DevelopmentAid Dialogues

Hisham Allam
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Each episode features insightful conversations with experts and practitioners, offering valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping our world. DevelopmentAid is a platform where we share knowledge and fostering collaboration within the development community. We believe that by sparking meaningful conversations, we can contribute to finding innovative solutions for a more just and sustainable future. 

  1. Why big donors can’t deliver without NGOs: A dialogue with UNICEF’s Dara Johnston

    1 DAY AGO

    Why big donors can’t deliver without NGOs: A dialogue with UNICEF’s Dara Johnston

    In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues—marking International NGO Day at the end of February—podcast host Hisham Allam interviewed Dara Johnston, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for UNICEF in Palestine, for an in-depth look at how nonprofits complement big institutions on the ground. With a month-long series spotlighting NGOs' grassroots role in crises, community voices and global agendas, this conversation zeroes in on water, sanitation and hygiene access for the most vulnerable.  Johnston made it clear why NGOs stand out: they fill the gaps large agencies like UNICEF can't reach alone. "NGOs have the proximity,  speed and operational capacity to implement effectively on the ground," he said. That played out in Bangladesh, where partners tackled sanitation in remote areas alongside arsenic in water. "The program at the end was very successful... they collaborated very effectively."  Those strengths prove even more critical in emergencies. Take the 2017 Rohingya crisis, when NGOs ramped up fast for nearly a million displaced people despite years away from disaster work. "It was a very successful intervention, which undoubtedly saved many lives," Johnston said. When government red tape slows things, UNICEF steps in as a link: "We can be a sort of a bridge between the NGO partner and the government."  That trust opens doors to real innovation on the ground. In one Myanmar village, locals expanded a UNICEF-NGO solar water system with elevated tanks, home pipes and meters—fully funded by the community itself. "This was something that we found when we came back... because it was all locally brought together," he recalled. And with aid budgets shrinking, such partnerships grow more vital. "With reduction in resources, we need to find ways to work more effectively."  Still, pitfalls threaten this model, like donors pushing NGOs to act more like for-profit contractors. "It's not just the numbers, it's the quality... the sustainability," Johnston warned. Constant, honest communication keeps things solid: "If they’re able to be upfront and tell us when some issue is happening... this builds trust." In the end, NGOs give communities a direct voice. "NGOs can often be our most direct communication channel to the most vulnerable in the community."  "NGOs have played a vital role... they’re needed even more than ever," he summed up.  Listen to the full episode of the DevelopmentAid Dialogues podcast on your favorite streaming platform.  In February, we celebrate International NGO Day. Look out for our next episode on this topic, to be released on February 18, and follow us on LinkedIn for editorials and Expert Opinions on this important subject.  The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    21 min
  2. Reframing Dutch Aid: Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026

    21 JAN

    Reframing Dutch Aid: Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026

    Reframing Dutch Aid:  Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026  How does the international aid sector survive shrinking budgets? Hisham Allam asks Steven Collet, Deputy Director-General of International Cooperation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With a background ranging from the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to diplomatic missions in Tanzania and Vietnam, Collet knows the terrain cold. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, he provides a straight-talking analysis of the European funding crisis, outlining the critical shifts in Dutch policy and what they mean for the future of global aid.  Netherlands aid takes a 2.4 billion euro hit, sliding from 0.65% to 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI), due to austerity measures, defense spending jumping to 2.2% of GDP, and public fatigue with blank-check aid. "Whilst we do face budget cuts and we are going down from .65% of GNI to .5% we still also have a considerable budget of 3.5 billion euro," Collet says, pointing to carve-outs for humanitarian work, Ukraine rebuilding, and asylum costs capped at 10%. The October 2025 general elections in the Netherlands could nudge it up—coalition talks show parties warmer to ODA. "This is not the final verdict; it could be different," he adds. Defense pressures hit everywhere in Europe, tied to Russia's war and less U.S. cover, while voters demand clear payoffs: "People want to understand why do we do this? Why does the government spend our taxpayer’s money in these countries?"    The focus sharpens on shared stakes—security, trade, migration—in Africa's Sahel, Horn, and the Middle East. Humanitarian cash stays untouched, funneled unearmarked to NGOs and UN funds for spots like Sudan. "When you support without earmarking... that funding can be utilized at the moment it is required and wherever it is required," Collet explains. Partnerships lean on Dutch know-how in health, water, food to rebuild frayed social contracts and head off chaos. Private cash flows bigger: pension funds dumped over a billion into development banks; risks backed by decades of data. "The risks and the returns of development finance are very acceptable and even profitable... it will generate billions of dollars which we need also for climate finance," he says. Examples like Seed.NL mix Dutch firms, NGOs, African researchers for drought-tough seeds that boost farm output and teach lessons both ways.    Climate money swings to adaptation—food security, water—with 60% as grants, since solar costs crashed 90% in five years. Multilaterals get trimmed for duplicate mandates, but UN core, development banks, and EU hold firmly if they slim down. Tax transparency ramps up domestic cash in partner nations, via G20 deals on multinational profits: "Domestic resource mobilization is... the cornerstone of investing into your own economy." Equal footing beats handouts: "If we do it right, we can come to a model which is not extractive... a truly equal partnership based on mutual understanding and mutual interests."    Listen to the full episode with Steven Collet on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged.   The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    31 min
  3. Who really benefits from COP summits? Paulo C. De Miranda on power, money and climate reality

    8 JAN

    Who really benefits from COP summits? Paulo C. De Miranda on power, money and climate reality

    In climate politics, it is easy to treat COP summits as a travelling show: intense media noise, careful drafting marathons, and then a quick shift to the next crisis. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam talked with Paulo C. De Miranda about when these summits stopped being just diplomacy and started to matter for people, balance sheets and fragile communities.  Paulo, Chairman and Co-Founder of DEEP and a senior executive in impact management, argued that COPs only truly mattered “when they shape real investment decisions,” when declarations coming out of Belém or Dubai “flow into budgets, balance sheets and investment mandates” instead of remaining on paper.  A central thread in the conversation was the gap between climate text and the financial system. Paulo said that the language of COP had improved and the scale of the problem was widely recognised, but he stressed that the world was “still not very close to closing the gap between the climate text and the financial system.” He pointed to the distance between trillion dollar announcements and the much smaller flows that reached communities living with volatility, displacement and compounded risks, and warned against “accounting optimism” that repackaged existing instruments without changing the rules of capital allocation.    Politically, COP30 in Belém also exposed structural hesitation. Paulo highlighted one glaring omission: the failure to name fossil fuels explicitly in the outcome. He called this a critical signal that global politics around the fossil fuel economy “has not broken ties with the past,” despite the technology and resources available to move faster. If something as central as fossil fuel phaseout could not be clearly stated, he argued, it revealed the limits of the deal and showed how issues that should be nonnegotiable – fossil fuels, deforestation, protection of vulnerable communities – were still treated as bargaining chips.  From a development perspective, Paulo argued that COP needed to evolve into something closer to a “conference for sustainable humanity” because, in fragile and crisis affected settings he had worked in, climate change was part of daily survival, not an abstract risk.     Paulo closed with three blunt points: leaders must rewrite the rules of the game around sustainable humanity, finance must treat sustainable living as a core asset, and citizens must own accountability “here and now.” He recalled Georgina, a 10yearold from Tanzania who said she was in Belém to help solve problems she did not cause – a reminder that climate summits should be judged by whether they change incentives, capital flows and accountability for those with the least room for error.    Listen to the full episode with Paulo De Miranda on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged.      The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    39 min
  4. UNOPS Rewires Aid Accountability: Tracking Scope 3 Emissions in the Development Sector (A Conversation with Samantha Stratton-Short

    17/12/2025

    UNOPS Rewires Aid Accountability: Tracking Scope 3 Emissions in the Development Sector (A Conversation with Samantha Stratton-Short

    The United Nations Office for Project Services, widely known as UNOPS, is pushing climate accountability into the core of development work by tackling the most elusive part of its carbon footprint: Scope 3 emissions. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam speaks with Samantha Stratton-Short, Head of Strategic Initiatives, Infrastructure and Project Management at UNOPS and Manager of the UNOPS Climate Action Programme, about a new methodology designed to map, measure, and manage the emissions embedded in every stage of UNOPS’s value chain.  Scope 3 emissions – those generated by suppliers, contractors, travel and the full life cycle of procured goods and infrastructure – typically account for 70-90% of an organization’s greenhouse gas footprint yet are the hardest to track because they depend on external data and lie outside direct operational control.   “Reducing our direct operational emissions is a core responsibility for UNOPS,” Stratton-Short notes, “but we must go beyond that and measure the emissions of our suppliers, our partners and our implementation activities as well.” This broader view, she argues, “allows us to understand the full climate impact of our work and gives us the ability to influence others, even markets, to adopt new low-carbon solutions.”​  Over three years, UNOPS developed a step-by-step methodology that is compliant with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol but tailored to non-commercial, humanitarian operations and UN values such as inclusivity and stakeholder engagement. “We couldn’t just copy-paste private sector solutions,” she says, pointing to the unique way UN entities operate across more than 150 countries and project types. The result is a materiality framework that, in her words, is “robust enough to be scientifically sound, yet flexible enough for the UN’s complexity,” capable of systematically identifying “the highest emitting areas in our value chain with a specific focus on the delivery of development projects.”​  The stakes are especially high in conflict-affected contexts such as Yemen, Afghanistan or Somalia, where resource scarcity and climate stress already feed instability. Here, the methodology helps UNOPS “prioritize solar-powered infrastructure and green procurement,” reducing dependence on diesel and making essential services less vulnerable to supply shocks and price volatility.  Listen to the full episode with Samantha Stratton-Short on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged.  The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    27 min
  5. Raj M. Desai: Rethinking Development Finance in an Age of Shrinking Aid

    03/12/2025

    Raj M. Desai: Rethinking Development Finance in an Age of Shrinking Aid

    International development is heading into a crunch moment, and this episode with Professor Raj M. Desai puts numbers, mechanisms, and politics around what “shrinking aid” really means for countries that still depend on it—especially in the context of USAID cuts and the growing push toward blended finance. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam speaks with Desai, a leading scholar of foreign aid and development finance at Georgetown University and the Brookings Institution, about how the sharp fall in official development assistance is reshaping global development and what options remain for countries trying to close financing gaps.  The conversation opens with Desai’s diagnosis of why aid is falling just as needs spike: long-standing donor fatigue, the fiscal and political aftershocks of conflicts and refugee crises, and lingering budget pressures from the 2008 financial crash. He explains that foreign aid has become an easy political target in many donor countries, with bipartisan support in the United States for shrinking budgets and European donors increasingly redirecting funds to refugee resettlement and security spending at home, tightening the space for traditional development programs and setting the stage for debates on USAID cuts.  Desai then outlines five strategies for countries facing declining concessional flows: mobilizing more domestic revenue, tapping diaspora financing, engaging cross-border philanthropy, expanding the use of blended finance and impact investment, and working more actively with newer bilateral and multilateral donors. He stresses that remittances, diaspora bonds and structured instruments can all play a role, and that newer players such as China, Gulf countries and emerging-economy funds could expand options if recipient governments strengthen their own aid coordination systems and avoid fragmented deals that respond only to short-term shocks like the 2025 USAID cuts rather than long-term development strategies.  In the final part of the discussion, Desai connects the projected collapse of U.S. development assistance—from roughly US$65 billion to about US$10 billion per year by 2026—to the broader need for joint financing frameworks that integrate domestic revenue, philanthropic flows, private capital and official aid around national priorities. He calls for open data architectures, better tracking of cross-border philanthropy, and unified strategies that align domestic resource mobilization, diaspora investment and blended finance, arguing that in an era defined by the USAID cuts and the organization’s dismantling and more volatile financial flows, the future of development finance will depend on combining smarter public oversight with genuine country ownership instead of treating new instruments as a simple fix for shrinking aid.​  Listen to the full episode on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged.  The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    32 min
  6. Rebecca Thissen: Putting Climate Justice at the Heart of COP30

    27/11/2025

    Rebecca Thissen: Putting Climate Justice at the Heart of COP30

    In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam interviewed Rebecca Thissen, Global Advocacy Lead at CAN International, for an in-depth look at the real outcomes of COP30 in Belem, Brazil. Thissen, a veteran defender of climate justice, shared her perspective as a COP30 participant on how high-stakes negotiations and geopolitical tensions shaped both the atmosphere and the decisions at this much-anticipated summit.  Thissen described COP30 as “very challenging,” and pointed to “geopolitical tensions, wars and trade conflicts” influencing positions and making consensus elusive. Yet, she recognized one key shift: “For the first time, countries acknowledged that social justice and the realities of people, communities and workers are part of the climate action discourse.” The episode explored why climate action must move “beyond headlines and buzzwords,” and how real change depended on connecting global decisions to the lived experiences of those most affected.  A major outcome of COP30, Thissen explained, was the Belem Action Mechanism—a just transition framework designed to bridge global commitments with local realities. “It was probably the most important decision made at COP30,” she said, “with the potential to help connect, in a much more concrete manner, the reality of transition on the ground to decisions.” She emphasized the power of bringing marginalized voices, from workers to trade unions to civil society, “to the table” for meaningful solutions.  The conversation turned to finance, where Thissen was candid about ongoing obstacles: “Beyond the fact there was no new money on the table… we also saw backsliding from any commitment they had on climate finance. That was a very worrying trend.” And while the summit pledged to triple adaptation finance by 2035, she cautioned, “there is no clarity, no baseline, no timeline—just logos rather than concrete action.”  Still, Thissen chose optimism, grounded in science and solidarity: “We didn’t have the luxury to not be optimistic… Every tiny degree saved was already impacting billions of lives. But climate action without centering people, communities and justice was just not working.” Her closing message: for COP31 and beyond, climate justice must move from preamble to principle—otherwise, “we risk leaving most of the world behind.”   Listen to the full episode on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged.    The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    20 min
  7. Beyond the Chatbot: Why AI in Healthcare Still Needs the Human Touch. Insights with Prof. Krishnan Ganapathy

    19/11/2025

    Beyond the Chatbot: Why AI in Healthcare Still Needs the Human Touch. Insights with Prof. Krishnan Ganapathy

    Artificial intelligence is changing the way we think about healthcare, offering new ways to connect, diagnose, and support patients—especially through telemedicine. More people than ever are speaking to their doctor from home, getting advice online, and sharing data from their devices. It’s fast, it’s convenient, and it’s full of promise. But is it enough? Where does technology stop and real human insight begin?  In a recent episode of Development Aid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam sat down with Professor Krishnan Ganapathy, a veteran neurosurgeon and one of the world’s leading voices on digital health. Together, they cut through the hype to talk honestly about what AI can—and can’t—do for medicine today.  Ganapathy doesn’t shy away from the benefits. He’s seen firsthand how remote consultations and wearable gadgets make it possible to spot health issues early, save time, and reach people who might otherwise be left behind. He’s comfortable with the future—“A clinician who’s not AI literate is a menace to society,” he says. Still, the heart of his message is caution. “Chatbots may handle routine questions, but they cannot get inside my brain—or understand my patient’s real needs.” No app or algorithm, he insists, can read the whole story behind a symptom.  Instead, Ganapathy believes that good care depends on context, conversation, and trust. “The human-trained brain understands not just symptoms, but a patient’s story—their social status, their context, and can factor in what matters most.” He’s wary of putting too much faith in technology and sees doctors as the guardians of real judgment. “AI can recommend, but only humans should decide management for real people, at real moments.”  He calls for proper training, careful oversight, and honest conversations between doctors and their patients about what technology can—and cannot—be trusted to do. “A fool with a tool is still a fool,” Ganapathy says with a smile. “Technology is only useful in the right hands.”  This episode reminds us that new tools are exciting, but real care is personal. As healthcare moves forward, it’s the human touch—and the wisdom behind it—that will always matter most.  In line with his vision for advancing digital health, Professor Ganapathy is playing a pivotal role as Scientific Advisor for the upcoming Transforming Healthcare with IT (THIT 2026), South Asia’s leading international conference on telemedicine and digital health. Scheduled for January 30–31, 2026 in Hyderabad, India, THIT brings together global experts, innovators, and policymakers for keynotes, workshops, and interactive sessions designed to translate talk into real-world technology adoption. While Ganapathy is a staunch advocate of telemedicine, he emphasizes the importance of physical, face-to-face conferences in driving collaboration and meaningful change. His tireless efforts not only elevate the conversation but help bridge the gap between concept and impact, ensuring technology serves the cause of accessible, patient-centered care. For more details or to participate, visit www.transformhealth-it.org.  The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    36 min
  8. Artificial Intelligence and Telemedicine: Human Judgment in the Digital Era with Dr. Jan Niclas Strickling

    06/11/2025

    Artificial Intelligence and Telemedicine: Human Judgment in the Digital Era with Dr. Jan Niclas Strickling

    The age of artificial intelligence is reshaping healthcare delivery worldwide, with telemedicine at the forefront of this transformation. In episode five of the DevelopmentAid Dialogues podcast, host Hisham Allam speaks with Dr. med. Jan Niclas Strickling, a German board-certified interventional cardiologist who has played a key role in advancing telemedicine through Germany’s certified centers and holds multiple certifications from the German Society of Cardiology.   “AI is redefining what’s possible in telemedicine—but at every step, it’s collaboration, not competition,” Strickling said, unpacking how digital tools are changing patient care.”  Across Germany and the EU, AI-driven triage systems, medical imaging analysis, and real-time language translation are making healthcare more accessible. “If AI takes the strain out of documentation—which is half my daily work—it frees me to focus on the patient,” Strickling explained. Wearables like the Apple Watch, CPAP machines, and glucose sensors generate continuous data streams that help identify patients’ needs remotely, especially in underserved areas.  But he cautioned that technology alone isn’t enough. “AI can bridge gaps, but equity depends on broadband access, device availability, and whether AI models are trained on diverse populations.” Without representative data, AI risks missing or misdiagnosing patients from different demographic groups.  Alongside opportunity, risks persist. Strickling described “alert fatigue” where oversensitive AI systems overwhelm clinicians with notifications, potentially obscuring urgent issues. The bigger danger is “automation bias”—over-relying on AI recommendations while sidelining clinical judgment. “The final decision must remain human,” he stressed. He recalled uploading his own ECG to ChatGPT, which wrongly diagnosed a life-threatening arrhythmia. “For patients, that can cause needless fear and erode trust in doctors.”  Highlighting the promise of AI, Strickling described a heart failure project in Germany where wearable defibrillator vests and smart scales transmit continuous health information. AI analyzes daily blood pressure, weight, and body movement to preempt hospitalizations by advising medication adjustments. “The data flood makes sense only when paired with human judgment to determine who needs attention now.”  Hybrid care models blending remote monitoring with targeted in-person visits are expanding, with virtual rounds led by nurses and specialists joining as needed. Yet, the human connection—empathy, understanding, and trust—remains irreplaceable  As digital health advances Strickling calls for transparency, patient consent, and robust regulation. “We must disclose AI’s use and limits, monitor for biases, and ensure privacy through encryption and strict data controls.” The need for accountable human oversight is paramount. “Who bears responsibility for AI-driven errors? That must be a clinician.”  Echoing the complex future, he said, “Experience and learning from mistakes remain at medicine’s core. AI assists but can’t replace the wisdom patients deserve.”  Listen to the full episode on DevelopmentAid Dialogues. Stay informed. Stay engaged. The podcast is sponsored by DevelopmentAid. Procurement notices, funding and grants to opportunities, lists of potential partners, insights into market trends, databases of development professionals, webinars, latest news, and much more. Stay informed and connected. Subscribe and Stay Connected

    28 min
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About

Each episode features insightful conversations with experts and practitioners, offering valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping our world. DevelopmentAid is a platform where we share knowledge and fostering collaboration within the development community. We believe that by sparking meaningful conversations, we can contribute to finding innovative solutions for a more just and sustainable future. 

Information

  • Creator
    Hisham Allam
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 DevelopmentAid Dialogues
  • Show Website
    DevelopmentAid Dialogues