Podcast

Refugees and internally displaced persons do not choose to leave their homes – they are forced to, due to natural and man-made disasters, conflict and persecution, and of course, climate change. Forced displacement continues to surge past historic levels, topping at an alarming 120 million in 2024. 

For this episode of Goalmakers, it was a great honor to be able to sit and have a conversation with Kelly T. Clements, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. She graciously took a break from the UN General Assembly in New York to join me over Zoom. 

Kelly and I were able to dive into the factors causing forced displacement, as well as the challenges of resettlement, how host countries are assisting, how UNHCR is leveraging technology, and examples of hope and perseverance.  

Kelly has been working on refugee and displacement issues throughout her 25-year career, including a secondment from the US Government to UNHCR in Bangladesh in the 1990s. 

In fact, she was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, or PRM, from 2010 to 2015, with responsibility for humanitarian issues in Asia and the Middle East. She previously led PRM’s Office of Policy and Resource Planning, where she oversaw the Bureau’s strategic planning, policy development and financial resources to protect and assist refugees, conflict victims, and vulnerable migrants worldwide. She also served as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon during 2014. 

Suffice it to say, she has a wealth of understanding and knowledge about refugees and IDPs.  

Any one of us could be forcibly displaced.  

I invite you to take a moment to image that you are just forced from your home, your town or city, what would you do – where would you go?  

…I hope you enjoy this episode, and remember, to bring about positive change and assist refugees, think globally and act locally. 

This is a very special episode of Goalmakers – well, all episodes of Goalmakers are special, of course, because of the incredible people we get to interview – yet this one stands apart.

Let me explain. This session chronicles a very important chapter in our history books because it narrates the heroic efforts of a team of passionate individuals that came together to conquer a huge challenge – how to get key persons out of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in the summer of 2021.

For this episode, I was privileged to be able to sit with the founders of Operation Snow Leopard, and an organizational consultant and veteran who are also part of the OSL team.

This is a story of David and Goliath, goliath being the incredible challenge of how to extricate persons from the grips of the Taliban state.

Data, paperwork, physical extraction routes, safehouses, secrecy, resettlement, more data, more paperwork, more challenges of where to settle persons…

This is a story of passion and perseverance. This is a story about the love of freedom and doing what’s right.

This is also a narrative of how myriads of disparate data needs were centralized and a professional-grade manifest database was created by Salesforce and Google to set a new standard that can be used for future evacuation efforts for a variety of situations.

And OSL’s mission is not complete, and they need more partnerships and support.

And I was very happy to hear how their membership with Global Washington helped facilitate several important connections and collaborations.

I hope you enjoy hearing about Operation Snow Leopard as much as I enjoyed interviewing this diverse, warm, smart, and welcoming group.

Digital upskilling … digital inclusion.

These are important concepts when one understands the need for economic opportunity for new job seekers and existing business owners in low- to middle-income countries.

Whether from a university in Ghana, or a village in Haryana, it is paramount for people in today’s business ecosystems to have comfort with, and knowledge of, digital technologies to be successful.

Microsoft understands this and has embarked on an ambitious mission to empower not only the emerging new generation of skilled workers across the globe, but also companies, government agencies, and nonprofits who support economic development in low- to middle-income countries.

This may sound like a lofty goal, yet Microsoft is achieving amazing results.

To find out more about how they do this, I was able to have an informative conversation with a woman who is at the heart of it all, Naria Santa Lucia, General Manager of Digital Inclusion at Microsoft Philanthropies.

Naria talked about the vast number of interrelated programs, products, and services Microsoft offers nonprofits, job seekers, and, well, just about anyone who would like to learn more about technology.

I am very pleased that today I get to share an inspiring and though-provoking conversation with a very special person – David Evangelista, Regional President & Managing Director of Europe Eurasia for Special Olympics.

This conversation is one of those rare occurrences where one’s perspective is forever changed. At least it was for me…and I’ll wager that it will be for you too.

This recording was made in March of 2023 for a Global Washington profile article on David, as interviewed by one of our long-time writers, Amber Cortes.

I really want to describe what’s in this interview, but I think it will be a much better journey for our listeners to simply let David’s surprising insights and perspectives unfold and reveal themselves without preamble. They’re timeless and applicable on so many levels.

Hit play, sit back, and enjoy!

Today we are excited to share with you a conversation with Kathleen Morris, the newly elected executive director of International Rescue Committee, Washington. Kristen Dailey, executive director of GlobalWA, and Kathleen had a wonderful and revealing conversation about the refugee crisis facing us today, the path to settlement in Washington State, the refugee experience, including the inspiring resilience and resourcefulness of refugees, and so much more. Special thanks to the Seattle Foundation who supplied us a room for this conversation.

Formed in 1933, IRC helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. IRC is an incredible organization with very impressive results. In 2022 alone, the IRC and their partners reached over 32.9 million people in countries affected by crises.

Here are a few stats from 2022:

• They’ve supported 3,137 health facilities
• Provided 8,013,515 primary health care consultations
• Treated 222,278 children under 5 for severe acute malnutrition
• Admitted 453,344 children and 106,722 pregnant and lactating women to nutrition programs
• Built or rehabilitated water supplies serving 3,490,159 people
• Reached 1,421,270 people with cash assistance…

And the list goes on. I encourage you to visit their website at www.rescue.org to find out more.

For this episode, we have the privilege of sharing a wonderful conversation with Atul Tandon, CEO of Opportunity International, interviewed by Kristen Dailey, the Executive Director of Global Washington.

Opportunity International is a global nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to build their businesses, children to go to school, farmers to feed their communities, and families to end the cycle of generational poverty. For nearly 50 years, they have developed innovative programs that use financial services, training, and support to address some of the greatest challenges facing those living in poverty around the world.

Atul is a vast well of knowledge. He talks extensively about the need for, and interdependency of, multiple services and programs to uplift communities out of poverty.

He also covers how the ripple effect of empowering one person can empower a whole community, the future of work including the use of technology, reasons to celebrate our progress on the sustainable development goals, and so much more. We hope you enjoy this episode of Goalmakers!

In September of 2023 I had the honor of visiting Sukarya, one of our organizational members, in Delhi and Gurugram, India. For over 25 years Sukarya has been providing services at the truly grassroots level in the slums and villages where populations are forgotten, ignored, or are simply too difficult to reach.

Sukarya’s holistic programs include healthcare, nutrition, gender equality, women empowerment, and education. I was able to visit several of these programs and experienced first-hand this amazing and crucial work. You can read about Sukarya on their website at Sukarya.org.

I was also able to sit and have an inciteful and personal conversation with Sukarya’s Founder and Chairperson, Meera Satpathy. Meera created Sukarya because she saw how the slum populations were not receiving the support they needed, especially healthcare. Since the day it was founded in 1998, Sukarya’s programs have helped more than 7 million people in over 760 villages and 190 slums.

Meera is a force of nature. She is full of charisma, wisdom, and insightfulness. I know you will enjoy this episode of GlobalWA Goalmakers.

I had the great pleasure of being able to visit the Sehgal Foundation headquarters in Gurugram, India and speak with Anjali Makhija, Trustee and CEO of the S.M. Sehgal Foundation. In this episode we learn more about the incredible work the Sehgal Foundation is doing in rural India. The way they are empowering women and improving small-holder farming are standards that all nonprofits working in these sectors can follow and learn by.

I was also able to make a couple of site visits while I was there, and it was truly enlightening and inspirational. Nothing like seeing the work first-hand! You can read about my experience and view a couple videos on our website – visit www.globalwa.org and simply search for “Sehgal Foundation.”

In May of 2023, we were privileged to capture some time with Surita Sandosham, President and CEO of Heifer International, and Randi Hedin, Board Chair for Heifer International.

Surita, initially trained as a lawyer, has more than two decades of senior leadership experience at global nonprofit organizations. Randi is an accomplished leader, trainer, and advisor in Global Development.

In this conversation, facilitated by Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington, Surita and Randi talk about Heifer’s work empowering women, the success of farmer co-ops, Heifer’s new strategic framework, and their vision for the future, amongst many other elements for sustainable and collaborative locally-led development.

This is a wonderful and full conversation.

For this episode of Goalmakers, we hear from Tim Prewitt, President and CEO of The Hunger Project.

I was able to grab some time with Tim while he was passing through Seattle in April of 2023. We found a space in a WeWork conference room and had a deep and inciteful conversation.

Tim unpacks a wide variety of issues that lead to hunger and malnutrition despite our advancements in food production and distribution, and provides insights into how we, as a global community, can ensure proper nutrition and food security.

He speaks about recent shocks to the global food systems, food waste, community lead development, why The Hunger Project was created… and much more.

In fact, there is such an abundance of great information packed into this episode that if you are at all interested in addressing world hunger, I encourage you to listen through to the end.

In this episode we hear from Jennifer Jones – at the time of this recording in September 2022, Jennifer was just about to take office as the first ever woman President of Rotary International. Yes, a first in its 115-year history.

This is an amazing accomplishment, so you can imagine how excited we were to be able to interview her, initially for an article we wrote which highlights incredible individuals we call Goalmakers. Jennifer was interviewed by Amber Cortes, one of Global Washington’s writers.

We hope you enjoy this episode as Jennifer takes us on her journey attending Rotary meetings as a reporter in the late 1980’s to becoming the 2022-2023 President, and quite a bit more…

In this episode, we hear from Isam Ghanim. Originally from Sudan, Isam’s journey to his role as President and CEO of ChildFund is a 360-degree experience within the humanitarian sector. Starting in academia in Sudan, he was recruited by CARE Sudan to help with their development and humanitarian efforts there, and then later in Somalia and India. After 21 years at CARE he became President of Search for Common Ground to lead peace-building efforts, and in March of 2022 started his new role at ChildFund.

Isam talks about why and how they work with their 169 local partners across 24 countries; the crisis in the Horn of Africa where 19m are experiencing food insecurity and children are the most vulnerable, and how ChildFund is providing solutions and assistance to create better resilience; as well as how ChildFund engages in advocacy for child welfare locally and at the global level.

Welcome to episode 7 of our Goalmakers Podcast. Today, Kristen Dailey, ED of Global Washington, interviews Lance Pierce, CEO of NetHope.

Tune in to hear about how NetHope is working on cybersecurity and new strategic initiatives, the origins of NetHope, and much more.

For those of you unfamiliar with NetHope, they are a consortium of global nonprofits working across geographies and missions to solve some of the world’s greatest development, humanitarian, and conservation challenges.

NetHope’s 65 nonprofit Members and 70 technology partners collaborate to leverage digital solutions for exponential impact. Collectively, NetHope members deliver more than 60% of all annual international non-governmental aid, serving over 1.2 billion people in 190 countries.

Over the years, education has focused on access and parity – closing the enrollment gap between girls and boys – while insufficient attention has been paid to retention and achievement, and the quality and relevance of education.

Providing quality and relevant education not only leads to improved enrollment and retention, but also helps to ensure everyone is able to fully realize the benefits of education. Join us for a discussion on how GlobalWA members define quality education and how their education programs advance gender equality.

In May of 2022, Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington, interviewed Stephen Sara, Senior WASH Advisor and Team Lead at Save the Children. WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene.

Our member, Save the Children, has a long history with clean water and WASH programs in the international settings where they work. Steve describes the history, motivations, challenges, and impact of their work, with some great examples, and lessons learned.

In this next episode of Goalmakers we hear all about the recent and upcoming changes to USAID under the Biden / Harris administration.

Lots of changes!

At our annual conference in December of 2021, Kristen Dailey, Executive Director of Global Washington, interviewed Michele Sumilas – the Assistant to the Administrator at USAID. Michele talks about how USAID is committed to new ways of doing their work, the shift in their priorities given the changing geo-political landscape, and how they are increasing focus on partnerships, gender equity, shifting leadership to local actors, DEI, and a whole lot more.

Nikolaj Gilbert, CEO of PATH, Janti Soeripto, President & CEO of Save the Children, and Atul Tandon, CEO of Opportunity International, all talk about how through listening and understanding at the local level, they realized more could be done, and they could be even more effective by creating regional, country-based structures for decision making and ownership.

In this episode, directors from VillageReach, The Hunger Project, and CARE talk about THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT, and specifically, and perhaps most importantly at this juncture in current affairs, the concept of decolonizing global development. Listen to how each organization has embraced this shift, the challenges they’ve encountered and the successes they’ve achieved. And there have even been some surprisingly positive unintended consequences.

Schaffer Okore is part of the Goalkeeper Advisory Board at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Director of Policy and Advocacy of Women Political Leaders. Schaeffer kicked off our Goalmakers 2021 conference with this *inspiring* talk about the power of storytelling, the importance of community, and the power of women in leadership – and much more.