The Solve Effect

MIT Solve
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The Solve Effect is a podcast by MIT Solve that hosts leaders, visionaries, and barrier-breakers intent on wielding technology for good. Each episode explores the journeys of people rewriting the rules for global problem solving—from questioning the ethics of data to tackling bias in AI to applying traditional knowledge in the modern world. Join us in inspiring action to global problem-solving!

  1. Namya Mahajan on Educating 6 Million Children for $1.50 a Year

    hace 4 d

    Namya Mahajan on Educating 6 Million Children for $1.50 a Year

    Namya Mahajan built a product for parents. Daycare workers started using it too, without anyone asking them to. Namya is our third guest in the 10 Years, 10 Solvers series. Solve is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and this special series (hosted by Alexander Dale, Director of Global Programs at MIT Solve) highlights 10 Solvers from the past decade who embody the spirit of Solve: innovation, grit, resilience, and impact. Namya co-founded Rocket Learning in 2020, meeting parents where they already are: WhatsApp. The nonprofit sends bite-sized, science-backed learning activities in local languages, using things like dough instead of clay and turmeric water instead of paint. Today it reaches more than 6 million children across 16 Indian states, for about $1.50 per child, per year. Tune in for a conversation all about: Building for the people who show up: When Namya's team noticed daycare workers using parent-facing content in their own classrooms, they didn't fight it—they built an entire educator program around it. It now reaches 400,000 daycare workers across India. Proving it, the hard way: A multi-year randomized controlled trial with J-PAL showed one of the highest effect sizes in education—at a fraction of the typical cost. Namya shares what it took to run an evaluation nobody thought they were ready for. The pitch that missed: Namya walks through a fundraising meeting that went sideways, and what it taught her about listening before you sell your solution. What comes next: Namya's team is now building an AI-powered tool to personalize learning for millions of children and support the daycare workers teaching them. Full transcript available here. Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Email us at thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu

    26 min
  2. Participation is the Antidote to Despair. Joy is Resistance. Kumi Naidoo on a life of activism.

    17 jun

    Participation is the Antidote to Despair. Joy is Resistance. Kumi Naidoo on a life of activism.

    Kumi Naidoo once helped lead a funeral for an iceberg. Several hundred people gathered in Iceland to mourn something precious that had been with us for centuries and was never coming back. That single act of mourning generated more powerful coverage than almost any campaign from his six years leading Greenpeace. It taught him a lesson he’s carried ever since: facts aim at the brain, but movements are built by speaking to the heart, the body, and the soul.  On this episode of The Solve Effect, Hala Hanna sits down with Kumi Naidoo: human rights and climate justice activist, former head of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International, and now president of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. From organizing against apartheid as a teenager to building a global “artivism” movement inspired by his late son, the rapper Ricky Rick, Kumi shares what four decades of struggle have taught him about grief, purpose, and refusing to give up. Tune in for a conversation all about: Turning off the tap: Fossil fuels drive 86% of climate change, yet for 30 years we’ve mopped the floor without touching the faucet. Kumi makes the case for a binding global treaty to phase them out—in terms your auntie would understand. Artivism in action: Why “Save Santa Claus” might have been a better banner than “Stop Arctic Destruction,” and how harnessing arts and culture can supply the thing our movements are missing most: imagination. Participation as the antidote to despair: Whatever the question, the answer is community. Kumi explains why everyone—from single moms to art teachers—has a pathway into this fight, and how his sister Kay proved that the most invisible people often make the biggest contributions. Joy as resistance: How do you tell the truth about a crisis without immobilizing people? And why is keeping your sense of humor a political act? Full transcript available here.  - - - - Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters Make sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Email us at thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu.

    25 min
  3. Audrey Tang Wants You to Sleep More, Steer the Machine, and Save Democracy

    3 jun

    Audrey Tang Wants You to Sleep More, Steer the Machine, and Save Democracy

    What if we treated democracy the way Silicon Valley treats software—a flexible tool that we can control and iterate on together until we get it right, knowing that it’s a project with no real end?  In this episode of The Solve Effect, Hala Hanna sits down with Audrey Tang—Taiwan’s first digital minister, the world’s first openly non-binary cabinet minister, and now Taiwan’s cyber ambassador. Audrey grew up with a heart condition that forced her to be radically calm; she channeled that stillness into one of the most remarkable careers in public life, pushing government trust from single digits to 70%, nearly eliminating deepfake scams on social media, and deploying a COVID response studied around the world. Tune in for a conversation all about: Democracy as a technology: Why our current system’s “bandwidth” is too narrow for the challenges we face, and how Taiwan’s tools for broad listening—sortition, deliberation, and civic AI—are expanding it. AI in the loop of humanity, not the other way around: Audrey’s poem-turned-manifesto flips Silicon Valley’s favorite buzzwords on their head: internet of beings, shared reality, collaborative learning, human experience. Campfire vs. wildfire: How do you design platforms that illuminate our differences instead of burning us? And what happens when you change the economic incentives so social media companies actually benefit from pro-social behavior? Peak slop and the path forward: Audrey believes we’re living through peak doom-scrolling—and that the shift toward conversational AI may be the off-ramp we’ve been waiting for. Full transcript available here. Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: ⁠https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters⁠ Make sure to follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠. Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠

    37 min
  4. 10 Years, 10 Solvers: Ruchit Nagar on Going from 0 to 60M Impacted in Community Health

    20 may

    10 Years, 10 Solvers: Ruchit Nagar on Going from 0 to 60M Impacted in Community Health

    What does it take to rewire a public health system from the inside out? In this episode of The Solve Effect, guest host Alexander Dale, Director of Global Programs at MIT Solve, sits down with Ruchit Nagar, co-founder of Khushi Baby. What began as a Yale classroom project—designing a NFC-enabled pendant to carry children's health records in rural India—has grown into CHIP, one of India's largest community-based digital health platforms. Used by over 85,000 community health workers across 48,000 villages, CHIP has tracked the health of more than 60 million people and identified over 10 million individuals with vulnerable health conditions. Tune in for a conversation all about: Starting with the community: The pendant wasn't designed in a classroom—it emerged from fieldwork, where Ruchit noticed the cultural significance of the black thread pendant worn to protect children. Learn how human-centered design shaped every stage of Khushi Baby's evolution. Scaling with and through government: Going from a 200-person study to a statewide platform in Rajasthan required more than good technology. Hear Ruchit's hard-won advice on earning a seat at the table with complex institutional stakeholders. Choosing hope: After more than a decade of navigating funding gaps, setbacks, and deferred salaries, Ruchit reflects on what keeps him going—and why manifesting your vision while staying flexible is the only way through. Full transcript available here.

    23 min
  5. She's been tracking philanthropy for 4+ decades. Here's what you need to know from Stacy Palmer.

    6 may

    She's been tracking philanthropy for 4+ decades. Here's what you need to know from Stacy Palmer.

    Are we living in unprecedented times for philanthropy, or have we seen this all before?  In this episode of The Solve Effect, we welcome the CEO and co-founder of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Stacy Palmer. For four decades, Stacy has reported on trends in giving, government funding, and the extremely wealthy people behind it all. With the authority that only comes from paying deep, sustained attention to a field, Stacy brings us through her history to this present moment, where the field is still reeling from the loss of government funding.  Tune into a conversation all about:  Concentrated Wealth and Philanthropic Deserts: Why are only 25 of the Forbes 400 giving generously? And is Middle America a philanthropic desert?  Building an entire field of journalism: When Stacy helped start The Chronicle of Philanthropy, philanthropy was drastically under-covered. Learn more about how she built an entire ecosystem of information and why that matters.  The importance of big risks in giving: Big problems need big solutions. Sometimes, the only way to build them is through even bigger risks. Full transcript available here.  - - - -  Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: ⁠https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters⁠  Make sure to follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠.   Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠

    25 min
  6. 10 Years, 10 Solvers: Rama Kayyali on Rethinking Arabic Literacy and 20 Years of EdTech Evolution

    22 abr

    10 Years, 10 Solvers: Rama Kayyali on Rethinking Arabic Literacy and 20 Years of EdTech Evolution

    Rama Kayyali brought an artifact from her early entrepreneurial days–a homemade VHS tape–during this recording.  That’s how long her company, Little Thinking Minds, and her product, I Read Arabic, have been making an impact in the EdTech world.  Rama is our first guest in the brand new 10 Years, 10 Solvers series. Solve is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, you’ll be getting two episodes a month. One of those will be our special series with guest host Alexander Dale, Director of Global Programs at MIT Solve.  This series will highlight 10 Solvers from the past decade who embody the spirit of Solve: innovation, grit, resilience, and impact.  Tune in for a conversation all about:  Building for a sector that doesn’t exist yet: As a filmmaker and mother, Rama wanted to see content made for her own child to read Arabic. So she went out and made it. Dedicating yourself to lifelong learning: Spanning decades and technological upheavals, Rama has chosen the path of curiosity. Hear more about how starting a company has been like her own real-time MBA.  Choosing hope: It’s not easy, but change is possible. Learn how Rama stays dedicated to hope. Full transcript available here.  - - - -  Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: ⁠https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters⁠  Make sure to follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠.   Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠

    27 min
  7. Abigail Disney on Why Your Obligation to Humanity is NOT Optional!

    1 abr

    Abigail Disney on Why Your Obligation to Humanity is NOT Optional!

    Her grandfather picked up litter in the amusement park he helped build. She continues that legacy by taking out the trash of inherited wealth and showing a better way forward. On this episode of The Solve Effect, Hala Hanna interviews award-winning filmmaker, writer, philanthropist, and activist Abigail E. Disney.  Tune in for a conversation all about:  Where dignity fits in the global economy: Abigail rejects the idea that shareholder value should reign supreme above all else. How do we create systems where everyone can thrive? Storytelling in the digital age: Coming from a lineage of storytellers, Abigail has explored documentaries, podcasts, publishing, and more. What does the future of spreading her message look like?  The power of a good sense of humor: Can laughing easily indicate a strong moral compass? How do we center joy in a world that feels increasingly heavy?  Courage in the face of fear: Our shared sense of what we all care about together is shrinking. How can we take hold of our fear and still take action, too?  Full transcript available here.  - - - -  Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: ⁠https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters⁠  Make sure to follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠.   Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠

    26 min
  8. The First Ten Years of Solve! How a BIG Idea Became a Global Platform

    18 mar

    The First Ten Years of Solve! How a BIG Idea Became a Global Platform

    Every startup has its origin story. Some started in garages while others started in Ivy League dorm rooms.  MIT Solve’s story may have started in a broom closet in the UN.  On this episode of The Solve Effect, Hala sits down with directors Pooja Wagh, Alexander Dale, and Sara Monteabaro to explore their journeys over a decade of working at Solve. This team has gone from building furniture in an empty office to building a global platform that has impacted over 370 million lives.  Tune in for a conversation all about:  The transformative power of ambition: The Solve team turned an idea into a global platform for social impact. Learn how we went from agonizing over mail merges to running over 100 challenges in ten years.  Leveling up the model: If Solve’s first decade was all about proving how getting innovators the resources they need could lead to incredible impact, then what does the next decade have in store?  A team worth celebrating: Part of the Solve story is a team of people who inspire each other to improve and iterate daily. Learn more about what makes this team so special.  Full transcript available here. - - - -  Join our CrowdSolve mailing list for more social impact news: ⁠https://solve.mit.edu/newsletters⁠  Make sure to follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Facebook⁠.   Email us at ⁠thesolveeffect@solve.mit.edu⁠

    28 min
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The Solve Effect is a podcast by MIT Solve that hosts leaders, visionaries, and barrier-breakers intent on wielding technology for good. Each episode explores the journeys of people rewriting the rules for global problem solving—from questioning the ethics of data to tackling bias in AI to applying traditional knowledge in the modern world. Join us in inspiring action to global problem-solving!

Ficha técnica

  • Creado por
    MIT Solve
  • Años en activo
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodios
    18
  • Clasificación
    Explícito
  • Derechos de autor
    © MIT Solve
  • Sitio web del podcast
    The Solve Effect

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