In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Alexandre Faite, the outgoing head of delegation in Yemen and guest policy host Trevor Keck. Yemen is the 4th largest ICRC operation in the world, with a budget of nearly $120 million CHF. We discuss the deteriorating situation on the ground, including food insecurity, the fuel crisis and the disrepair of the national health system. We also talk about the ICRC’s role in responding to the humanitarian situation, our global policy asks an...
May 01, 2018•22 min•Season 2018Ep. 53
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Christoph Harnisch, head of delegation in Bogata, Colombia. He’s been with the ICRC for more than 33 years, including time spent in Africa, Middle East, Central America, and currently Colombia where he has been since August 2014. We previously had Christoph on our podcast in May of last year, about six months after the peace agreement was first signed. In our conversation, we discuss what has changed, the challenges of implementing the ...
Apr 24, 2018•35 min•Season 2018Ep. 52
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down Jo Burton, ICRC’s Global Cash Focal Point. Ten percent of the world’s humanitarian assistance is now in cash, marking a 40% increase from 2015 to 2016. What exactly do we mean by cash transfer programming? What are the advantages and risks? What are some of the ways that ICRC is utilizing cash for assistance and protection programs? And how, as part of the larger Red Cross movement, are we harnessing the power of cash to ensure accountabilit...
Apr 18, 2018•39 min•Season 2018Ep. 51
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, OUR 50TH, we sit down Vincent Bernard, the editor in chief of the International Review of the Red Cross, a leading academic journal on humanitarian law, policy and action published by the ICRC and Cambridge University Press. The International Review was first established nearly 150 years ago. We discuss how issues and concerns surrounding warfare and international humanitarian law have evolved in that time (Spoiler: people have always feared technology;...
Apr 03, 2018•31 min•Season 2018Ep. 50
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Red Cross communicators Jana Sweeny and Jenelle Eli. We speak about our experiences in the humanitarian world, the power of female stories and storytellers and what drives us to do the work that we do. We also talk about the unique work of the Red Cross movement work and share the stories--and the people--that forever touched us. Hosted by Anna Nelson, Niki Clark and Sara Owens.
Mar 26, 2018•42 min•Season 2018Ep. 49
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Helen Durham, ICRC's Director of International Law and Policy. We discuss why the subject of gender and IHL is much more complex than just "women and war," and the role gender plays in terms of influencing behaviors. We also chat about masculinity in the culture and context of war, how law and policy work together, the 'discourse of despair' and women inspirations. Hosted by Niki Clark and Austin Shangraw.
Mar 19, 2018•30 min
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Austin Shangraw and Jyl Strong of the ICRC in Washington's Policy team. Last week, the World Bank held its biannual Fragility Forum. The Forum brings together policy makers and practitioners from humanitarian, development, peace and security communities to share practical solutions and explore innovative ways to improve development approaches to foster peace and stability. ICRC's Director General Yves Daccord attended and participated i...
Mar 13, 2018•32 min•Season 2018Ep. 47
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Matthew Gibb, GIS Officer at the American Red Cross. Each year, disasters around the world devastate millions of people. But many communities are missing from the maps that responders use to deliver lifesaving aid. In our conversation, we talk about how the American Red Cross and partner organizations are using the power of crowd-sourcing and remote volunteers to put millions of people from high-risk countries on the map since 2014. Hos...
Feb 20, 2018•20 min•Season 2018Ep. 46
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, the last of a three part conversation in our cultural series, we are joined Christian Rouffaer, ICRC's head of virtual reality unit based in Bangkok. We chat about his role, why ICRC has decided to invest in virtual reality and how the organization is harnessing the power of video games to reach audiences in new and creative ways. We also talk about how VR technology works in the humanitarian space and how his time in contexts like Afghanistan, Yemen an...
Feb 12, 2018•26 min•Season 2018Ep. 45
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with ICRC’s Jess Markt, an American who coaches wheelchair basketball in war zones. At age 19, he suffered a spinal cord injury in college. Twenty one years later, he is bringing his experience and story to help others as ICRC’s first-ever Disability, Sport and Inclusion Advisor. In this conversation, we discuss his personal triumph over adversity and how he brings that experience to the disabled in some of the world’s most dangerous context...
Feb 06, 2018•28 min•Season 2018Ep. 44
After thirty years in the US Marine Corps, including serving as Deputy Legal Advisor at the White House within the National Security Council, Ian Brasure recently joined the ICRC Delegation in Washington as the Deputy Legal Advisor. In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, Ian discusses his long--and inevitable--journey to the ICRC and his storied time in the military, including embracing the uncertainty following 9/11. We also chat about working under then-General James Mattis (now of course,...
Feb 01, 2018•30 min•Season 2018Ep. 43
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, the second of a three part conversation in our cultural series, we are joined again by Wes Rist, Deputy Executive Director of the American Society of International Law and Joe Gibson, Program Officer for International Humanitarian Law at the American Red Cross. This time, we discuss how the influence of video games. Nearly 2/3rds of American households have video game consoles, meaning audiences are being exposed to games in much greater concentration a...
Jan 24, 2018•23 min•Season 2018Ep. 42
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, our first of 2018, we are excited to add another iteration to our cultural series, where we explore the intersection of culture and conflict. In this episode, the first of a three part series, we sit down with Wes Rist, Deputy Executive Director of the American Society of International Law and Joe Gibson, Program Officer for International Humanitarian Law at the American Red Cross. Since 2012, ICRC has worked closely with the game developer Bohemia Inte...
Jan 16, 2018•22 min•Season 2018Ep. 41
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by Martin Lacourt, ICRC in Washington’s Senior Armed Forces Delegate, and Koby Langley, Senior Vice President, Service to the Armed Forces and International Humanitarian Law for the American Red Cross. They discuss the work the Red Cross—both ICRC and National societies—does with military both domestically and globally. The American Red Cross has served more than 1 million military families since 9/11 including members of the military, vet...
Dec 19, 2017•34 min•Season 2017Ep. 40
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with the ICRC head of delegation in Mali Jean Nicolas Marti. Marti has worked with ICRC for more than 20 years, in contexts ranging from Gaza and Afghanistan to Lebanon and Central African Republic. In our conversation we discuss the challenges of working in Mali, how the conflict has evolved since the ICRC began working there in 1991, and the strategic importance of a Malian presence, and what drives him after two decades of working in conf...
Dec 12, 2017•28 min•Season 2017Ep. 39
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Sabrina Henry, Legal and Policy Officer at the ICRC delegation in Ottawa and the Canadian Red Cross and Christoph Harnisch, ICRC head of delegation in Colombia. Twenty years ago, on December 3, 1997, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, typically referred to as the "Ottawa Convention" or "Mine Ban Treaty," was signed. It was entered into forc...
Dec 05, 2017•29 min•Season 2017Ep. 38
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Kimberly Gire, founder of the Global Women Leaders and Jyl Strong, ICRC in Washington’s Policy Advisor. They talk about how through the Global Women Leaders, women bankers, among other professions, have brought their unique skill sets to support humanitarian efforts around the globe. They also discuss the power and drive that comes from women joining together, how ICRC is looking into ways to utilize innovative financing tools, includin...
Nov 28, 2017•24 min•Season 2017Ep. 37
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Esperanza Martinez, the ICRC’s Head of Health. Esperanza, who is based at the ICRC HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, has spent most of her life working in the health sector in the humanitarian sphere. She has brought her expertise all over the world, but most recently to Washington, DC to speak with other influential actors on a variety of challenges facing the health sector today, many of which take a heavy toll on communities affected by arm...
Nov 21, 2017•24 min•Season 2017Ep. 36
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, ICRC in Washington’s Deputy Legal Advisor, Andrea Harrison, sits down with three naval warfare experts on why we should be talking about the rules that govern conflict at sea. Professor Julian Ku, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Faculty Director of International Programs at Hofstra University School of Law, Lt Commander Peter Barker of the British Royal Navy and Associate Director for the Law of Coalition Warfare at the Stockton Cente...
Nov 13, 2017•38 min•Season 2017Ep. 35
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are excited to add another iteration to our cultural series, where we explore the intersection of culture and conflict. In this episode, we sit down with war photographers Louie Palu and Finbarr O’Reilly. Palu’s works have been featured in the New York Times, BBC and Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He recently released Front Towards Enemy, a book which examines the five years he spent covering the war in Kandahar, Afghanistan. O’Reilly is curr...
Nov 07, 2017•28 min•Season 2017Ep. 34
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with ICRC in Washington’s Deputy Head of Communications Trevor Keck and Lauren Spink, the Center for Civilians in Conflict Peacekeeping Advisor. Trevor recently returned from a brief mission to South Sudan and Lauren is headed out to the country this week. We took the opportunity to chat with them both about the current challenges facing aid worker and peacekeepers. What are some of the protection issues? Are aid organizations able to secure...
Oct 31, 2017•36 min•Season 2017Ep. 33
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, Head of Communications Anna Nelson sits down with our newest team member, ICRC in Washington's Spokesperson Marc Kilstein. Anna and Marc talk about nerding out over radio, the importance and honor of storytelling, Marc's hopes for his new position and their (not-so-secret) dreams of being poached by This American Life's Ira Glass. Or at the very least, making him a dedicated Intercross the Podcast listener. Hosted by Anna Nelson.
Sep 14, 2017•28 min•Season 2017Ep. 32
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by Interaction's Director of Protection Jenny McAvoy and Center for Civilians in Conflict's (CIVIC) Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, Sahr Muhammedally. Nearly 50 million civilians are affected by urban warfare, mostly in the countries of Yemen, Syria and Iraq. As warfare moves more and more to populated areas, civilians bear the brunt, facing much greater risks and much higher fatalities rates. What are the challenges o...
Sep 12, 2017•55 min•Season 2017Ep. 31
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by ICRC's Head of Human Resources Marketing Markus Dolder. In the 1990s, the ICRC's staff was composed of about 80 percent Swiss. Now, that number is closer to 15%. Why has this makeup changed, and how had diversity contributed to furthering our mission? What skills are needed to be a successful delegate? Plus Markus shares the influence of the Iraq war on his career and the joy of bringing great people into an organization he's proud to w...
Sep 05, 2017•18 min•Season 2017Ep. 30
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by American Red Cross's Director of International Communications Jenelle Eli. Hurricane Harvey has dumped the equivalent of Lake Michigan on south and central Texas. What is the situation on the ground? How is the American Red Cross responding? What can you do if you find yourself in an emergency situation? And how can you help? Hosted by Niki Clark.
Aug 29, 2017•13 min•Season 2017Ep. 29
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by ICRC Deputy Legal Advisor Andrea Harrison to discuss the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864, the year after the founding of the ICRC, and it was for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field with 57 States Parties. Most recently, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 were added, in part as a reaction to the tragedies of World War II. How have the content of the Geneva Conven...
Aug 22, 2017•21 min
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, ICRC Deputy Communications Director Trevor Keck speaks with Stephen A. Seche, former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen from 2007 to 2010 and current Executive Vice President at the Arab Gulf States Institute, and Oxfam's senior humanitarian policy advisor, Scott Paul. In this fast paced conversation, our guests discuss the Yemen crisis, the origins of the crisis and current state of play. They also discuss the humanitarian problems, including the cholera epidemi...
Aug 10, 2017•40 min•Season 2017Ep. 27
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we speak with Erica Gaston, an international lawyer and project manager at the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, to discuss the legal aspects and humanitarian consequences of the use of self-defense in armed conflict. International humanitarian law addresses the rules for soldiers, armies and States, when they conduct offensive attacks, but it does not directly address the rules governing self-defense. So what are the limits on the use of force ...
Jul 24, 2017•37 min•Season 2017Ep. 26
In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Patrick Youssef, the ICRC Deputy Regional Director in Africa. With media attention focused on the famine in Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria, Patrick helps us dive deeper into one of the areas of crisis, the Lake Chad region. What's driving the chronic fragility in Lake Chad? How do you rebuild the eroding sense of solidarity in communities? How is ICRC operating in the area? And with such dire headlines dominating, how does one...
Jul 18, 2017•18 min•Season 2017Ep. 25
In November 2014, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ delegation in Washington DC and the American Red Cross teamed up with the world’s largest oral history initiative, StoryCorps, to collect conversations between people whose lives have been touched by the Red Cross. Here is the ICRC's Regional Delegation in Washington's outgoing head of delegation Francois Stamm speaking with Brigadier General (US Army, ret.) Rich Gross.
Jul 13, 2017•41 min
