#74: Refugee Mental Health in Tanzania with Esther Otieno

Esther Otieno works as Senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Manage with IRC Tanzania. She is based in Kigoma in North-Western Tanzania. This week she tells Ziada and Mary Ann all about her mental health work in Refugee Camps and what motivates and challenges her about it.

They talk about the passion Esther has for her work, the successes she has had in encouraging refugee communities to access mental health services and how she deals with challenges and looks after herself in her work.

Esther works with IRC Tanzania: https://www.rescue-uk.org/country/tanzania

Her project runs 5 wellness centres which have, to date, carried out over 14,000 consultations and mental health outreach staff working with the project have visited over 6000 homes to provide information about mental health and support the development of resilience and coping mechanisms.  The project has reached over 50,000 people in the community and made them aware of the mental health services and the existing referral pathways through outreach and awareness activities.

#68: Period Underwear with a Purpose with Ruby Raut

Ruby is the CEO and Co-Founder of WUKA Wear. She is a passionate environmental scientist who combines her scientific knowledge and passion for lean startup methodology to solve the problems that surround disposable menstrual products. She was born and brought up in Nepal and with WUKA , she wants to break taboos around period worldwide.

This week on Change Making Women we talk to Ruby, who is originally from Nepal about how she developed the idea for Wuka Wear Period Pants and went about testing, developing and launching the product.

Listen to the show to hear more about the process of envisioning an innovative product, the environmental imperative for us to get into the habit of using reusable menstrual products, breaking down the stigma and taboos about our bleeding and the importance of addressing period poverty worldwide.

Find out more about Wuka Wear (& get yourself a pair of period pants!)

Twitter: @WukaWear
Facebook: @WukaWear
Instagram: @WukaWear

#66: Supporting women around food and nourishment with Marcie Goldman

In this week’s show Ziada and Mary Ann speak to Marcie Goldman about her approach to coaching and supporting women around food and nourishment. We hear about why she does the work she does, why she believes that flourishing is feminist and how she helps women unpick restrictive dieting and eat what they want.

There’s nothing that lights up Marcie Goldman more than teaching women to nourish to flourish.  She does this by eliminating toxic dietary beliefs, not food groups. She teaches women how to work “with” their bodies, not “on” their body’s, like a a project. 

Once you’ve unlearned all the so called “nutrition facts,” she fills you up with a combination of real food, Nutrient Therapy and a mind-set for rapid recovery. 

Her work combines functional medicine strategies, herbalism and nourishing wise woman traditions; a stellar combination she’s honed over the last 20 years in her professional one-on-one practice as well as group programs. 

Marcie graduated from the Institute for Integrated Nutrition in 1999, has had extensive training in herbalism and plant healing, and most recently she’s become a certified Addiction Recovery Nutrition Coach through the Alliance for Addiction Solutions. Currently, she offers feminist health coaching with individuals and groups. 

Find out more about Marcie and her work

Instagram: marciegoldman

Facebook: marciegoldman

 

 

#64: Building a Business that makes a difference by following your gut with Wambui JL

This week Ziada and Mary Ann talk with Wambui JL the creator of Hairpolitian Lifestyle, an online magazine that focuses on African women who have or want to return to their natural hair.

We talk following your gut as a way to do business, almost giving up (but not quite), sharing your struggles to inspire others (and also get support) and the way that creative ideas emerge at 3 in the morning (we don’t know why!).

 

Wambui JL is a natural lifestyle and creative entrepreneur based in Nairobi, Kenya. Wambui also has a passion for women in business and she moderates panels for events that seek to uplift women in that space. She’s a Graphic Designer by profession and over the years has used her expertise to give brand consultations to individuals and companies alike.

Photo of Wambui by Photos by Jeri 

Get in touch with Wambui JL and Read Hairpolitan

Wambui JL
Facebook: WambuiJL
Instagram: WambuiJL
Hairpolitan
Facebook:Hairpolitan
Instagram:Hairpolitan
Twitter: Hairpolitan

#63: Alternative approaches to working internationally with Sara Lim Bertrand

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This week on the Podcast Mary Ann Clements talks to Sara Lim Bertrand from Proteknôn, a consultancy group and foundation she co-founded which is focused on the protection, care, and wellbeing of children internationally.

They discuss how the group came together, the strategies they use to enable flexible working across many geographies and how they blend consultancy work with activism about the issues they care about.

Sara also shares the three pillars that guide their work: Freedom, Collaboration and Principle and how the pillars impact the approach that Proteknôn take to carrying out projects for their clients.

Sara Lim Bertrand is a humanitarian and development professional with more than 17 years of programming experience in child protection, gender-based violence, education in emergencies and learning and development. For the last 13 years, she has developed strong technical and programmatic competencies in humanitarian action, systems building, protection in situations of migration and displacement, prevention and response to exploitation and abuse, case management, alternative care, community-based protection, child participation, psychosocial support, advocacy and supporting social change. Sara is also passionate about early childhood development, parenting education, mental health and disability inclusion. Notably, Sara combined her interest in design and technology by developing a handful of e-courses on the CPMS, CPRA, Child Protection Situation and Response Monitoring, Child Protection Case Management and Supervision, amongst others. Since 1996, she has worked directly in 18 countries. In addition, she provided high-quality, remote support to field-based child protection coordination groups in more than 40+ countries. Sara has a Master of Arts (MA) in Intercultural Studies with an emphasis in Community Development from Wheaton College’s Graduate School. She has also taken more than 50 supplemental courses in case management, child development, child protection, GBV, protection, research and social change. For her LinkedIn profile, click here.

Get in touch with Sara and Proteknôn

Website: www.proteknon.org
Facebook page: @proteknon
Twitter: @proteknon
Instagram: @proteknon

#62: The Wisdom of Grandmothers with Ilana Landsburg-Lewis

This week Ziada and Mary Ann speak with Ilana Landsberg-Lewis about how she become so interested in talking with Grandmothers, building global solidarity between them and sharing their voices. Ilana also shares with us why she is passionate about a feminist, egalitarian and anti-colonial models of the solidarity work and the significant – and often undervalued – contribution that older women have made to the world of humanitarian assistance and development.

Ilana Landsberg-Lewis has spent her entire adult life engaged in the struggle for the rights of women and girls. From her early days as a human rights lawyer to her years at UNIFEM, Ilana has worked with women’s groups around the world and has learned that no amount of so-called expertise can replace that of women at the frontlines of their own struggle for justice. Ilana has been the executive director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation since she founded it with her father in 2003. She has been deeply honored and grateful to learn from the indomitable grandmothers of this remarkable movement, the world over.

Connect with Ilana and her work:

Website: www.ilanalandsberglewis.com (you can also find out about the projects we discuss during the episode at www.stephenlewisfoundation.org and www.grandmotherscampaign.org)

Instagram: @ilana.lewis
Facebook: @grandmothersonthemove

#60: Seasonal living and self-care with Madeleine Forbes

https://soundcloud.com/change-making-women/60-seasonal-living-and-self-care-with-madeleine-forbes

This week Ziada and Mary Ann talk with Madeleine Forbes one of Mary Ann’s collaborators in www.jijaze.com about her life in Portugal, her own project www.theseasonedyear.com and why she believes that leaving seasonally is a choice that can sustain and nourish us all.

Madeleine Forbes is a writer and content creator who loves finding the right words and conveying powerful messages clearly and effectively. Four years ago she moved from the UK to Portugal four years ago to try to live a lower impact, more sustainable life on a little off-grid smallholding. It’s a work in progress, but she loves the challenge this brings. She now balances farm life with her business as a freelance copywriter helping small online businesses grow their impact through their writing. As you’ll hear in the show she also runs a website called The Seasoned Year all about slowing down and connecting to the seasons to help us live saner, more sustainable lives.

Connect with Madeleine and her work:

The Seasoned Year: www.theseasonedyear.com

Work with Madeleine: www.madeleineforbes.com

#55: Beating Burnout for Idealists with Alessandra Pigni

This week Mary Ann talks to Alessandra Pigni author of ‘The Idealist’s Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout’ about the causes of burnout in the Humanitarian Sector, why you aren’t alone if you are experiencing it and why a mixture of strategies are the best way to address it

Alessandra Pigni is a humanitarian psychologist, organisational consultant and author of The Idealist’s Survival Kit. 75 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout. After serving with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders in Palestine and China, she has dedicated her work to understanding the connection between meaningful work and burnout. She has been Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and her work has a wide following among humanitarian practitioners, activists, and academics.

Connect with Alessandra:

You can find her online at www.mindfulnext.org 
And on Twitter: @mindfulnext

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