We're flipping things for the final episode of season five, and host Leigh Mathews is being interviewed by the wonderful Mel Harwin who has over 15 years experience working as a leader, implementor, human designer and evaluator in the international development, social, and environmental programs globally. Mel's experience, curiosity and critical thinking thinking skills contribute to a wonderful interview unpacking the privilege of doing good.

Ethics is a term we throw around quite often in the doing good sector. But what does it really mean? Where do ethics apply? Is it at the organisational level, the individual level, or both?In the humanitarian sector, where staff are regularly placed in situations where they are required to make decisions that can deeply affect the lives of others, how does ethics apply? Is it ok to be placed in that situation? In a sector with a high burnout rate, and an expectation to just accept working...

In the aftermath of the #metoo movement, we saw the emergence of #aidtoo and the resulting exposure of harassment, abuse and discrimination in the development and humanitarian sector. While the reports are shocking to read, it’s no surprise – abuse, sexual misconduct, racism, and discrimination have been long prevalent in the sector, and we continue to see reports naming major agencies in scandals. The rise of #aidtoo has resulted in long overdue attention on these issues, and the voices are...

Organisations all over the world are engaging in a long overdue self-analysis and reflection of how they operate and how they engage with communities whom they have traditionally worked ‘on behalf of’. This can be both confronting and challenging, but it’s also entirely necessary if we want to dismantle the harmful systems and structures rooted in colonialism that underpin how we operate. So how do organisations best go about this when they are still part of, and beholden to these...

Working in a sector that is traditionally seen as ‘doing good’ can mean that often, actions and behaviours that are not good at all, and in fact, cause harm are able to proliferate. The international development sector is built upon colonial ideals and has traditionally perpetuated those through a harmful system of top-down do-gooding that actively suppresses development instead of encouraging it. In recent times, voices speaking out against the system have gotten louder and louder, and in...

As somebody who has spent their entire career working to protect the rights of vulnerable children, today’s episode was challenging to record. While we know that children’s rights are violated daily, we don’t expect that harm to be caused by the very institutions created to protect them. Australia’s family court was established in the 1970s, underpinned by a naive belief that if couples could separate quickly and easily, family violence would perhaps disappear. Forty six years later, we are...

Today’s episode is a deep dive into exploring doing good in the context of activism. This podcast exists to explore why we do good, how we do good, and what the implications of our do gooding are. In activist communities, we often see a spectrum of people – from those who participate in activism sporadically, to those who dedicate their entire lives to the causes. At this extreme end, we see the outcasts and visionaries – those living on the fringes of society and making change in their own...

Today’s conversation is a topic very close to my own heart, and one that’s formed a core part of my professional career: children living in orphanages. The evidence tells us that growing up in an orphanage is harmful, yet it’s still happening at scale with millions of children globally stuck in institutions. A key fact that I want to continue to drive home is that the idea that there are millions of orphans in orphanages waiting for the love, care and attention of well meaning foreigners is a...

Ethics don’t exist in a vacuum, they are developed over time, at an individual level through the course of our relationships with people, animals, the environment, and systems. In our modern world, it’s difficult to be independent of systems we don’t ethically align with. Advances in medical technology are moving at an unprecedented pace, and the frameworks we have to guide the ethical application of these are unable to keep up. At what point does innovation become destructive? My guest today...

Today’s episode unpacks a topic that can be uncomfortable for some of us, but is something that we will all experience. Death. \Death is the natural end of life, one certainty that every human being will experience, yet something we are often deeply unfamiliar with and shy away from. My guest today is Zenith Virago, a professional Deathwalker of over 20 years. Zenith is a leader in the field and has pioneered the concept of empowered continual care at the end of life.So what is a Deathwalker?...

This week alone, in the midst of a devastating global pandemic, we have seen a massive earthquake hit Haiti, and horrific images and stories streaming out of Afghanistan documenting the fall of government and takeover by the Taliban. It’s difficult to process these events when we are already suffering collectively, and difficult to know what to do next, if anything.These events, and others like them continually raise the question of the role aid and development work play in these crises, and...

Opening season 5 with this episode seems fitting, with the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) damning report that found escaping human caused climate change is no longer possible. Even if earth’s climate was stablised in the near future, some of the climate change induced damage could not be reversed in centuries, or even millenia. We should expect worse fires, longer droughts, and more severe floods.My guest today is Scott Ludlam...

The concept of shared value has gained popularity in recent years, with recognition that solving social and environmental problems requires the input, participation and action of all stakeholders. Leveraging the resources and innovation capacity of the private sector is key to solving the world’s most pressing problems, and as the logic goes – if businesses can benefit at the same time, it’s a win win. But is shared value a panacea for solving all of our problems? Or is there still a role for...

Working in the international development sector is complex. From the outside, it can seem like an exciting, adventurous life – living in places that are perceived to be dangerous, or hard. But for humanitarian workers, it’s not always easy – especially for those working in conflict zones, or emergencies. Burnout and PTSD are common, and often left untreated. It’s also common for humanitarian workers to ask themselves whether what they are doing is really helping. It can be easy to get caught...

Accessibility is often taken for granted by people who are not disabled. Everyday situations like shopping, catching transport, accessing public bathrooms, using the internet can be extremely challenging for those who have a disability. Disability is so individual, and so misunderstood, and our world does not do well at accepting, accommodating and including individuals who are disabled. We need to do better. My guest today is the amazing Carly Findlay, an award winning writer, speaker and...

Today’s guest has quite the life story. Born in a remote village in the far west of Nepal, At the age of 7, Sushil went for a walk beyond the hills that surrounded his village and a few months later found himself homeless, living on the streets of Kathmandu. Sushil’s story of street living, his time in an orphanage and his perspective on volunteers that want to help children like him is invaluable. It’s Sushil’s and my hope that by sharing his story, we can amplify the voices of other...

Everything is connected, and every action we take impacts somebody, something, or someplace. As I get older, and learn more about the world, the connections become clearer. Things that seem straightforward on the surface are incredibly complex, and intersect with things that seem completely unrelated. I love this about the world – how we can seem to be on opposing sides of an issue, yet have a shared goal that will benefit us all. Ghost Gear is one of those things – A staggering 640,000...

I’m fascinated by the different ways humans express what it means to do good: why they do good, how they do good, and what their consequences of their actions are. One of most widely used mechanisms for doing good is through religion. As with everything humans do, this is interpreted in vastly different ways: all driven by a personal interpretation of what it means to be a believer in one’s chosen religion. Evangelism and missionary work are expressions of this and each year, millions of...

I often lament that doing good is not done well enough, and talk about the need to pay more attention to the why, the how, and the impact of doing good. I’m a strong proponent of not engaging in the act of doing good unless you have a deep knowledge and understanding of the cause you are wanting to support, and the charity you want to support it through.   But behind all this doing good is a deeper problem, one that challenges our willingness to do good in a meaningful, connected way. It’s...

We need to talk about power.   In the doing good sector, the people who are in the positions of power are those who make decisions about money. Who gets it, how much, when, how and why. In many cases, these decision makers are not representative of the communities who are meant to benefit from these decisions. They don’t have lived experience, they don’t share cultural backgrounds, and their understanding of the issue itself is limited.   In a time when diversity and inclusion is high on the...

Right now, in West Papua the long struggle for independence from Indonesian rule has reignited, triggering a brutal crackdown that involves chemical weapons, horrific killings, and mass displacement. All of this is occurring on Australia’s doorstep, yet we barely hear or see a thing about it in the news. Rewind, just over twenty years ago to Timor Leste, when a similar situation was unfolding – a struggle for independence, accompanied by a brutal crackdown by Indonesian authorities. Again,...

Allyship has been on everyone’s lips this year – and the conversation is incredibly overdue. But what does it mean to be an ally? How do we move beyond tokenism to a place of genuine allyship? What kind of self examination is required? What are the barriers in place and how do we break them down? To unpack these big questions, I invited Sarah Sheridan on to the podcast. Sarah is the non-indigenous co-founder in the Aboriginal owned and led business, @clothingthegap. Sarah’s background is in...

Doing good is tricky at the best of times. Even at an individual level, it’s difficult to get it right. When it comes to tackling the world’s biggest problems such as climate change, education, violence, gender inequality, immigration and living standards it’s even tougher. Some countries are doing better than others at solving these problems within their own borders, and my guest today – Andrew Wear (http://andrewwear.com/) has put together a wonderful exploration of just how they are doing...

Access to quality education is a huge issue globally, and parents everywhere want the best for their children. In Australia, where large areas of the country have been in a hard lockdown due to COVID-19, schools have been closed to students for a lengthy period of time, and parents have been forced to home school their children. Some children have thrived, and some have suffered – unable to effectively engage in home schooling and falling behind. This, against the backdrop of scandal after...