The weirdest humanitarian twitter conversation has just taken place between WFPs Executive Director David Beasley and the world's richest man Elon Musk. WFP is trying to get some money, Musk is not sure that humanitarian know how to solve problems, and David Beasley has offered to meet up in space. Hunter Thompson used to say "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" so that is exactly what Meg Sattler, Paula Gil Baizan and Lars Peter Nissen did in this episode.
Nov 04, 2021•39 min
Unsolicited in-kind donations is a major issues in many sudden onset crisis. Whether due to a genuine outpouring of solidarity or to get a tax write-off the volume and nature of stuff that are donated defies any logic. Ice-skates for a flooding in Bangladesh, sextoys donated after a storm in Vanuatu. A container full of old croissants for Kosovo or a 40ft container full of only left boots. The donations are not just ridiculous they are also an environmental problem and Travis Opocensky has found...
Oct 29, 2021•41 min
Field Ready is based on the simple idea that supplies needed in a crisis area should be made as locally as possible. The organisation works with empowering local production capacity across the world, and in this episode Field Ready's co-founder Eric James explains the approach the organisation applies and the impact it has. You can find the books Eric has written on his website www.ericbooks.com and read more about Field Ready on the organisations website www.fieldready.org.
Oct 22, 2021•53 min
Tina Tinde has worked in international organisations since she was in her mid twenties. Throughout her career she has fought for gender equality, inclusion and safeguarding against sexual exploitation and abuse and Sexual Harassment her entire career. In this conversation with Lars Peter Nissen she provides her perspective on how we can address these issues and the progress we have made over the past decades.
Oct 08, 2021•43 min
Dominic Naish has worked for various humanitarian agencies as a contextual analysts. The contexts were different, the organisations were different, but he always had the feeling of being more of an irritant than a help to the people he worked for. In the end he decided to leave the humanitarian sector. He has described his experience in a blogpost “Not a priority” for the Humanitarian Practice Network. You can find the blogpost here: https://odihpn.org/blog/not-a-priority-the-lack-of-contextual-...
Oct 01, 2021•42 min
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 founder of Aid Re-imagined and is currently doing his PhD at London School of Economics. Arbie is a fresh ...
Sep 24, 2021•57 min
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 website: http://www.heartsonvenezuela.com and about their Director here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/...
Sep 17, 2021•51 min
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/
Sep 10, 2021•49 min
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 available here: https://www.alnap.org/help-library/transforming-change Duncan Greens book on Change is a...
Sep 03, 2021•1 hr 1 min
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 cash assistance, but this has profound implications for the most powerful agencies in the sector. To g...
Jun 14, 2021•1 hr 3 min
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 give a master class in how to stay committed for the long haul!
Apr 30, 2021•45 min
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 explores the ins and outs of humanitarian architecture, and we get the answer to what would be differen...
Apr 23, 2021•50 min
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 Lars Peter Nissen in this episode. Check needslist.co to learn more and enjoy the conversation....
Apr 09, 2021•55 min
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.
Apr 02, 2021•38 min
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.
Mar 29, 2021•11 min
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.
Mar 26, 2021•52 min
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 us ensure that we get spare parts for the generator just in time? Listen in as Sarah Spencer from hu...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 6 min
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 humanitarians manage fleet and also try to figure out how and why a huge number of new, yet 40 year...
Mar 12, 2021•40 min
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.
Mar 05, 2021•37 min
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.
Feb 26, 2021•41 min
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.
Feb 19, 2021•38 min
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.
Feb 12, 2021•41 min
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
Dec 31, 2020•23 min
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.
Nov 13, 2020•46 min
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 of the network. He tells the story of how the idea was conceived, what it took to get it off the gr...
Oct 30, 2020•47 min
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 ....
Oct 23, 2020•54 min
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 powerful story about how she came up with the idea and how it is to be humanitarian influencer. You can ...
Oct 16, 2020•40 min
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 creating more resilient communities.
Oct 09, 2020•40 min
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 the humanitarian narrative and about the business model underpinning a small innovative organizatio...
Oct 02, 2020•34 min
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.
Sep 25, 2020•29 min
