DevelopmentAid Dialogues

Can Public Procurement Contracts Predict the Future? Analyzing Procurement Data with Malcolm Duff

Every day, governments publish thousands of notices announcing who won a public procurement contract, for how much and for how long. These notices are an underused source

Is the era of EVs really green? A dialogue with Peter Bryant.

The world produces around 25 million metric tons of copper a year and needs to almost double that within a decade to meet the growing demand of various industries, includ

Placebo or cure? Assessing the Net Zero reality of carbon credits with Paolo Vaggi

As carbon credits swell into a multi-billion-dollar global market, a persistent illusion keeps fueling it: that buying a credit erases the pollution a company - or a trav

Cheap cures, fragile systems: Inside the ongoing fight to end neglected tropical diseases. A conversation with Dr. Wendy Harrison.

Neglected tropical diseases affect more than 1.5 billion people, close to one in six worldwide, yet they remain among the least visible and mediatized health problems on

Beyond Bottomless Wallets: The Strategic Reality of Gulf Economic Diplomacy. A Dialogue with Damyana Bakardzhieva

As the ongoing U.S./Israel–Iran war reverberates across the region—affecting energy markets, transport routes, and economic stability in the Middle East and North Africa—

Reclaiming Civic Space Amid Global Repression: A dialogue with Lotfullah Najafizada from Afghanistan ahead of the Ottawa Civic Space Summit

In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam spoke with Lotfullah Najafizada, an Afghan journalist and founder of Amu TV, a Washington-based int

From Starlink to Scarcity: Dialogue with Jonathan Criss—the SpaceX Engineer Solving Earth’s Water Crisis

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam spoke with Jonathan Criss, CEO and Founder of Vital Lyfe. After more than 13 years working on Drag

Fadi Bou Ali: Green and Blue Bonds Between Promise and Hard Reality

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam interviewed Fadi Bou Ali, a sustainable finance specialist working at the intersection of capital

NGOs: From Band-aids to Real Impact. Breaking Silos with NCA’s Linda Nordby

Every year, the World NGO Day is a moment to recognize the work nonprofits and community-based organizations do in some of the world’s toughest places—and to be honest ab

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, San

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 ask

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

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 pa

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”

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

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

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 Developme

Shadows Of Conflict: Why Some Emergencies Get Left Behind. A Quick-exchange with Desiree Ketabchi from OXFAM

The global humanitarian landscape is marked by stark contrasts: while some crises like Ukraine dominate international attention and resources, others such as Sudan, the S

Navigating the Aid Front Lines with Head of OCHA's UAE office Sajeda Shawa

World Humanitarian Day 2025, observed globally on August 19, stands as a solemn tribute to the courage and sacrifice of aid workers delivering hope amid crises. In this e

Transparency to the Bone: Rethinking Remote Aid with Ina Bluemel

The hard truth of modern humanitarian action was this: access had closed, risks had risen, and remote delivery had become unavoidable. In this episode of the DevelopmentA