Deeply committed to the philosophy that all children, women and girls with disabilities should have equal opportunities to succeed, our latest episode of Philanthropod features Maria Omare. Maria is a distinguished disability inclusion advocate from Kenya and Executive Director of The Action Foundation.

Since her university days, Maria has devoted her career to building inclusive and resilient communities where those with disabilities can access adequate health and education services. Nearly thirteen years ago, Maria set up her first centre in the Kibera slums, serving just a handful of local community members. Today, The Action Foundation focuses on wider systems change, challenging stigmas against disabilities and working with the Kenyan government to ensure that all children with disabilities have access to education and health care at school.

Maria has also played a crucial role in various initiatives focused on inclusive education, early childhood care and education, and the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls with disabilities. For her exceptional work, Maria has earned numerous prestigious awards, including the Ford Motor Company International Fellowship, Cordes Fellowship, and Michelle Obama’s “Red Magazine UK’s 25 Visionaries to Watch”.

To learn more, tune into this episode to hear Philanthropod host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Maria. Anubha and Maria take the listeners through the highs and lows of The Action Foundation’s journey, reflect on the importance of finding your “people” in the development sector, and discuss how to ensure service delivery is maximised for all who need it. To end, they also discuss The Action Foundation’s pan-African strategy moving forward. Afterall, as Maria notes, impact will be maximised when it is “Africans creating African solutions".

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How much do you know about “hidden hunger”?

Did you know that two billion people suffer from this silent crisis globally, leading to 8000 preventable child deaths daily?

Nearly twenty years ago, Felix Brooks-Church had his first encounter with hidden hunger when he was working with children in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. At its core, hidden hunger is a global malnutrition crisis. Whilst many people across the world might have access to flour or a starchy staple to fill their bellies, these staples often lack the vital nutrients needed to build strong immune systems, to have healthy pregnancies and avoid other serious health issues.

Today, Felix is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sanku, an East African social-enterprise that enables local flour mills to produce fortified flour (or flour that has been “fortified” with lifesaving nutrients). While counties in the Global North already enjoy fortified foods like cereal, milk, and salt, two billion people worldwide lack this basic human right.

As at 2024, Sanku is now working with 1200 millers across Tanzania and Kenya in the hardest to reach places. With smart “Dosifier” machines that precisely add essential nutrients into flour, and through bulk manufacturing that keeps nutrient premix costs low, Sanku makes it possible for communities to access lifesaving nutrients without any added cost. Sanku reaches approximately 10 million people with healthier meals each day.

To learn more, tune in to hear #Philanthropod host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Felix. Anubha and Felix chat about global malnutrition, life-saving technology that provides data in real time, economies of scale, behavioural change and the importance of aligning development interventions to Government policy agendas. They also discuss what “sustainability” means for Sanku as it continues to scale - navigating a balance between philanthropic support and a market based revenue stream.

For their pioneering work, Sanku has been named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, a GiveWell Standout Charity, and won the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the Elevate Prize, the Lipman Family Prize, as well as the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Sanku’s award-winning Dosifier technology was also selected by Time Magazine as an Invention of the Year in 2019.

To find out more about Sanku, visit their website https://projecthealthychildren.org/

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In this episode of Philanthropod, host Anubha Rawat sits down with Safeena Husain, the visionary founder of Educate Girls.

Safeena shares her remarkable journey, from growing up in Delhi under challenging circumstances, which interrupted her education, to a life-changing moment when a close family friend advocated for her schooling. After spending 10 years abroad, Safeena returned to India to start Educate Girls—a non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring that every girl in the most remote parts of India is enrolled in school and learns well.

Anubha, who also grew up in India, brings a deep understanding of the cultural barriers girls face in accessing education, making this a compelling conversation. They explore the innovative community mobilisation strategies behind Educate Girls' success, including the creation of a network of 20,000 local gender champions. These volunteers tirelessly advocate for girls' rights and work to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to attend school.

Safeena reflects on the early lessons and hard-earned insights that have helped scale the organisation. They discuss the critical role of engaging boys and men in the mission, breaking down biases, and fostering a community-driven model that emphasises ownership and responsibility.

With a clear vision of success and a model centered on community ownership, Safeena explains how philanthropy has been the 'fuel' driving the organisation forward. She highlights the importance of unrestricted, flexible capital, which has been instrumental in enabling large-scale impact. Now, Educate Girls is looking to the future with an ambitious vision: the "10x10" initiative—educating 10 million girls over the next 10 years. With strong community support and backing from supporters, Safeena and her team are on track to make this vision a reality.

To learn more about Educate Girls, visit: www.educategirls.ngo/

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In 2002, Sarah Rejman travelled to Tanzania to work as an occupational therapist at a rehabilitation center for people living with disabilities. The two formative years that followed awakened in her a mission to improve the lives of children living with treatable disabilities by creating a safe and happy home where they would be accepted, loved, valued, and have the opportunity to heal. Thus began the Plaster House, as Kafika House was originally known.

Today, Kafika House is an international NGO working in partnership with the Tanzanian government to treat children, transform communities and challenge perceptions of disabilities at a national level. Following a period of growth, Kafika House has also recently expanded from working with one local hospital to five partner hospitals that provide surgeries and aftercare for children.

In this fantastic episode, join Anubha Rawat in conversation with Sarah as they discuss the unique approach and impact of Kafika House, and the importance of holistic, community-driven health programs. For Sarah, addressing treatable disabilities goes far beyond physical medical care. Instead, it must also be about wider education and challenging far-reaching stigmas. It is also vital to involve and support both the parents and wider community, such as Kafika House’s parallel “Mamas Education Program”, which provides an opportunity for the Mamas to simultaneously learn about nutrition, first aid, horticulture and microfinance, alongside their child’s medical care.

Finally, Sarah also delves into how deep-rooted partnerships, fostering a sense of local ownership, and working with health ministries are crucial factors in determining the success and sustainability of medical programs, particularly in an international development context. For those interested in community-led health, children’s health, disability support or international development - this is not an episode to miss!

Find out more about Kafika House here.

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In episode 1 of Season 9, meet Andy Bryant, Executive Director at the Segal Family Foundation. The Segal Family Foundation is an American-born but African-led foundation that identifies, invests in, and creatively supports visionary local leaders and organisations tackling development challenges and opportunities in Africa—and they also help progressive donors do the same.

Andy takes us through the Segal Foundation’s transformation over the past fifteen years, from Barry Segal’s initial vision of “fighting for the little guys” to becoming the second biggest US grant-maker to Africa, behind the Gates Foundation. For Andy, key to this transformation has been the Segal Family Foundation’s increasing emphasis on local staff and expertise in East and Southern Africa. They’ve also strived to challenge a culture of competition between grantees, often caused by traditional philanthropic sector power dynamics, and instead aimed to foster a safe space for collaboration. Today, their grantmaking team is 100% African—a rarity—and they are hoping to build the most influential network of African leaders on the continent who can share resources and intel to advance positive change.

A key question emanating from the discussion includes: what is the role of a grantmaker when they are no longer a funder fiscally? And how can they continue to sustainably support these incredible change-makers? One of the strengths of this episode is Andy’s candidness - he is never shy to admit when the Foundation has encountered challenges along the way - but instead unpacks how these challenges were actively integrated into the strategy moving forward. Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Andy, as they discuss the importance of unearthing and investing in local talent, defining the debated notion of “trust-based philanthropy” and the success of the “Social Impact Incubator”.

To learn more about the Segal Family Foundation follow the link: https://www.segalfamilyfoundation.org/

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When Isabelle Kamariza founded Solid’Africa in 2010, she started with a simple yet powerful vision: to ensure that no patient in a Rwandan public hospital suffered from a lack of nutrition. Nutrition insecurity is a widespread problem in Rwanda, due to high-cost food, limited access to nutritious meals, and lack of awareness.

Since 2010, Solid’Africa has now served over 5 million patient-tailored meals to almost 600,000 patients, and this number is rapidly growing. They now operate out of an industrial kitchen capable of cooking 10,000 meals a day and operate two farms to supply fresh produce. In particular, Solid’Africa addresses nutrition insecurity by recognising the crucial interplay between household income, nutrition awareness, and the availability and accessibility of healthy food. They have three main programs: the Nutrition Access Program, the Nutrition Education Program and the Sustainable Agriculture for Economic Empowerment.

Recognising her pioneering efforts, Isabelle Kamariza has received several awards including the Young African Women Leaders Forum Award by Michelle Obama, the Forbes Women Africa Social Impact Award and the Elevate Prize.

In this exciting episode, join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Isabelle Kamariza, President and Founder of Solid’Africa. From exploring the critical role of initial backers and funders for Isabelle’s vision, to discussing the importance of cost and energy efficiency in NFP operations, to understanding Solid’Africa’s commercial arm, this is not an episode to be missed.

With upcoming plans for a culinary and nutrition school, and further aspirations for expanding operations alongside national ministries, Solid’Africa is one to watch. To learn more about Solid Africa follow the link: https://www.solidafrica.org/

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Is there such a thing as a not-for-profit pharmaceutical company?

What are “neglected tropical diseases”?

How can you address global health inequities in access to medicines?

These are just a few of the many incisive questions that our latest episode of Philanthropod explores.

In episode 2 of Season 8 meet Mark Sullivan AO, Managing Director and Founder of Medicines Development for Global Health (MDGH). MDGH is an independent not-for-profit company dedicated to the development of medicines for neglected diseases that primarily affect people living in poverty.

The majority of new medicines are developed for diseases that are prevalent in high-income countries as the potential returns on an approved medicine offset the high cost and risk of development. This model disadvantages the world’s poorest populations – according to the WHO, an estimated two billion people do not have access to even the most basic of essential medicines.

Responding to this deep inequity in global health, in 2005, Mark founded MDGH. Since its inception MDGH has demonstrated that it is possible to assemble the resources, collaborators and financing required to develop and register new medicines for infectious diseases in a not-for-profit company. In fact, in 2018, MDGH became the first solo not-for-profit company to achieve FDA approval for a novel medicine when they registered moxidectin, the first new treatment for river blindness (onchocerciasis) in 20 years.

Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Mark as they discuss Mark’s pioneering journey throughout the pharmaceutical industry, the importance of working with local NGOs, communities and health providers to distribute medicines, and navigating critical regulatory systems with major global health bodies such as the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and WHO (World Health Organisation).

To learn more about MDGH follow the link: https://www.medicinesdevelopment.com/

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Welcome to our first episode of Philanthropod for 2024!

In episode 1 of Season 8 meet Tahina Booth, Managing Director and Founder of Grass Skirts Project (GSP). GSP tackles severe gender inequality and violence against women and girls in Papua New Guinea (PNG) by uniting sport and gender justice.

For Tahina, sexual and domestic violence against young women and girls in the Pacific is a key development priority to achieve healthy and happy communities. However, a core ethos at GSP is that this is not a problem just to be solved by women and girls. Instead, GSP sees engaging young men and boys as key to the solution and imperative to fostering a more inclusive and equitable PNG more broadly.

Consequently, GSP’s programs, including the Gymbox and 10 Million Strong Leadership program, empower youth of all genders to challenge norms and embrace equity. They are designed to engage men and boys with something they love, sport and fitness, to ultimately heighten gender justice awareness and reduce gender-based violence. Moreover, by providing access to gym facilities and health resources for underserved communities, the programs are also achieving broader goals in the community related to holistic health, education and economic uplift.

Join Philanthropod’s host, Anubha Rawat, in conversation with Tahina as they discuss the importance of sport as a platform to empower young people, build confidence and address gender inequalities. Anubha and Tahina also discuss how working with local institutions and networks, such as the Church and schools, is key to fostering long-term sustainable development in the Pacific. Finally, Tahina further provides fascinating macro-level insight into international development governance, gender equality and women’s rights through her role on the Pacific Women Lead Governance Board.

To learn more about Grass Skirts Project follow the link: https://www.grassskirtproject.org/about

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