this trailer to learn more about the creative i...

Did you get your invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland?   Neither did we. This exclusive annual meeting sets out to discuss some of the world's greatest challenges to economic and social development.  World leaders, rock stars, economists, royalty, CEOs, and anyone willing to pay the $72,000 to attend (that's $52,000 for the annual membership to the forum, and anoth...

About 2 million people visit Cuba every year.  Classic cars, hand-rolled cigars, and thatched-roof bars are popular sites on the tourist track.  But hundreds of students and professors from around the world come to Cuba to hit the books - even students from the United States.   In this bonus episode of GDP Dr. Sarah Blue chats with Dr. Bob Huish about leading study tours to Cub...

Racism is a problem everywhere, and it is increasingly finding its way into politics around the world, including Australia.   In this Season 2 finale,  Dr. Bob Huish talks with Prof. Kevin Dunn at Western Sydney University about the "Challenging Racism Project". It's a project that documents the poor attitudes that some people have towards others, but also to understand the disadvantages and exper...