Trumanitarian

This weeks episode is a thought experiment. What would we do if we had to begin building the humanitarian sector from scratch? One of my ongoing frustrations have been that many of the reform attempt we have had in the sector are defined more by what is already there than by the problems we are trying to solve – so I thought it would be interesting to build from scratch. Arbie Bagois is the founde...

Hearts on Venezuela is a civil society organisation trying to bring more attention to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. This episode features Daniel Cooper Bermudez, the Director of Hearts of Venezuela talks about the crisis facing his country, how civil society learned to become humanitarian and how to use TikTok. Host: Lars Peter Nissen. You can read more about Hearts on Venezuela on their w...

Meg Sattler sits down with Beth Eagleston and Kate Sutton the co-founders of the Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG), a Melbourne based social enterprise that seeks to use research to challenge the status quo of humanitarian aid. You can read more about HAGs work on their website: https://humanitarianadvisorygroup.org/

Paul Knox Clarke and Lars Peter Nissen discuss the implications of climate change for humanitarian action and the new initiative PREPARE, that Paul has launched on this issue. You can read more about Paul on his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-knox-clarke-0489905/ You will find information on PREPARE here: http://www.chcinitiative.org The work Paul did for ALNAP on change is avai...

Distribution of cash instead of commodities is transforming humanitarian action. Cash distribution has grown quickly in past years and today represents roughly 20% of assistance is given. Cash gives crisis affected populations choices and agency but it also places the sector based humanitarian architecture under stress. There is clearly a need to review the current coordination arrangements for ca...

The ecumenical movement has played a key role in shaping in the fight for a more just world. Christian Balslev-Olesen and Karsten Nissen have been at the forefront of the movement since the late 1960s. But what drove two young theology students to become activists? Where is the ecumenical movement today? What would they do today if they were just starting out? Listen as two (self-declared) boomers...

The traditional humanitarian architecture is centred around OCHA, the IASC and the clusters. But what is the complementarity between this setup and regional bodies with similar functions such as for example the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre). Adelina Kamal is the Executive Director of the AHA Centre. Together with Lars Peter Nissen she exp...

The idea of developing a humanitarian version of the tech platforms we have seen disrupt one industry after another is appealing. But is it realistic and possible to create the humanitarian Airbnb and can we deliver principled outcomes through an app? Is it possible to cut out the humanitarian middle man. These are some of the questions Natasha Freidus and Amanda Levinson explore together with Lar...

Translators Without Border work with enhancing the humanitarian sectors capacity to operate in the languages spoken by crisis affected populations. In this episode Ellie Kemp (twitter handle @EllKemp) from and Lars Peter Nissen explore the way in which the power of language fundamentally shapes humanitarian action. You can learn more about TWBs work on their website translatorswithoutborders.org.

The search for a new Emergency Relief Coordinator is on! There is a strong expectation that the UK again will get to fill the post, but not if William Chemaly, the Global Protection Cluster Coordinator has a say. He has decided to go for the post in spite of. being a somewhat different candidate. Learn more about him, why he is applying and whether he thinks he has a chance.

For more than a decade Yves Daccord was the face of ICRC. As Director General he held one of the most influencial positions in the humanitarian sector. Then he left and started doing something with pop-ups and the social contract at Harvard. In this conversation we touch on issues from art, security, the social contract and knowing when it is time to leave.

AI is transforming the world and will have profound implications for humanitarian action. But how? Will it lend itself to authoritarian regimes controlling their populations and will humanitarian organisations be complicit in this and create additional vulnerabilities for the populations we serve? Will be help us create a better user experience for "consumers" of humanitarian aid and will it help...

Fleet Management may seem like a marginal, technical issue for humanitarians, But not only is fleet a key enabler for operations, the way we manage fleet tells us a lot about the issues facing the humanitarian industry. Rob McConnell has worked with most of the major humanitarian players advising them on how to manage their fleet of vehicles. In this conversation Rob and Lars Peter explore the way...

How do we create change within in the humantiarian ecosystem? Paula Gil Baizan works with humanitarian innovation and she has got a few interesting ideas. in this wide-ranging conversation with Meg Sattler.

There is no simple answer to the question of how to achieve sustainable systemic change of the current humanitarian system. In this episode of Trumanitarian Fergus Thomas from FCDO and Lars Peter Nissen explore the potential of the H2H network (www.h2hnetwork.org) as a change agent. They also talk about being bipolar, dyslexic and a humanitarian.

Lana Woolf from Edgeeffect.org joins Lars Peter Nissen to discuss how to create a more inclusive humanitarian sector for LGTBQI+ people affected by crisis.

Jacob Kurtzer, the Interim Director and Senior Fellow, Humanitarian Agenda at the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) on the humanitarian policy of the Biden administration.

The Zimbabwean rapper Sibo made the theme song for Trumanitarian. In this episode we talk about growing up inside and outside Zimbabwe, being privileged in a struggling country, freedom of expression, the role of the aid industrial complex and much more. You can find Sibo on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/58pKTxUMVHOHmpIQQ8hrgH?si=ErvymC84QjOR6MoViXCM3g

Academics know a lot about the things we always get wrong when facing a crisis. However, we seem to be incapable of solving these problems. Why is that and is there nothing we can do? Christian Uhr is an associate professor at Lund University and studies emergency and disaster management.

The START network is one of the most ambitious and interesting attempts at changing the system in recent times. The Network strives to positively disrupt humanitarian action by developing a new humanitarian economy, shifting power to the edges of the system, and by convening a broad coalition of humanitarian actors from across the world This week's guest on Trumanitarian is Sean Lowrie the founder...

Humanitarians say that they will base their interventions on needs. But how do you define needs? And how do standards and methodologies influence the way we think about humanitarian action? These are some of issues Joël Glasman and Lars Peter Nissen unpack in this episode. Joël is a historian and has written the book Humanitarianism and the Quantification of Human Needs: Minimal Humanity .

Refugees and immigrants are confronted with prejudism and negative publicity. The Worldwide Tribe has set out to count this by telling positive and personal stories about people on the move. The Tribe is a fascinating new type of humanitarian organisation that brings a different and powerful skillset to the table. Jasmin (Jaz) O'Hara is the founder of the tribe and in this episode she tells a powe...

The travel industry, just like the humanitarian industry, provides everything a person on the move needs. It is also one of the largest industries in the world with a turnover many thousand times that of the humanitarian industry. Gopinath Parayil wants to dual-purpose the assets of the travel industry for humanitarian response during climate-related disasters, thereby contributing towards creatin...

Crowdsourcing can play a powerful role during assessment of crisis. During the 2015 Kathmandu Earthquake www.kathmandulivinglabs.org (KLL) played a pivotal role in collecting data from across the affected area and making it available to decision-makers. In this episode Nama Budhathoki, the founder and Executive Chairman of KLL, discusses the role that information and technology can play in shaping...

This is a conversation about data. How we use and misuse it. How we often make decisions without it. What you do when you don't have data but need to make a decision. It is also a conversation about standards and whether they make us less brave.