
Global Development Institute podcast
We’re the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester: where critical thinking meets social justice. Each episode we will bring you the latest thinking, insights and debate in development studies.
Latest episodes

Feb 11, 2025 • 38min
Decoloniality: Beyond a Metaphor - Lecture with Prof Uma Kothari
Towards the end of 2024, GDI's Professor Uma Kothari delivered a lecture titled 'Decoloniality: Beyond a Metaphor'. We're fortunate enough to have recorded the lecture, in which Uma discusses how metaphor can inhibit attempts to decolonise our societies and institutions, as well as the role of material reparations in addressing past and present injustices. Listen to it here. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Oct 11, 2024 • 35min
Global Development Today... Whose 'Development' Is It Really?
Chaired by Professor Nicola Banks and Selim Iyirdirli, this episode brings to you a lecture discussion between Deborah Doane, author of ‘The INGO Problem: Power, Privilege and Renewal’, and Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute. In the episode, Deborah, Niki, and Nana discuss current challenges within the aid sector, how Southern NGOs are leading calls for structural change in global development, and whether International NGOs are rising to the challenge set. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Jun 3, 2024 • 46min
In Conversation: Joan Martínez-Alier on Environmentalism
In this episode, GDI's Armando Caroca and Rose Pritchard speak with Joan Martínez-Alier, an economist and emeritus professor of economics and senior researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Throughout his career, Joan has made important contributions to ecological economics and political ecology in his work on environmentalism of the poor. In this episode, we discuss Joan's new book: 'Land, Water, Air, and Freedom: The Making of a World Movement for Environmental Justice' which can be found here. Armando Caroca is a GDI PhD researcher working on topics of mining waste and territories of extraction in Chile.Rose Pritchard is a Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems at GDI. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

May 23, 2024 • 1h
Dr Portia Roelofs & Anna Thurlbeck on Good Governance in Nigeria
In this episode, GDI PhD researcher Anna Thurlbeck speaks with Dr Portia Roelofs, lecturer in politics at Kings College London.Dr Roelofs provides an unmissable deep dive into the background and key themes of her new book 'Good Governance in Nigeria: Rethinking Accountability and Transparency in the Twenty-First Century'.Listen now!----Dr Roelofs has degrees from Oxford, SOAS and LSE. She has held post-doctoral fellowships at the LSE and St Anne’s College, Oxford. She has been a visiting researcher at the Universities of Maiduguri and Ibadan, Nigeria. She is co-convenor of the Political Studies Association special group on Global Development Politics and sits on the editorial board of the African Arguments book series. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

May 16, 2024 • 39min
Sustainable Forest Transitions: In conversation with Dr Pooja Choksi
In this episode, PhD researcher Mariana C. Hernandez-Montilla continues a new series of podcasts linked to the GDI's Sustainable Forest Transitions project. Mariana chats to Dr Pooja Choksi, Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota and co-founder of Project Dhvani, about her work monitoring the impacts of ecological restoration, including the use of passive acoustic monitoring to track vocalizing species in Indian landscapes. Music I Use: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videosLicense code: QVPSSG18TYB4DVRS Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Apr 18, 2024 • 52min
Lwanga Bwalya of Play it Forward Zambia speaks with One World Together
In this episode, One World Together's co-founder Nicola Banks and Community Space Development Lead Asma Bham speak with one of their community partners: Lwanga Bwalya of Play it Forward Zambia.Lwanga dives into the complexities of navigating projects within the current funding system, as well as his own experiences with community-led initiatives both as a young person and now as a leading member of Play it Forward. Niki, Asma, and Lwanga then explore how we can rethink the system with new models, such as that of One World Together. This episode is not to be missed!You can find out more about Play it Forward Zambia here, and sign up as a global citizen with One World Together here. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Apr 9, 2024 • 52min
Panel Discussion: Sustainable Forest Transitions Project Launch
Following the launch of the Sustainable Forest Transitions project at Manchester Museum on the 6th March 2024, we bring you a new episode featuring the event's opening remarks and the incredible panel discussion that took place.In this episode, you will hear from Kieran Dodds, Polyanna da Conceição Bispo, Felipe Melo, Adithya Pradeep and Rose Pritchard, with host and project lead Johan Oldekop guiding the discussion. If you want to follow the project or learn more, you can do so here. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Apr 2, 2024 • 46min
In Conversation: Kiya Gezahegne + Oliver Bakewell on Migration
Oliver Bakewell, Impact Director at GDI, discusses migration practices along the Ethiopia-Sudan border with Kiya Gezahegne, an ethnographic researcher from the University of Addis Ababa. Kiya and Oliver have worked together on multiple projects exploring local migration realities and policy effects. In this episode, they draw interesting observations by setting Ethiopian and European contexts side by side. Have a listen to their conversation to learn more! About Kiya Gezahegne:Kiya Gezahegne is an experienced feminist researcher and lecturer based at the Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She has been involved in ethnographic research for over eight years on a range of migration related areas including experiences of Ethiopian migrants to and from the Middle East, migration management and livelihoods at the Ethiopia-Sudan border, interlinkages between migration and poverty in Ethiopia, as well as understanding migration and the labour market in Addis Ababa among others. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Feb 12, 2024 • 32min
Sustainable Forest Transitions: In conversation with Dr Sreeja Jaiswal
In this episode, PhD researcher Sandy Nofyanza kicks off a new series of podcasts linked to the GDI's Sustainable Forest Transitions project. Sandy chats to Dr Sreeja Jaiswal, Humboldt Foundation’s International Climate Protection Postdoc Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, about challenges associated with forest restoration efforts and debates surrounding mitigation measures such as carbon offsets. Music I Use: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videosLicense code: QVPSSG18TYB4DVRS Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Jan 15, 2024 • 38min
Cash Transfers for Poverty Reduction | Francisco V Ayala
In this episode, Francisco V. Ayala discusses his new book, Cash Transfers for Poverty Reduction: An International Operational Guide (Routledge, 2023), co-authored with GDI’s David Lawson. The book offers the first systematic discussion of the design and implementation of cash transfer programmes, including practical guidance for students and key stakeholders who are – or will be – responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating such programmes. Francisco is an international social protection consultant and President of Ayala Consulting Corporation/SOPROEN. David Lawson is Senior Lecturer in Development Economics and Public Policy at the Global Development Institute. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters