Meaningful Sofya Bourne

This episode of Meaningful was recorded and produced in collaboration with FieldWorks. FieldWorks is a cooperative information platform that helps funders and local NGOs to connect, build trust and form strong partnerships for sustainable social change. They are the first platform that helps local NGOs develop an online profile to grow their credentials and legitimacy so that they can achieve their missions faster by building the right partnerships more easily. To learn more about FieldWorks, visit fieldworks.info

Amina Evangelista Swanepoel is the Founding Executive Director of Roots of Health. Roots of Health is a non-governmental organisation that works to empower women, young people and families in the Philippines to lead healthy reproductive lives by providing rights- and results-based educational and clinical services. Ami started Roots of Health with her mother and husband in 2009 and over the past ten years grew it into a successful venture that positively impacts the lives of hundreds of people in the Philippines.

In this episode we talk about:


Sexual and reproductive rights and health in the Philippines;
Adapting the services you offer to the needs of your target population;
Dealing with financial mismanagement as a startup;
Aha! moments;
Being selected as an Ashoka Fellow; and
What it takes to take an NGO start up to scale.

To learn more about Ami and her work, visit Roots of Health website and Ami’s Ashoka Fellow page.

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Music used in this episode is by Lee Rosevere and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

Demiladé Falola-Apooyin works as an International Trade and Development Policy Advisor at the UK Department of International Trade. In her spare time, however, Demi is the founder and chief executive of the Women in International Affairs Network (WIAN), an online community that seeks to empower young women around the world to break into different career paths within the broader international affairs field. 

In this episode we talk about:


Challenges that young women face when seeking to start a career in international affairs;
How WIAN supports young women in overcoming these challenges;
Non-linear career trajectories;
Demi's own career path from a law graduate to her current role;
Good and bad career advice; 
Time management strategies for ambitious women; and
Going after scary opportunities.

Join hundreds of WIAN members on LinkedIn or follow Demi on Twitter to keep up with her work. 

Alyssa Chassman is the founder of the ID House, a social entreprise she set up in 2016 to empower young people around the world to advance positive social change in their communities. Having adopted the model of hackathons to solve social problems, Alyssa has since worked with over 2000 young people to help them bring their world-changing ideas to live.

In this episode we talk about:


Origins and mission of the ID House;
Finding your feed after university;
How international institutions alienate younger generations;
Challenging the status quo in the development sector;
The benefits and challenges of the social enterprise model; and
The first three things everyone who wants to start a business should do.

Find out more about Alyssa and her work in the show notes to this episode.

TW: depression, suicide, mental health stigma

Nadia Khan is a researcher, mental health activist and community organiser from the United Kingdom. She is a co-founder of The Delicate Mind, a social enterprise that works to engage faith leaders and other members in the Muslim community in nuanced, science-based discussions about mental health, masculinity and identity.

In this episode we talk about:


How mental health stigma harms young people in the South-Asian community in the UK;
The root causes of this stigma and how it is exacerbated by factors such as economic deprivation and social exclusion;
Working with different community stakeholders;
Interfaith organising;
Benefits of setting up a social enterprise; and
Success as inner peace.

Find out more about Nadia and her work in the show notes to this episode.

Barbara Cvenić is a Data Scientist at DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit organisation that provides a platform for public school teachers to raise funds for materials and supplies for their classrooms from ordinary citizens across the United States. 

In this episode we talk about:


Finding purpose;
The impact of volunteering overseas;
Getting the first job after graduation;
Commitment and determination;
Following your curiosity;
The day-to-day work of a data scientist;
The value of data science for the nonprofit sector;
Learning new skills from scratch;
Going through a career change;
Satisfaction and feeling enough; and
What it takes to make even the wildest dreams a reality.

Find out more about Barbara and her work in the show notes to this episode.

Mohsin Mohi Ud Din is the founder and CEO of #MeWe International, an organisation that is most well-known for its initiative #MeWeSyria. 

In this episode we talk about:


Growing up between two different countries;
Storytelling as a tool for psychosocial support, for social and emotional education, and for activating young community leaders;
MeWe International model and its evolution;
Facing up to your fears and uncertainty; and
Acting on your idea for social innovation.

Find out more about Mohsin and his work in the show notes to this episode.