The Impact Room

Apr 01 2024 1

The Impact Room Podcast artwork

The Impact Room is a space to connect people and ideas that make a real difference to our world. Step inside to hear stories of success and failure from a host of global guests, all working to solve some of the world’s most intractable development challenges. From youth unemployment and internet freedom, to modern slavery, neglected tropical diseases, and much more, we will be talking to and about the people and ideas that make a real difference to our world. The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and hosted by Maysa Jalbout.

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Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah on Gaza's suffering

Apr 01 2024 33 mins

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah is no stranger to conflict zones, having spent decades volunteering for medical charities in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. But the plastic and reconstructive surgeon says his latest experience in Gaza has no parallel. The scale of the current suffering in Gaza, “the intensity, the ferocity, the viciousness, and the deliberate targeting of the h

Water scarcity: don't blame climate change

Feb 20 2024 38 mins

Water scarcity is a growing problem around the world, especially in the Middle East, but climate change is only half the story.In this episode of The Impact Room, we look at the social, economic, and geopolitical importance of water. We explore how its co-option, commodification, and unequal distribution is creating shortages affecting health and livelihoods and fuelling local and

Big Bets with Dr Rajiv Shah of The Rockefeller Foundation

Dec 08 2023 23 mins

The Rockefeller Foundation is one of the world’s oldest and largest philanthropies. It was launched in 1910 with funds from oil, but in 2020, unveiled a plan to divest its US$5bn endowment from existing fossil fuel interests and refrain from future investments in the sector. The foundation has also committed to invest US$1bn of programme resources into collaborations and partners

Climate change and food insecurity: can philanthropy help?

Dec 02 2023 56 mins

Close to 800 million people were classed as food insecure in 2022 due to a mix of conflict, rises to cost of living, Covid-19, and climate change, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).As needs rise and budgets shrink, aid agencies are unable to keep up with demand and shrinking budgets are leading to ration cuts resulting in yet more hunger, malnutriti

Wanjira Mathai: this is the decisive decade

Nov 30 2023 31 mins

Wanjira Mathai is the managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), the chief Africa adviser to the Bezos Earth Fund and the former chair of the Green Belt Movement in her native Kenya. Speaking to Maysa Jalbout on The Impact Room ahead of COP28, Mathai, describes the moment we’re in as “the decisive decade” and warns that “the science is getting shaper”, “t

The war on Gaza's children

Nov 20 2023 24 mins

We were due to kick off Season Four with a series of interviews about climate philanthropy, ahead of the UAE hosting COP28, but we felt we could not ignore the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. In solidarity with the people of Palestine, we have recorded some special episodes about the impact this latest war is having on innocent people. We want to both highlight the curr

Season Four is coming soon...

Oct 09 2023 1 mins

Climate change, food security, funding collaboratives, and design for development. These are just some of the topics we’ll be discussing in Season Four of The Impact Room.Join Maysa Jalbout in conversation with a diverse line-up of global philanthropists, development leaders, industry experts, and frontline organisations as they share insights and inspiration.With the UAE due to

President Jimmy Carter's lifetime of service

Jun 29 2023 40 mins

This is a special episode dedicated to President Carter, who aged 98 has recently entered a hospice, and the extraordinary impact he has had around the world in the decades since leaving the White House.From resolving conflicts and building homes for the poor, to eradicating disease and championing human rights, President Carter’s impact has been felt far and wide and in 2002, he

New money

May 15 2023 78 mins

Mosun Layode, Bheki Moyo, and Degan Ali discuss development funding and philanthropy in Africa.Just 14 percent of large gifts by international donors get to local NGOs in Africa, and only 9 percent of large gifts by African funders are channelled to proximate organisations, according to Bridgespan research. The rest of the money goes to governments and international NGOs.Why this h

Who cares? The case for investing in the early years

Apr 12 2023 42 mins

Ninety percent of children's brains are developed by the age of five - yet around the world, millions of young people are missing out on adequate nutrition, care, and stimulating play, causing them to fall behind, even more they have started school.In this episode of The Impact Room, host Maysa Jalbout discusses the global crisis in early years care and asks what philanthropy