The Charity CEO Podcast Dhivya O'Connor

With an audacious goal to lift 20m people in Africa out of extreme poverty by 2030, Dianne Calvi, President and CEO and of Village Enterprise, joins us to share how they plan to make this happen.

Centred around their core value of ‘Ubuntu’, a South African term, which means ‘humanity’ or ‘I am because we are’, Village Enterprise seeks to transform lives through entrepreneurship, innovation and collective action.

By partnering with other nonprofits, governments, agencies, and private sector companies, Village Enterprise equips first-time entrepreneurs in Africa with the resources and skills to start climate-smart businesses and savings groups.

We talk about their Poverty Graduation Model and building up their evidence base, using Randomised Control Trials, which has helped catalyse funding for their exciting new programme: working with USAID, the French and the Rwandan governments to end extreme poverty in Rwanda for good. Dianne also shares her personal family story, revealing what really drives her to do this work, which, as one of their entrepreneurs says, is all about enabling full bellies and big dreams.

Recorded March 2024.

Note: The title of this episode is a direct quote from an entrepreneur that Village Enterprise supports in Africa, describing the impact of their work.

“There is a problem! Business has a problem, the world has a problem, because we are just not utilising the talents, the ambitions, the drive of half the world’s population (the female half)... Economic gender justice is essential both for women’s freedom and equality, but also for the development of the world.”

We are honoured to have on the podcast, Cherie Blair CBE KC!

As the Founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Cherie has been a relentless advocate for women's rights, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Our discussion delves into her vision for the Foundation, her journey as a leading barrister and King's Counsel in the male-dominated legal profession, and the gendered challenges women still confront today.

Cherie is of course, the wife of the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and is an inspiration to women across the world.

Recorded January 2024.

"Petals supported us through our absolute darkest days."

Trigger warning: This episode explores and talks about miscarriage, stillbirth and baby loss.

Baby loss and miscarriage is something that many parents face and yet it is still something that is not openly talked about in today’s society.

In this very special episode, I speak with Karen Burgess, Founder & CEO of the charity Petals, that provides counselling support to families affected by baby loss. Karen and I are joined by Alice. Alice shares with us the story of her daughter, Vera, and the journey that she and her husband, Dave, have been on with Petals.

Together we seek to dispel the stigma surrounding baby loss and encourage those who need support to reach out to specialist services like Petals.

Recorded August 2023.

“The humanity that connects us is stronger than what has been created to divide us”.

Nisha Anand is the CEO of Dream.Org, a nonprofit organization that brings people together across racial, social and partisan lines to solve society’s toughest problems. A born change-maker, Nisha was arrested in 1998 while handing out pro-democracy leaflets in the military dictatorship of Myanmar and was sentenced to five years in jail. Her arrest put her on the international stage and changed her thinking on how to bring about lasting change and reform.

This is her story and that of Dream.org, an organisation that was founded by CNN commentator and New York Times bestselling author, Van Jones, and that Nisha has led as CEO since 2019. With her team at Dream.org, Nisha works at the intersection of criminal justice reform, green economics and tech equity, to develop innovative solutions to social and racial justice issues.

Recorded August 2023.

“It was thanks to this country that lots of those rights and protections that exist for refugees are in place … but now… you get that sense in lots of parts of the world, frankly, that the UK isn’t playing the active role that it has played historically.”

The International Rescue Committee is a global organisation that helps people affected by humanitarian crises. The IRC supports people who have been caught in conflict and been forced to flee their homes, enabling them to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.

Founded at the call of Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC today works in over 40 crisis-affected countries, as well as with communities across Europe and the Americas.

Laura Kyrke-Smith is the Executive Director of the International Rescue Committee in the UK.

We talk about the current global context for refugees - 108 million people forcibly displaced around the world. Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of these displaced people are not in the wealthy countries in the Global North, but are either within their own country or within a neighbouring country, often also a low and middle income country.

We discuss the UK’s Illegal Migration Bill, which seeks to remove the right to asylum - a stance that is in stark contrast to Britain’s position back in 1951, as one of the original drafters of the Refugee Convention. And how today, Britain’s standing on the international humanitarian stage is sadly not, what it once was.

Recorded June 2023.

“Deceptively simple, but devastatingly effective”

This is how Ruth Marvel, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in the UK, describes the Award.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was started by His Royal Highness the late Prince Philip in 1956 to provide young men with development opportunities to acquire self-confidence, gain a sense of purpose and help them become well-rounded citizens.

Today, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or DofE provides an experiential learning framework that is open to all young people age 14 to 24, supporting them to learn new skills, overcome obstacles, and build confidence and resilience.

Ruth shares how the organisation has changed over the years, and we explore their current strategy to enable one million young people to participate in the life-changing programmes, with particular focus on providing access to those who experience marginalisation.

With a third of young people in the UK leaving school feeling like they are failing, we talk about the current context for young people, and what skills, outside of formal education, they need to really thrive in today’s world.

Ruth also shares reflections on the discipline of leadership in the voluntary sector and how as leaders, we constantly need to question whether we are delivering our missions in the most effective way.

Recorded June 2023.