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In this episode, we're joined by Stella Luk, Regional Director at GiveDirectly, and Erin Quinn, Dimagi's Senior Director of Customer Success, to explore a fundamental question: What if, instead of aid programs deciding what communities need, we simply gave people cash and trusted them to make the best choices for themselves?GiveDirectly has pioneered direct, unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty, challenging long-held assumptions about traditional aid. Stella shares powerful insights from the field—how cash empowers recipients with dignity, choice, and long-term impact. We also discuss the skepticism surrounding cash transfers, the evidence supporting their effectiveness, and how technology is helping reach those most in need.With global development funding in flux, could direct cash transfers be the future of aid? Listen in for a thought-provoking conversation on how this model is reshaping humanitarian response and development efforts worldwide.
In this episode, we're joined by Stella Luk, Regional Director at GiveDirectly, and Erin Quinn, Dimagi's Senior Director of Customer Success, to explore a fundamental question: What if, instead of aid programs deciding what communities need, we simply gave people cash and trusted them to make the best choices for themselves?GiveDirectly has pioneered direct, unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty, challenging long-held assumptions about traditional aid. Stella shares powerful insights from the field—how cash empowers recipients with dignity, choice, and long-term impact. We also discuss the skepticism surrounding cash transfers, the evidence supporting their effectiveness, and how technology is helping reach those most in need.With global development funding in flux, could direct cash transfers be the future of aid? Listen in for a thought-provoking conversation on how this model is reshaping humanitarian response and development efforts worldwide.
In this episode, hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by two leaders on Dimagi's People Operations team – Emily Gutman and Molly Broderick – to delve into what it takes to run Dimagi in a way that's sustainable for its employees and the planet.. From reimagining performance management systems to demystifying the complexities of climate neutrality, they offer an unfiltered look at the challenges of navigating sustainability in the corporate world. Topics include:The role of frameworks in supporting sustainability Becoming a certified Benefit CorporationHow and why Dimagi became Climate Neutral certifiedWhat it means to be employee-firstWhen and how to redesign foundational people systemsThe role of carbon offsetsThe role of AI in a company's operations and its impact on carbon footprint
The landscape of international aid is shifting rapidly, leaving organizations and communities facing unprecedented challenges. In this episode, hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Gillian Javetski, Managing Director of Dimagi's Software-as-a-Service division, and Ismaïla Diene, Managing Director of Dimagi's Solutions division, to unpack the impact of massive funding cuts on global health and development efforts.What does it mean when critical aid funding disappears overnight? How are frontline organizations adapting to continue their life-saving work? And how is Dimagi stepping up to support partners in this time of uncertainty?Join us for an honest and insightful conversation about the human side of these changes, the resilience of global health partners, and the role of digital solutions in navigating this crisis.Related Resources: How Dimagi is supporting partners through changes in funding : https://dimagi.com/supporting-our-partners/Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's workWe are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YoutubeIf you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
In this episode, Dimagi product leaders Danny Roberts, Kai Cowger, and Matthew Hayto delve into the challenges and opportunities of building SaaS products for global health. This insightful conversation explores transitioning from donor-driven funding to a product-driven model, focusing on user needs, product sustainability, and scaling for impact. The episode highlights the complexity of aligning revenue and impact in resource-constrained settings, the importance of product marketing, and the lessons learned from scaling solutions like CommCare and SureAdhere. Tune in to discover practical strategies for creating technology that drives meaningful, lasting change in global health.
In this episode, Nora Lindström, Senior Director of ICT4D at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Erin Quinn, Senior Director of Customer Success at Dimagi join the podcast to discuss the evolving role of the iNGO in the context of localization and advancing local leadership, the intersection of technology and localization in global development, and the ways that technologists in global development can center the people we serve in our work. In the conversation, we learn Nora's journey and insights into the transformative power of technology in global development. From empowering local communities with data to navigating the challenges of localization, Nora offers her thinking on balancing tech innovation with human-centered practices. Key topics: Tech as an Enabler, Not the Goal Nora emphasizes the importance of listening deeply to identify real problems before introducing technology. Successful ICT4D involves tailoring solutions to local contexts and needs. Different Approaches to Enabling Programs with Technology Erin shares the ways that iNGOs across the sector are equipping their teams with tech tools. Nora shares how it adapts its approach based on the partner and context. Empowering Communities with Data Nota notes global development's tendency towards extractive data collection practices and highlights her work making data useful for the people it's about. For example, in Malawi, village committees use CRS-provided data to advocate for local changes. The Evolving Role of INGOs As localization gains momentum, CRS is evolving into a capacity-building and knowledge-sharing role, preparing local organizations to lead development initiatives independently. Building Diverse Teams Nora highlights the value of diversity within CRS's ICT4D team, bringing together cross-disciplinary expertise to solve global challenges creatively and effectively. Show Notes: CRS Digital Development Guidebook CRS | ICT4D Program Area
In this episode of High-Impact Growth, hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro talk with Dr. Charles Elliott, Director of Data Management at Cure Violence Global (CVG), an organization using a public health approach to prevent violence. Dr. Elliott shares insights into how CVG views violence like an epidemic, applying data-driven methods to map and reduce violence in communities around the world. Dr. Elliott articulates the value of a thoughtful data strategy using a tool like CommCare to measure and track critical indicators such as violence interruption, behavior change, and norm change. Dr. Elliott highlights that for Cure Violence, technology is not just a tool but a long-term investment that powers program funding, staffing, and programmatic decisions. The conversation covers the challenges of quantifying the impact of violence prevention, the significance of trust-building in communities, and the role of data in driving both local and national violence prevention strategies. Dr. Elliott also touches on his personal journey from military service to data management, emphasizing the importance of creating systems that empower community workers, who often play a crucial role in violence prevention programs. Dr. Elliott shares his guidance for other organizations looking to leverage data as a strategic advantage and impact accelerant: Start with Clear Goals: Define your program with specific goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to effectively measure progress. For Cure Violence, they measure metrics like violence interruption, behavior change, and norm change. Build Relationships: Foster strong relationships with data users to understand their needs and communicate the value of the data being collected. Create User-Centric Tools: Ensure that data collection tools are easy to use and enhance, rather than hinder, workflows. For example, Cure Violence uses the CommCare application to map violence, track follow-ups, and access reports. Prioritize Data Privacy and Security: Building trust with users and stakeholders is crucial, so ensure privacy and security in data collection. Invest for the Long Term: Treat your tech platform as a long-term investment to ensure lasting impact, rather than a short-term expense. For Cure Violence, this data helps drive funding decisions and program design. Related Resources: Cure Violence Global website The Interrupters - PBS Documentary featuring Cobe Williams, CVG's National Training Director Interrupting Violence by Cobe Williams Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
In this episode of High Impact Growth hosts Amie Vaccaro and Jonathan Jackson, dive into one of Dimagi's most ambitious and potentially transformative projects to date, CommCare Connect. This platform is designed to improve the jobs of community health workers (CHWs) by equipping them with digital tools to learn new skills, deliver health services, verify their work, and, crucially, get paid for additional work. By doing so, CommCare Connect seeks to address some of the biggest challenges in the global health space, such as the underpayment and disempowerment of CHWs and funding wasted on digital tools that don't survive the project's end, while driving better health outcomes globally. Throughout the conversation, Dimagi team members Mercy Simiyu, Sarvesh Tewari, and Dhivya Sivaramakrishnan, share insights from their direct work on CommCare Connect and with locally led organizations and CHWs across various regions, including Kenya and Malawi. They provide an in-depth look at how CommCare Connect has evolved over the past two years and reflect on early success stories, challenges, and lessons learned. During this conversation we unpack the four pillars of CommCare Connect's technology: Learn: CHWs acquire new skills through digital learning modules. Deliver: CHWs are able to provide health services in their communities, equipped with the right job aids. Verify: Their service delivery is digitally verified in real-time. Pay: CHWs are compensated fairly for the work they opt into. Show Notes: CommCare Connect year in review 2023 CommCare Connect public overview CommCare Connect reaches 100,000 services delivered CommCare Connect Child Health Campaign RFP (now closed) For inquiries, ideas or information on how you can get involved please reach out to: bgeoffroy@dimagi.com Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
In today's conversation, co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Nan Chen, Co-Executive Director of Africa Frontline First. Africa Frontline First is on a mission to increase financing for community health worker programs across Africa to save and improve lives. Half of the world's population lack access to essential health services and community health workers, who expand primary health services door-to-door even in the hardest to reach communities, are an essential part of the solution. But financing remains the primary challenge to scale and sustain community health worker programs, despite a 10:1 return on investment. Today's conversation centers on the ways that Africa Frontline First, a partnership from the Community Health Impact Coalition, the Financing Alliance for Health, and Last Mile Health, is working to make financing more available and effective for these life-saving programs, as well as the role of technology in accelerating impact. Show Notes: Africa Frontline First Website Africa CDC Community Health Reform Cycle Reaching the Last Mile commitment that was the outcome of the process discussed of “listening to aligning to committing” US $100M Africa Frontline First Catalytic Fund launch AFF partner, Living Goods, supported the launch of new Community Health strategy in Burkina Faso Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Dr. Kelly Collins and Gillian Javetski join co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro for a candid conversation about the market for digital health products. Kelly returned from the World Health Assembly with a burning question: How can we teach global health to buy software as a commodity, the same way they might buy drugs or diagnostic tools? How might we peel back the influence of aid and donor funds on digital health so that we can build tech products for global health that matter? In this conversation, Gillian, Kelly and Jonathan each share their approaches to maintaining focus on solving problems and creating value for the digital health user across CommCare, SureAdhere and CommCare Connect. Topics include: The dual challenge of increasing security demands and increasingly limited funding The lag in procurement maturity compared to technological advancements, and the importance of creating must-have, high-value products. What it takes to shift from donor-driven to user-focused development Dimagi's ability and strategic position to lead this shift The need for better market education to support a healthier market for tech products in global health and development Show Notes: Is Aid Killing The Startup Ecosystem In Africa? (Part 1) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aid-killing-startup-ecosystem-africa-part-1-david-chen-mgi8e Is Aid Killing the African Startup Ecosystem? (Part 2) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aid-killing-african-startup-ecosystem-part-2-david-chen-ovp4e Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/0374532125 CommCare connect year in review: https://dimagi.com/commcare-connect-2023/ CommCare Connect reaches a milestone of 100,000 service deliveries: https://dimagi.com/commcare-connect-reaches-100000-deliveries/ CommCare webpage: https://dimagi.com/commcare/ Sureadhere webpage: https://dimagi.com/sureadhere/ Steele Foundation for Hope: https://www.steelefoundationforhope.org/
In Part 3 in our series on AI, Brian DeRenzi, head of Dimagi's research and data team, joins Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro to discuss how advances in AI can affect global health and development. They discuss AI's rapid evolution, practical applications, and the importance of thoughtful implementation to avoid a future where only the privileged benefit. The discussion covers Dimagi's focus on equitable AI through direct-to-client work, how AI can support health workers, and Dimagi's new bot building and testing platform, Open Chat Studio. Discussion points: AI Evolution: Exploring the rapid advancements in AI models and technologies Dimagi's AI Projects: Insights into Dimagi's current AI initiatives and their goals Generative AI in Healthcare: Practical applications and benefits for healthcare workers and clients Equitable AI Deployment: Strategies to ensure AI technology is accessible to all Open Chat Studio: Introduction to Dimagi's platform for developing and testing chatbots Language Accessibility: Challenges and progress in LLM's support for low-resource language
Rikimah Glymph has traveled alone to over 120 countries (72 of those countries with her son), and has hosted wellness retreats and logistics conferences all over the world. When not traveling, she dreams of her next trip!Having a career in the travel industry made it a natural transition for Rikimah to purchase a Cruise Planners franchise. Cruise Planners allows her to not only book the best travel itineraries for her wellness clients but also allows her to offer deals and top picks for people interested in other types of travel. Rikimah wanted to be able to share travel deals with others, her love for travel, and the wellness benefits that come from it. She now shares her experiences and all of the knowledge she's learned over the years with others. Most importantly, she can help others to have magical experiences just like the ones she's had with her own son during his entire life. The gift of travel is so critical to our growth and development and helps us to remember that the world is so much bigger than our immediate environments.Cruise Planners has a tremendous reputation for quality, service, and very competitive pricing for ALL of your travel needs. Cruise Planners travel advisors will help you discover exciting adventures around the world. From cruises to land tours and completely packaged vacations, they specialize in all types of travel and will create an unforgettable vacation just for you.Rikimah is also the Founder and CEO of BWell365, a wellness brand that provides resources and creates spaces for deep reflection and autonomy to drive sustainable and impactful wellness outcomes. As Founding Partner of Glymph Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm that focuses on business infrastructure development and mentoring, as well as individual wellness, Rikimah Glymph is a writer, mentor, and advocate for equal rights and opportunity.With over a decade of experience affecting change in both the political and civil worlds, Rikimah has served as the Chief of People & State Operations for Bernie 2020 and as the Global Director of People Operations for Dimagi. Rikimah has a B.A. in History, an MBA, and a Master's in Project Management, most importantly, she has a passion for improving the lives of those around her. While her experiences have positioned her to have in-depth knowledge and firsthand understanding of what others might need, Rikimah's heart is what led her to write Total Wellness. She knows all too well the everyday challenges all people face in a rapidly changing world, and she strives to improve personal well-being with this book. She hopes it will help everyone create innovative solutions necessary for change.Visit Rikimah's website, for more!
Rikimah Glymph has traveled alone to over 120 countries (72 of those countries with her son), and has hosted wellness retreats and logistics conferences all over the world. When not traveling, she dreams of her next trip!Having a career in the travel industry made it a natural transition for Rikimah to purchase a Cruise Planners franchise. Cruise Planners allows her to not only book the best travel itineraries for her wellness clients but also allows her to offer deals and top picks for people interested in other types of travel. Rikimah wanted to be able to share travel deals with others, her love for travel, and the wellness benefits that come from it. She now shares her experiences and all of the knowledge she's learned over the years with others. Most importantly, she can help others to have magical experiences just like the ones she's had with her own son during his entire life. The gift of travel is so critical to our growth and development and helps us to remember that the world is so much bigger than our immediate environments.Cruise Planners has a tremendous reputation for quality, service, and very competitive pricing for ALL of your travel needs. Cruise Planners travel advisors will help you discover exciting adventures around the world. From cruises to land tours and completely packaged vacations, they specialize in all types of travel and will create an unforgettable vacation just for you.Rikimah is also the Founder and CEO of BWell365, a wellness brand that provides resources and creates spaces for deep reflection and autonomy to drive sustainable and impactful wellness outcomes. As Founding Partner of Glymph Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm that focuses on business infrastructure development and mentoring, as well as individual wellness, Rikimah Glymph is a writer, mentor, and advocate for equal rights and opportunity.With over a decade of experience affecting change in both the political and civil worlds, Rikimah has served as the Chief of People & State Operations for Bernie 2020 and as the Global Director of People Operations for Dimagi. Rikimah has a B.A. in History, an MBA, and a Master's in Project Management, most importantly, she has a passion for improving the lives of those around her. While her experiences have positioned her to have in-depth knowledge and firsthand understanding of what others might need, Rikimah's heart is what led her to write Total Wellness. She knows all too well the everyday challenges all people face in a rapidly changing world, and she strives to improve personal well-being with this book. She hopes it will help everyone create innovative solutions necessary for change.Visit Rikimah's website, for more!
Rikimah Glymph has traveled alone to over 120 countries (72 of those countries with her son), and has hosted wellness retreats and logistics conferences all over the world. When not traveling, she dreams of her next trip!Having a career in the travel industry made it a natural transition for Rikimah to purchase a Cruise Planners franchise. Cruise Planners allows her to not only book the best travel itineraries for her wellness clients but also allows her to offer deals and top picks for people interested in other types of travel. Rikimah wanted to be able to share travel deals with others, her love for travel, and the wellness benefits that come from it. She now shares her experiences and all of the knowledge she's learned over the years with others. Most importantly, she can help others to have magical experiences just like the ones she's had with her own son during his entire life. The gift of travel is so critical to our growth and development and helps us to remember that the world is so much bigger than our immediate environments.Cruise Planners has a tremendous reputation for quality, service, and very competitive pricing for ALL of your travel needs. Cruise Planners travel advisors will help you discover exciting adventures around the world. From cruises to land tours and completely packaged vacations, they specialize in all types of travel and will create an unforgettable vacation just for you.Rikimah is also the Founder and CEO of BWell365, a wellness brand that provides resources and creates spaces for deep reflection and autonomy to drive sustainable and impactful wellness outcomes. As Founding Partner of Glymph Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm that focuses on business infrastructure development and mentoring, as well as individual wellness, Rikimah Glymph is a writer, mentor, and advocate for equal rights and opportunity.With over a decade of experience affecting change in both the political and civil worlds, Rikimah has served as the Chief of People & State Operations for Bernie 2020 and as the Global Director of People Operations for Dimagi. Rikimah has a B.A. in History, an MBA, and a Master's in Project Management, most importantly, she has a passion for improving the lives of those around her. While her experiences have positioned her to have in-depth knowledge and firsthand understanding of what others might need, Rikimah's heart is what led her to write Total Wellness. She knows all too well the everyday challenges all people face in a rapidly changing world, and she strives to improve personal well-being with this book. She hopes it will help everyone create innovative solutions necessary for change.Visit Rikimah's website, for more!
Today we are sharing an episode from a podcast we think you'll enjoy. System Catalysts is about the incredible people who are fixing the broken systems that run the world. --- Are you an organ donor? If yes, good for you! But you should know that your organs might not reach the person who needs them. That's because the organ donation system is a mess, leading to over a dozen preventable deaths daily. Thankfully, our guests today – Greg Segal of Organize and Jennifer Erickson of Federation of American Scientists – tell us about how they discovered the hidden problem in organ donation and how they're going to fix it. If you want to learn more about Organize, visit organize.org. Find more episodes at System Catalysts: https://www.systemcatalysts.com/episodes System Catalysts is produced by Hueman Group Media. --- Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Guest Rikimah Glymph shared her inspiring journey as a wellness advocate and the founder and CEO of Be Well 365. Rikimah discussed her path from political and civil roles to creating holistic wellness spaces that foster deep reflection and personal growth. She opened up about her initiatives in wellness consulting and the motivational drive behind her book, Total Wellness, emphasizing the everyday challenges people face in today's fast-paced world. They discussed the nuances of emotional and spiritual healing through travel, the importance of disconnecting from unhealthy environments, and the profound impact wellness retreats can have on attendees. Rikimah also highlighted her personal approach to nurturing her son's well-being, their life-changing experience in Barbados, and her ongoing commitment to community engagement and mental health advocacy. Arlia and Rikimah also talked about the essence of environmental wellness and how stepping out of one's comfort zone through travel can lead to self-discovery and transformation. About Rikimah Rikimah Glymph is the Founder and CEO of BWell365, a wellness brand that provides resources and creates spaces for deep reflection and autonomy to drive sustainable and impactful wellness outcomes. As Founding Partner of Glymph Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm that focuses on business infrastructure development and mentoring, as well as individual wellness, Rikimah Glymph is a writer, mentor, and advocate for equal rights and opportunity. With over a decade of experience affecting change in both the political and civil worlds, Rikimah has served as the Chief of People & State Operations for Bernie 2020 and as the Global Director of People Operations for Dimagi. Rikimah has a B.A. in History, an MBA, and a Master's in Project Management-but, most importantly, she has a passion for improving the lives of those around her. While her experiences have positioned her to have in-depth knowledge and firsthand understanding of what others might need, Rikimah's heart is what led her to write Total Wellness. She knows all too well the everyday challenges all people face in a rapidly changing world, and she strives to improve personal well-being with this book. She hopes it will help everyone create innovative solutions necessary for change. Website | LinkedIn About The Women's Sanctuary The Women's Sanctuary was founded in 2014 as a haven for women to be in community. The Women's Sanctuary offers connection through The Women's Sanctuary podcast, personal coaching for soul and body, and group events like temple practice. Rooted in the tradition of women's circles throughout history, The Women's Sanctuary is a place of sacred rest, sacred connection, healing, and belonging. Website | Facebook | Instagram | PInterest About Arlia Hoffman Arlia Hoffman is founder of The Women's Sanctuary and The Women's Agency. She is an ordained minister and shamanic mentor and holds a Masters in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is passionate about supporting women as they re-member themselves. In The Women's Sanctuary, she facilitates sacred sisterhood, mentors women, and hold sacred events. Connect with Arlia: Facebook | Instagram | TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
One in 800 babies are born with clubfoot, a treatable birth impairment that left untreated prevents a child from walking, and becomes the root cause for illiteracy, abuse, malnutrition, and poverty in many parts of the world. Clubfoot is routinely treated at birth in high income countries, but historically children born in low and middle income countries have not had access to quality treatment. Today, co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, co-founder of MiracleFeet to hear about how she and her team have dedicated themselves to making a simple, cost-effective treatment for clubfoot available to every baby born with the condition. They are on track to serve 100,000 children later this year with a goal to treat 70% of clubfoot cases in the countries they operate in. We discuss: Chesca's journey from the moment she realized she wanted to get out of the corporate world and discovered a fixable problem she could focus on, including her recent decision to step down as CEO to ensure long-term sustainability of the organization How Chesca's business background helped her take a different approach to building the organization and investing in technology to support its mission The art of storytelling for a little known cause focused on dignity and possibility How to fundraise from cost-effectiveness focused investors How the thoughtful implementation of a mobile data collection system (CommCare) allowed MiracleFeet's providers to measure quality, deliver better services, and gather data to support continual fundraising How to ensure quality while scaling an intervention Pivotal moments in Chesca's journey including breaking down in tears on a redeye to secure a $1 million grant from Google Listening to your intuition and backing it up with rigorous data and analysis Chapters: 01:26 Welcoming Chesca: The Journey Begins 01:57 Chesca's Backstory: From Global Childhood to Business World 03:55 Discovering a Treatment for Clubfoot: A Life-Changing Moment 05:16 The Birth of MiracleFeet: From Vision to Reality 05:34 Taking the Leap: Transitioning from Corporate to Social Impact 08:59 Building MiracleFeet: Challenges, Fundraising, and Growth 21:08 Reflections on Storytelling, Fundraising, and Instinct 27:19 Expanding Reach and Impact: The Future of MiracleFeet 39:11 Harnessing Technology for Global Health Impact 40:22 Innovative Solutions to Healthcare Challenges 42:57 Empowering Local Teams with Data 46:27 Navigating Founder Transition and Organizational Growth 56:53 Mentoring the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs 01:12:37 Reflections on Business Acumen in Nonprofit Success MiracleFeet: https://www.miraclefeet.org/ MiracleFeet's use of CommCare: https://www.miraclefeet.org/stories/the-tool-that-saved-us-in-2020 Impact Delivery: https://sites.dimagi.com/impact-delivery Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Jeroo Billimoria, a remarkable serial social entrepreneur. Starting at age 12, Jeroo has founded several impactful organizations, including Child and Youth Finance International, Aflatoun, Childline India Foundation and Catalyst 2030. In this candid conversation we learn about her journey and discuss: Solving for root cause problems Creating impactful outcomes through co-creation and collaboration Building collective ownership and trust Letting go of ego and planning for organizational transition Managing the relational and management aspects of scaling an organization and a movement The art of listening How to stay optimistic The journey of Catalyst 2030 in creating a social innovation sector Advocacy and changing funder mindsets Increasing representation from the Global South Resources: Join Catalyzing Change Week May 6-10, 2024: http://catalyst2030.info/RegisterCCW Catalyst 2030: https://catalyst2030.net/ Jeroo Billimoria on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeroo_Billimoria Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
In part 2 of this series on Artificial Intelligence, Jonathan Jackson and Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Research and Data team lead, openly talk about the rapid evolution of AI, its vast potential, and what Dimagi has been up to over the last few months since winning the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grant to build a frontline worker coaching chatbot. In this candid conversation, they discuss the value of collaboration, the ethical and philosophical considerations of AI as a tool to empower, rather than replace human services, the looming threat of inequitable dystopia and ways that we are partnering with other organizations to ensure that the benefits of this new technology are spread equitably.
Co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by MHP Salud's CEO, Dr. Maggie Dante and Data and Evaluation Analyst, Rachel Udow. MHP Salud is championing Community Health Workers across the US both within their organization and through training and consulting on how to best integrate CHW programs. Over the last decade, MHP Salud has been on a digital transformation journey - leveraging technology to improve service delivery. The conversation unpacks many of the best practices the organization has developed to leverage digital to deliver impact at scale. Topics discussed:How MHP Salud has used one technology platform to deepen and improve impact over timeMHP Salud's digitization journey, including expanding use cases of CommCare across programsHow the organization has developed the human capacity and processes to support a long term Impact Delivery approachThe role of user-centered design and training in successful technology implementation.The significance of buy-in from CHWs and creating a culture of validationThe integration of technology, including CommCare and Tableau, to improve efficiency and save costsInsights on strategic thinking, recruitment challenges, and long-term sustainability in community health programsRelated Resources: Learn more about MHP Salud: https://mhpsalud.co/about Access MHP Salud resources and social media: https://bit.ly/m/mhpsalud CHW Core Consensus Project: https://www.c3project.org/ Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work: https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Dr. Dixon Chibanda started Friendship Bench after losing a patient to suicide who could not afford to travel to the hospital in Zimbabwe where he worked. There had to be a way to make mental health care more accessible. Today, Friendship Bench has a team of grandmothers across Zimbabwe who are trained to deliver evidence-based high-impact therapy on park benches, making mental health support readily available. In this episode, Jonathan Jackson learns about the incredible journey of the Friendship Bench intervention in conversation with its Founder and CEO, Dr. Dixon Chibanda. Get a behind the scenes look at how this incredible program and intervention has achieved resonance and scale by offering community-based psychological interventions to people in need. You'll learn how Friendship Bench has trained grandmothers to deliver high-impact therapy, discover the tremendous healing power of storytelling and vulnerability, explore the role CommCare plays in enabling digital data collection and analysis, and dig into the three-part formula for creating a scaled intervention that applies beyond mental health. This episode is a great listen for anyone wanting to learn about the foundational role of digitization in enabling programs to scale and inform data-driven decision-making. Topics include: How the Friendship Bench intervention started Leading randomized controlled trials (RCT) to provide evidence for the effectiveness of the Friendship Bench intervention Scaling up the Friendship Bench to reach 100,000 people last year Engaging government stakeholders and building referral pathways for long-term sustainability Focusing on improving overall health outcomes, not just mental health The power of effective storytelling and vulnerability The role digitization plays in scaling and sustaining the program Partnering with Dimagi and using CommCare to become fully digital The importance of addressing mental health at the community level Related Resources: Friendship Bench: https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org TedTalk - Why I train grandmothers to treat depression | Dixon Chibanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cprp_EjVtwA Disclaimer: The audio quality in certain parts of this episode has been compromised, but we trust you are still able to share in this rich conversation. We apologise for any inconvenience. Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work: https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Discover the key ingredients to Ethiopia's incredible progress in digital health as Ali Flaming and Amie Vaccaro speak with Dr. Girma Tadesse, electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) Project Manager with JSI. Stemming from a clear vision for improving health outcomes and data use, the Ethiopian government has been on a digital health transformation journey starting in 1991. As Project Manager for this effort, Dr. Girma shares Ethiopia's journey moving towards a fully paperless system. You'll hear how with government ownership and strategic resource allocation, they're establishing a strong foundation for long-term success, while also investing in the people and skills needed to create meaningful change. This is a must-listen for anyone working in and with governments and Ministries of Health wanting to learn how to leverage technology to support higher quality services. Ethiopia has been leading the charge of enabling healthcare workers by building scalable platforms and ecosystems for sustained impact and this conversation provides an inside look at how. Topics include: The impact of a clear government vision focused on improving health outcomes and service delivery Exploring a data-driven approach to inform improvements and achieve universal health coverage The importance of government ownership and buy-in The need for clear communication of goals and resource allocation Investment in talent and expertise through university programs Moving beyond digitizing paper processes to creating real impact in healthcare delivery Utilizing digital platforms for multiple use cases and digitizing various health services Building scalable platforms and ecosystems for sustained impact Embracing an iterative approach to digital health transformation Related Resources: JSI: https://www.jsi.com Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: https://www.gatesfoundation.org USAID: https://www.usaid.gov Children's' Investment Fund Foundation: https://ciff.org Superset: https://superset.apache.org CommCare: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/ Simprints Technology: https://www.simprints.com USAID Digital Health Activity - Ethiopia: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/jsi-government-of-ethiopia-and-usaid-digital-health-activity/ Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work: https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Rediscover the power of community health workers (CHWs) and their critical role in delivering healthcare globally in this captivating conversation with Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Madeleine Ballard, CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). Despite concrete evidence that CHWs work, millions are not salaried, skilled, supervised and supplied. The WHO recommends remunerating CHWs for their work but 86% of CHWs in Africa are not salaried. And worldwide, CHWs face essential medicine stock-outs 1/3 of the time. CHIC is a coalition of thousands of CHWs and aligned health organizations in 40+ countries who are making professional CHWs (proCHWs) the norm by changing guidelines, funding, and policy. In this episode, Dr. Ballard delivers actionable insights and inspiring ideas for creating sustainable change in global health. You'll also hear about the countries leading the way, why this matters so much, and what it all means for technologists and funders who want to create a world where everyone has access to the services they need to thrive. The episode confronts listeners with a strong call to action to join the movement for proCHWs and ensure health for all. Topics included: How technology can enable and support community health workers as well as connect and amplify movements Bridging the gap between policy and implementation in global healthcare Why we must support and unleash the intelligence of CHWs before focusing on AI algorithms How all technology companies must be intentional about using technology to avoid harm and extraction in healthcare Exploring the key role of strong political will and the importance of listening to CHWs, 70% of whom are women Why proper financing is crucial for implementing salaried CHW programs Related Resources: CHIC proCHW Policy Dashboard: https://joinchic.org/resources/prochw-policy-dashboard/ Championing a Movement to Pay and Professionalize Community Health Workers with Margaret Odera: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/professionalizing-chws Payment of Community Health Workers: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(22)00311-4.pdf Equity and AI in Global Health: Exploring Large Language Models, Building Chatbots and Embracing Discomfort: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/equity-through-ai Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC): https://joinchic.org Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work: :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Testing out a new format for this podcast - short form responses to questions from you, our audience. Plus video! In this Your Questions Answered episode, we break down a recent learning that Jonathan Jackson shared on LinkedIn regarding working with governments on digital health programs: “I used to think the goal with digital health programs as a technology partner was to get too big to fail. I've learned a lot however in the last 20 years. Now I know: the only path to success is to be too valuable to fail.” We discuss taking an Impact Delivery approach for digital, and answer the following audience questions: Can you kindly provide specific instances where you have consistently provided benefits to your users, clients, and communities? Understanding how you have avoided becoming stagnant and maintained the growth of your program would be highly beneficial. How do you suggest measuring and assessing the value-added for users, clients, and communities? Related Resources Burkina Faso case study by Dimagi: https://www.dimagi.com/case-studies/mhealth-tdh-burkinafaso/ Burkina Faso case study by Exemplars in Global Health (shows savings driven by digital health): https://www.exemplars.health/emerging-topics/epidemic-preparedness-and-response/digital-health-tools/commcare-in-burkina-faso Ethiopia project overview: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/jsi-government-of-ethiopia-and-usaid-digital-health-activity/Jonathan's original LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7082470123483066368?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7082470123483066368%29 Related Podcast episode: Prioritizing Platforms Over Projects with Danny Roberts: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/prioritizing-platforms-over-projects Related Podcast episode: A New Era for Development with Raj Kumar of Devex: Shifting from a Project Mindset to an Investment Mindset: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/kumar-devex Related Podcast episode: Building Resilience: The Key to Combating Burnout in Frontline Workers with Lilianna Bagnoli: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/resilience-building WellMe free trial (resilience building application for Frontline Workers): https://sites.dimagi.com/wellme-trial
Depression alone is projected to be the third leading cause of disease burden in lower and middle income countries by 2030, where 75% of people don't receive any treatment. In this episode we delve into the escalating global issue of mental health care. Jonathan Jackson speaks with three of Dimagi's experts: senior health strategy specialist Lauren Magoun, senior project analyst Anaba Sunday Atua, and senior mental health strategy consultant Christie Civetta. Gain insights from the team's diverse experience and learnings in project analysis and the implementation of mental health initiatives, as well as approaches to combating the barriers to mental health care delivery and the grave lack of funding. You'll walk away from this episode with a clear understanding of the role of Frontline Workers in providing intervention, the need for human connection in digital solutions, and the positive impact of integrating mental health care into broader health strategies. This episode challenges funders, implementers, and technologists working in the mental health space to consider the intersection between mental and physical health in developing solutions that create lasting impact and achieve holistic health outcomes. Topics include: The opportunities and future possibilities for mental health care innovation The potential of digital solutions to break down barriers and deliver impactful, scalable and cost-effective programs The realities of mental health stigma and care in low-and middle-income countries The advantages of community-based interventions and the role of trusted members in addressing stigma The importance of human connection in mental health care delivery The intersection of physical and mental health with a focus on anxiety and depression Related Resources: Bending the curve: the impact of integrating mental health services on HIV and TB outcomes - United for Global Mental Health: https://unitedgmh.org/knowledge-hub/bending-the-curve-the-impact-of-integrating-mental-health-services-on-hiv-and-tb-outcomes/ Poor countries are developing a new paradigm of mental health care. America is taking note: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23402638/mental-health-psychiatrist-shortage-community-care-africa Basic Needs Ghana (Anaba's former employer): https://basicneedsghana.org/ Reimagining global mental health care with a person-centered, digitally-enabled approach with Dr. Vikram Patel co-founder of Sangath and successor to Paul Farmer at Harvard Medical School: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/reimagining-mental-health Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In this episode, we discuss technology's impactful role in making services accessible, specifically in the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB). Listen as Chris Buri, a TB survivor and patient advocate, shares his experience with TB treatment and the importance of patient support and advocacy in TB care. You'll also hear about his personal journey of resilience and advocacy, the challenges and opportunities presented by TB treatment, and the potential of technology such as VDOT (Video Directly Observed Therapy) to improve patient outcomes. This is a great listen for those wanting to learn more about the impact of TB on patients and their families, the need for person-centered care, and the important call to action for more research and funding in TB treatment and advocacy. Topics discussed: An introduction to Chris Buri, a TB survivor and patient advocate Chris's experience with TB treatment, including challenges with medication side effects and treatment adherence The importance of patient support and advocacy in TB treatment The role of support groups in providing emotional and practical support to TB patients The impact of TB on patients and their families, including social stigma and financial burden The need for patient-centered care in TB treatment, with a focus on patient empowerment and engagement The potential of technology to improve TB treatment adherence and patient outcomes The challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in TB treatment The need for more research and funding in TB treatment and advocacy Chris's call to action for healthcare providers, policymakers, and the public to prioritize TB treatment and support Related Resources SureAdhere: https://www.sureadhere.com CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): https://www.cdc.gov Colorado Department of Public Health: https://cdphe.colorado.gov Denver Health:https://www.phidenverhealth.org We are TB: https://www.wearetb.com Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In this episode we chat to renowned epidemiologist, healthcare innovator, and educator Dr. Richard Garfein and social entrepreneur and infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Kelly Collins, as they share their journey of turning an idea from research in academia into a successful commercial enterprise. They discuss their experiences in starting SureAdhere, licensing the software from UCSD, and signing up health departments to use the technology. You'll also hear about their work in using Video Directly Observed therapy (VDOT) to transform tuberculosis (TB) treatment, and how they expanded their company's reach to cover diseases from hepatitis C to opioid use disorder. The episode highlights the importance of following evidence-based decision-making and empowering patients and healthcare workers alike by leveraging technology, innovation, and passion. Topics include: The development of Video Directly Observed Therapy (VDOT) technology The role of DOT and VDOT in healthcare interventions Telemedicine during COVID-19 and beyond Digital technology to support medication assisted treatment and opioid use disorder-The importance of evidence-based decision-making in developing and testing technology The decision to start a company to scale VDOT technology and make it more widely available The challenges of licensing the software from UCSD and signing up health departments to use the technology The impact of VDOT on improving patient experiences and healthcare provider efficiency. Lessons learned from the experience of starting and growing SureAdhere The decision to join forces with Dimagi Related Resources: SureAdhere: https://www.sureadhere.com / The Stop TB Partnership: https://www.stoptb.org The UK National Health Service: https://www.nhs.uk The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov Verizon Foundation: https://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/grant-requirements Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
“There is no health without mental health.” - Dr. Vikram Patel Dr. Vikram Patel is a psychiatrist, professor, renowned researcher and the incoming chair of Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine where he takes over for the late Dr. Paul Farmer. Through decades of field-defining research, Dr Patel has shown how community-based resources can meet a growing burden of mental illness globally. In this episode, we explore Dr. Patel's journey from training as a psychiatrist in London to working in Zimbabwe and co-founding Sangath - an award-winning Indian NGO, committed to improving mental health care across the globe. This episode is a must-listen for those wanting to learn about strategies for scaling mental health care that extend beyond the traditional healthcare system and understanding how technology can help to improve the quality of psychological and social interventions. Topics include: The importance of supporting Community Health Workers and Frontline Workers to treat mental illness and address the crisis of human resources in healthcare and mental health The integral difference between mental health and mental illness The critical need for integration of mental health support into universal health coverage The connection and influence of mental health on other chronic diseases The role of the ‘accompaniment model' in mental health care Understanding how non-specialist providers can deliver the ‘active ingredient' in mental health intervention for two thirds of mental illness The failings, future and possible fixes for the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) in psychiatry Introducing a stepped care approach in addressing individual's mental health needs The importance of human connection in mental health treatment The need to shift from a diagnostic model to a person-centered approach Exploring measurement based peer supervision in mental health treatment programs The top 3 ways to leverage digital to augment humans in mental health care, not replace them Related resources: Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments - Collaboration between GMH@Harvard's Project EMPOWER, Dimagi, Sangath and the University of Toronto https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot/ How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/ Dr. Vikram Patel profile and research: https://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/vikram-patel Learn about Dr. Patel's new role as Chair of of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/patel-named-new-chair-global-health-social-medicine Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Dimagi's CommCare platform has been shaped by its users since its inception. Today, we revisit some of the first Community Health Workers who helped design and test CommCare back in 2008 in Tanzania. Co-host Amie Vaccaro speaks with two people who led that early research – Gayo Mhila, who has recently interviewed 5 of the earliest users, and Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Global Director of Research. Through the conversation you'll learn how technology can enable CHW's to provide vital support to their communities, and how CHW input helped shape essential functionality of CommCare marking the genesis of Dimagi's Design Under the Mango Tree approach. Topics include: Insights from 5 of the earliest users of CommCare - how they got into community health work and their experience with CommCare How CHW feedback led to the creation of logins, referrals, supervisor applications, case management and more foundational functionality in CommCare How switching from paper to digital helped tackle stigma, earn trust and improve efficiency for CHWs How technology can support and bolster relationships (not replace them) The journey to creating value for users at different levels of a health system with digital How digitizing community health work can support expanded digital literacy for women and why it matters Training techniques for technology adoption The importance of user-driven design or as Dimagi's calls it “Design Under the Mango Tree” Related Resources: CommCare: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/ Design Under the Mango Tree: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/ High-Impact Growth podcast Ep 10: Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare
In this episode we explore the journey of Margaret Odera, a Community Health Worker and mentor mother in Kenya. Following her HIV diagnosis, Margaret received life-changing support from a mentor mother, which inspired her to dedicate her life to helping other HIV-positive mothers and their newborns. As the founder of the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN), Margaret is also leading the charge to professionalize and amplify the voices of these unsung heroes in the health sector. We discuss the role of Community Health Workers in disease prevention and health promotion; the need for better tools, technology, and training, and the steps Margaret is taking toward professionalizing Community Health Worker roles to ensure fair compensation, improved working conditions, and preparedness for future pandemics. Topics discussed: What a typical week looks like for Margaret The realities of community health workers - their working conditions and the lack of compensation The unfortunate status of payment for Community Health Workers in Kenya How lack of payment for Community Health Workers reflects a gender issue How Margaret came to found the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN) and early wins Challenges faced in professionalizing Community Health Workers The role of technology in professionalizing community health workers The need for better Community Health Worker representation and visibility at various levels of health governance The role of Community Health Workers in preventing future pandemics The support needed from health systems at large to train, support, and equip Community Health Workers Related Resources: Margaret Odera, Heroine of Health: https://www.intrahealth.org/vital/community-health-worker-advocate-and-now-heroine-health Women in Global Health profile of Margaret Odera: https://womeningh.org/our_members/margaret-odera/Video by IntraHealth of Margaret Odera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZAEwz2BUU Contribute to support the CHW Champions Network: https://www.mchanga.africa/fundraiser/70491 Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA Please subscribe and follow this podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In a world where stress is inevitable, burnout is rife, and the global mental health burden is growing, it's crucial to develop the skill of resilience to recover, adapt, and grow from stress. This episode highlights how building resilience can guard against burnout, a workplace phenomenon that affects many Frontline Workers, resulting in feelings of fatigue, detachment, and a reduction in professional efficacy. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Lilianna Bagnoli to dig into Dimagi's work on resilience-building through the launch of the WellMe application - a user-friendly tool focussed on equipping Frontline Workers with resilience-building behaviors, that can be used across geographies, languages, and Frontline Worker cadres. You'll also hear about the ways in which we can scale access to mental health support for individuals and Frontline Workers, how technology can support this, and what this means for technologists, implementers, and funders working in global health. Other topics discussed: Why resilience-building is important amongst Frontline Workers The growing mental health crisis & four interventions that can help deliver mental health support at scale Leaning into collaborative approaches to deal with stress on all levels amongst essential and non-essential staff An introduction to Dimagi's WellMe application & the feedback received from the user testing phase The importance of adapting messages and language from user testing to appeal to specific contexts and demographics The need for organizations to incorporate resilience-building into professional development efforts The effects of bolstering mental health on the results of treatments for other health issues Related Resources: The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)31612-X.pdf WellMe: https://sites.dimagi.com/wellme-trial Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments: https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot Promoting effective mental healthcare through peer supervision: https://sangath.in/peers/ How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/ WellMe: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/introducing-wellme-the-resilience-app-for-frontline-workers/ What We Learned from our Working Group on Health Worker Wellbeing: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/what-we-learned-from-our-working-group-on-health-worker-wellbeing/ Equipping Health Workers to Recover, Adapt and Grow https://chwi.jnj.com/resilience A Toolkit to Protect Against Burnout on the Front Lines: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources Resilience Message Program: Evidence-based, free, and adaptable messages to increase health worker resilience: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources When there is no word for resilience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdcT6gSh-xY Making Resilience Resonate: https://sites.dimagi.com/guidebook-resilience-message-program Leveraging Advanced Analytics to Develop Engagement Profiles of a Digital Resilience Message Programme and Inform Scale Efforts: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-johnson-foundation-leveraging-advanced-analytics-to-develop-engagement-profiles/ CommCare Companion Application:https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-and-johnson-foundation-commcare-companion-application/ Digital health solutions need to consider the health worker: https://www.devex.com/news/sponsored/opinion-digital-health-solutions-need-to-consider-the-health-worker-102333
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Research and Data team lead, to discuss Dimagi's work exploring large language models to create chatbots for global health and development use cases. They discuss how we might leverage AI to advance equity despite the reality that it can also decrease equity, while recognizing the irreplaceable value of human-to-human connection in healthcare. We also discuss the potential of ChatGPT to support more accessible SMS workflows, how voice to text can support non-literate populations, and how to embrace the discomfort of this moment in a way that propels us towards creating positive impact. Topics include: Exploring large language models and GPT-4 for Chatbots in Global Health and Development Building tools to support and elevate equity in AI AI's Impact on Productivity Potential Hype and Pitfalls of AI Measuring utility, accuracy, safety, and purpose adherence in chatbots The importance and opportunity in using LLMs with SMS and Voice-to-Text for non-literate populations Leveraging AI in a way that elevates and supports human effort instead of replacing it Related Resources: GatesNotes, The Age of AI has begun: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun Palantir, Bending Artificial Intelligence to our collective will: https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/our-new-platform/ Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2804309 Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Global development is evolving quickly in the face of social, economic, and political changes. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Raj Kumar, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Devex, a leading independent online news platform for development professionals, to discuss how 2023 marks the start of a new, more challenging development era. With growing competition between China and Russia and the West, a new set of economic circumstances, and overwhelming humanitarian needs, development professionals need to get more value for money. And this requires a change in mindset and how things are done - shifting from a project-based mindset to a collaborative, results-driven investment mindset. Topics discussed: Why and how we need to shift from a project-based to an investment-based mindset The role of Devex in changing the development sector How funding for development is changing and needs to change The potential of philanthropy in funding development work How technology deployed thoughtfully in support of the people closest to the challenges is poised to unlock significantly more value Prioritizing results over projects for better resource allocation Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi's work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/ Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/ Related resources: “From the editor-in-chief: 3 ways 2023 may define a new development era” by Raj Kumar on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/from-the-editor-in-chief-3-ways-2023-may-define-a-new-development-era-104723 “Could this app transform delivery of last-mile health services?” by Catherine Cheney on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/could-this-app-transform-delivery-of-last-mile-health-services-104113 Devex: https://www.devex.com/ The Business of Changing the World by Raj Kumar: https://pages.devex.com/the-business-of-changing-the-world.html Devex Book Club podcast: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html GatesNote on AI: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun Co-Develop: https://www.codevelop.fund/ Dimagi's Big Break: Receiving Instrumental Core Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with Tim Wood, Former Senior Program Officer https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gates-foundation-funding
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Olukunle Akinwusi, Technical Officer for Digital Access at FIND & Erica Troncosco, Technical Advisor and Portfolio Lead for Frontier Technology Solutions at Jhpeigo, at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the value of innovation in improving health equity through thoughtful diagnostics, involving the user in the design process, investing in the digital literacy of the Frontline Worker, and engaging country stakeholders to ensure buy-in. Some topics covered in this conversation include: The importance of diagnostics in improving access to care and curbing disease prevalence Addressing the biggest diagnostic gaps at various levels of care The experiences and lessons learned from working on digital health projects Balancing the use of technology with ensuring that those new technologies are actually helping Frontline Workers provide better care The value of innovation and involving the user in the design process The need for investment in health worker digital literacy and the accessibility of infrastructure in more remote settings for digital health interventions The importance of engaging the countries or stakeholders in which the solution or innovation will be designed, understanding the context of use, and getting user buy-in Related Resources: FIND: https://www.finddx.org Jhpiego: https://www.jhpiego.org Principles for Digital Development: https://digitalprinciples.org Design Under the Mango Tree - Dimagi's approach to designing with users: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/ Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare Dimagi's 5 Year Strategy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13O7SKwrQiMXM04zmB3jLxOEkCC0TF3UiJ7qwJm4mF_g/edit Dimagi's High-Impact Growth Framework: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v_ial9hXI7Hy0c_T4A1uX-VOgx4DNeKNC_o_PZy4F2k/edit
In today's episode we flip the script and Jonathan Jackson interviews Amie Vaccaro to discuss her career journey, her experiences, and the lessons learned so far in growing the marketing team at Dimagi. The potential of digital to support iNGOs and governments can only be really unlocked when it becomes a foundational layer that supports all aspects of the organization's work horizontally. We often see digital projects failing when they are focused on one specific vertical or silo and not able to add value across an organization. Amie has been on a parallel journey building marketing as a horizontal and foundational team at Dimagi and together Jonathan and Amie unpack some of the lessons Amie has learned that are applicable to anyone leading a digital shared service within an organization. Some topics covered in this conversation include: The challenges of standing up a new horizontal shared service in an organization How to sequence value creation to build trust and autonomy over time Partnering with leadership to understand and guide strategic direction Balancing execution work with high-level strategic work Empowering a team to say no and prioritize tasks Related resources: Simeon Yosefe, Malawi's head of digital health, on the High-Impact Growth Podcast: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gdhf-22/simeon-yosefe Coaching program that Amie mentions: https://joinflourish.com/
Jonathan Jackson unpacks the session he led at the Global Digital Health Forum called “Is the Digital Health Community Creating Better Jobs for Users?” In it, he discusses the idea of introducing a 10th Principle for Digital Development 'Make the users' job better.' Creating better jobs for better outcomes is at the heart of Dimagi's work and 5 year strategy. Some topics covered in this conversation include: Why supporting and elevating the Frontline Worker is critical to the future of the digital health community (and Dimagi's 5 year strategy) What would adding a 10th Principle for Digital Development look like? How prioritizing the end user influences the quality of the work they're doing The tradeoffs and nuances inherent in prioritizing the Frontline Worker when digitizing a health program Related resources: Principles for Digital Development: https://digitalprinciples.org Announcing our five-year strategy for High-Impact Growth: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Lauren Magoun, Dimagi's Senior Health Strategy Specialist, at the Global Digital Health Forum to discuss the realities of the global mental health crisis, the lack of access to mental health care, and the innovative work Dimagi is driving to develop digital solutions that enable frontline providers to address the gap in mental health care. Some topics covered in this conversation include: Enabling non-specialist frontline providers to provide mental health care The power in taking a protocolized approach to mental health treatment An exploration of the ways that we can leverage digital innovation to scale mental health care programs The impact of an integrated treatment program - incorporating mental health treatment into treatment programs for other illnesses for example How digital can augment vs replace humans in mental health care How the global health and development community is thinking about mental health Related resources: Vikram Patel, Sangath - https://sangath.in/our-people/dr-vikram-patel/ How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/ Applications of Digital Technologies in Mental Health - #MQScienceFestival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmu1PQ1YrQw&list=PLVmwIEfrcKqnGhas9Vy4CmPEvG9xVvQdr&index=1&t=478s Resilience working group and guide: https://sites.dimagi.com/guidebook-resilience-message-program World Health Organization - depression stats: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms; Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay0214 Epidemiology of maternal depression, risk factors, and child outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries; The Lancet: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221503661630284X Bending the curve: The impact of integrating mental health services on HIV and TB outcomes: https://unitedgmh.org/knowledge-hub/bending-the-curve-the-impact-of-integrating-mental-health-services-on-hiv-and-tb-outcomes/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Clayton Sims, Dimagi's Chief Technology Officer, at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the opportunities, realities & future of artificial intelligence in the global health and development space. Some topics covered in this conversation include: Exploring the highest impact use cases of AI for global health and development including language models, image processing, biometrics, diagnostics, chatbots, and threat detection. How AI tools can create more autonomy and expand the skillsets of an individual Looking at ChatGPT training data and structures, and the impact of minimal global vetting on the global development space The ethics around AI - and the impact it may have on data sharing Exploring the future of AI from an infrastructure standpoint Related resources: GDHF 2022 - The Model is the Message - Clayton Sims - https://youtu.be/KaoXwfwNeBo GDHF 2021 Lightning Talk - Impossible is Normal - Clayton Sims- https://youtu.be/kzNXPsIlVaQ GDHF 2020 Lightning Talk - No One Else is Coming - Clayton Sims - https://youtu.be/PV3xWirg8S0 ChatGPT by open.ai - https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
“I think the work that we're doing is inherently really complex. A lot of our partners are doing complex work and they're working in really complex environments. This a very necessary value because without this, we wouldn't actually be on that road to greater impact. “ - Avni Singhal “We intentionally run towards taking on the highest impact projects. Knowing that of our portfolio of national scale programs, there's a high likelihood half of them are canceled or put on pause or, or are never picked up again for reasons completely outside of our control. But the next time it comes up, like we run just as fast to that because we are running not to embrace complexity for complexity's sake, but complexity for the greatest impact.” - Gillian Javetski Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with four Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer; Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff; Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager; and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the fourth and final in Dimagi's newly articulated values: Embrace complexity for impact. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we continue growing. Listen to this episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to embrace complexity for impact and why this is so important for achieving high-impact growth. Full description of the newly articulated value: Embrace complexity for impact Doing this work is by no means straightforward. We often come across forks in the road in our work: the simpler road, or the windier road to drive High-Impact Growth. We choose the road for greater impact - while always keeping our destination in mind. We believe in the potential for positive change. While the work we do is hard, we believe in the potential to do ambitious things that create real, meaningful change. We are comfortable in the gray. The path to greatest impact may not always be clear. We close the loop when we can and also find patience and comfort in navigating the unknown. When we fall, we get back up. We will hit blockades along our winding road to impact. We persevere in the face of inevitable setbacks. We evaluate when to stop. While we're not afraid to embrace complexity, we consistently evaluate if we are doing the highest-impact work and actively choose work to stop doing. We try to avoid making the same mistakes twice. Related Resources: Dimagi's Careers Page: https://www.dimagi.com/careers/
“I think the out-collaborate piece really stands out for me on this value. And a lot of our partners come to my mind. Dimagi's had a lot of experience working across healthcare, across agriculture, across education. Yet we always approach a new partner as a unique new project that we're starting from scratch.We have a strong product, we have a strong method, but we're always looking to learn through our partners.” - Avni Singhal “Another thing that it brings to mind is learning from our failures. And I think that's another thing that can be quite uncomfortable. But, in the interest of open learning it's so critical that we look at our failures, and try and figure out what went wrong and how we can do better next time…this is something that we do quite well on our teams.” - Simon Kelly Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro chat to four team members at Dimagi - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer; Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff; Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager; and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the third in Dimagi's newly articulated values: Evolve by learning and sharing openly. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we continue growing. Listen to this episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to evolve by learning and sharing openly and why this is so important to supporting our high-impact growth. Full description of the newly articulated value: Evolve by learning and sharing openly No single person or organization can achieve our vision alone. We must work as partners (not vendors) to proactively understand our respective challenges, the impact we want to make, and to collaboratively chart the best way forward. We learn from what we're doing and are unafraid in sharing those lessons, even when we wish the results were different. We start with “why?” The answers to the challenges we are working on may not exist, and we won't get where we are going by applying existing thinking. We're eager to explore new approaches, always starting by defining what we want to learn - which can sometimes be the hardest part. We out-collaborate rather than outcompete. While we're proud of our individual contributions, we are most proud of the collective achievements that our team and our partners are able to realize. We use data to drive decisions. We can't learn or improve from what we can't measure. We know that feedback loops are integral to our continual improvement. We speak up. We ask questions to unpack assumptions. We share feedback directly and with kindness, out of a sincere desire to help each other understand and improve. We receive feedback with humility and gratitude. Related Resources: Podcast episode on Out-collaborating vs Out-competing: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/out-collaborating-vs-out-competing Dimagi's Careers Page: https://www.dimagi.com/careers/
“80% of the time, it's easy to be respectful and empathetic. But that last 20% of the time, that's where the rubber really meets the road. It's being respectful and empathetic all of the time that really brings the team together and allows us to have these outsized, impactful outcomes… And that's really hard in an industry that is so stressful and complex as ours.” - Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi CEO Co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by fellow Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer, Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff, Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager, and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the second in Dimagi's newly articulated values: Lead with Empathy and Respect. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we are growing quickly all over the world. Listen to the episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to lead with empathy and respect. Full description of the newly articulated value: Lead with empathy and respect We treat each other with kindness, empathy and respect, creating space for all voices and stories to be heard. We are building an equitable, inclusive and safe environment where we can bring our authentic selves to work. We work to improve equity. We understand that not everyone has equal access and opportunities. We strive to magnify underrepresented voices that we could otherwise miss, whether they be within Dimagi, users of our offerings, or other stakeholders. We challenge our biases. We acknowledge the existence of conscious and unconscious biases in our everyday interactions. We seek to actively understand, illuminate, and challenge them. We champion balance. We recognize that work is not life, and we respect our colleagues' lives outside of work. And we know our work is a marathon, not a sprint. To sustain ourselves, we need to take care of ourselves and look out for each other. We recognize each other's unique strengths. We know that everyone brings their own unique strengths to their work. We seek to discover these strengths, bringing out each other's full potential.
“At Dimagi we're not afraid of making mistakes. We're not afraid of failing. We actually like to fail and learn through each other.” - Avni Singhal “We try to partner to a much larger extent than I think would be reasonable for a software company under normal market conditions. But we're not under normal market conditions, and what we're trying to do and accomplish…requires a huge amount of boldness…At the same time, we don't know if we're right, and we have failed a lot over the last 20 years, ad we expect to fail a whole lot going forward as well. And that's where that humility is so critical.” - Jonathan Jackson Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by four Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer, Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff, Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager, and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the first in Dimagi's newly articulated values: Be Bold but Humble. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we are growing quickly all over the world. Hear candid reflections on what it looks like to be bold but humble at Dimagi and why it matters. Full description of the newly articulated value: Be Bold But Humble Achieving High-Impact Growth requires that we act boldly, knowing time and resources are limited and the need is great. We take bold risks even though we may be wrong. We act boldly but don't allow our ego to cloud our judgment. We take our work seriously, never ourselves. We own our outcomes. We take ownership of our commitments to each other and our stakeholders. We hold ourselves accountable for both good and bad results. We are not paralyzed by perfection. We prioritize creating over theorizing and shape ideas through collaborative iteration. Everything starts with an early draft, not a final pass. When in doubt, write it out! We make space to make choices. We can only be creative if we have the space to make decisions. We empower each other with autonomy to choose the way to achieve the best outcomes. We create space to try things that may fail, so long as we are clear on what we hope to learn. We don't walk by problems. We leave things better than we found them. We look for ways to improve systems, and when we find them, we roll up our own sleeves or inform and support the rightful owner in making it better. If needed, we create structures where there are none.
“We went from no solution to a fully deployed at scale solution in less than six weeks. And all of that is really a testament to the power of a technology platform.” Sarah Sagan, Senior Director of Delivery “I felt really patriotic. I felt really proud of my government. I felt really lucky to have the curtain lifted on my healthcare system and the way that state and local government contribute to healthcare in the United States…we had a front row seat to what was a really devastating and also a really important moment in US history and that was inspirational and will remain something that I'm proud of for the rest of my life.” - Lily Olson, Senior Director of Partnerships At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dimagi decided to support pandemic response efforts by building and releasing a free global COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing solution. We had been working for nearly two decades focused on Low and Middle Income Countries, but when the CDC approached us to support US public health response to COVID 19, we rose to the occasion. This episode tells the story of our entry to the US market and how we leveraged learnings from our global health experience to meet the needs in the US. Hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Carter Powers, Managing Director of Dimagi's US Health division, Sarah Sagan, Dimagi's Senior Director of Delivery, and Lily Olson Dimagi's Director of Partnerships to share the full story of an intense period of hard work, growth, and learnings. We reflect on the work we have done on the CommCare platform that allowed us to respond to an urgent need incredibly fast, how we approached entering the US market so that we could continue our global work, and the passion and courage of our team stepping up to support the critical work of US public health departments. We also share how this work led to the creation of Dimagi's US Health division and where we're headed. This is part 5 of our 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of Dimagi's 20th anniversary. Related Resources: Bringing global best practices to US public health response: Key learnings from 20 years of building open source health solutions internationally. Webinar hosted by Linux Foundation for Public Health https://www.lfph.io/webinars/bringing-global-best-practices-to-us/ CommCare's use cases for COVID-19: https://dimagi.com/covid-19/ CommCare for COVID-19 in the US: https://dimagi.com/covid-19/us-response Learn more about Dimagi's US Health team: https://sites.dimagi.com/usa
“It's not just getting started or getting to scale it's…how are you going to keep improving at scale?” - Jonathan Jackson, CEO and Co-Founder, Dimagi Today we tell the story of the largest digital health project Dimagi has ever worked on supporting the Government of India's Integrated Child Development Services, which is the largest public health and nutrition program in the world. Launched in 2018, the Common Application Software (ICDS CAS) helped tackle malnutrition by digitally equipping Frontline Workers with a mobile solution to strengthen service delivery and enable effective monitoring, timely interventions, and enhanced decision support. Hosted by Jonathan Jackson in conversation with Kriti Mehrotra, Dimagi's Impact Advisor, Shayoni Mazumdar, Dimagi's Director of Strategy and Operations, and former Dimagi VP of Global Services, Stella Luk, you'll hear unique perspectives and learnings from the scale-up of the project, including navigating procurement for physical materials, scaling teams and processes, and how Dimagi grew and evolved to meet this challenge. This is part 4 in a 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of our 20th anniversary. Resources and Organizations mentioned: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ GiveDirectly - https://www.givedirectly.org CommCare Evidence Base: https://www.dimagi.com/toolkits/commcare-evidence-base/ Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS): http://icds-wcd.nic.in/icds.aspx Evaluation of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Continuum of Care Services (CCS) Intervention in Bihar. Mathematica: https://www.mathematica.org/our-publications-and-findings/publications/evaluation-of-the-information-and-communication-technology-ict-continuum-of-care-services-ccs Effects of an mHealth intervention for community health workers on maternal and child nutrition and health service delivery in India: protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/3/e025774 India has one-third of world's stunted children: Global nutrition report. The Economic Times: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-has-one-third-of-worlds-stunted-children-global-nutrition-report/articleshow/66865016.cms Grameen Foundation - https://grameenfoundation.org/
What is the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and why does it matter? Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Kelly Collins attended the 77th UN General Assembly and join the podcast to share their key takeaways from the week, including the Global Fund's 7th Replenishment. You'll also hear reflections on the talent gap in global health and development. Highlights from the episode 2:45 Why UNGA week matters and why Dimagi attended 5:01: Overall impressions from the week 6:50 The need and challenge of breaking down silos in global health to leverage tools across areas of need, maximize value for money and improve health outcomes 8:15 What tech innovators can do to help break down silos 8:40 The reversal in progress on HIV, TB, and malaria due to COVID-19 and what that means for the development community 12:20: How do we get more value from existing funding 15:56: The need for integrated care 17:20 the need for political commitment to ending disease 18:35 The challenge of earmarking in aid funding and a bit of empathy for donors 21:29 the Global Fund: What is it and why does it matter? 25:16: What was it like at the 7th replenishment? Highlights and reflections 29:15: Dimagi's $5M commitment to the Global Fund 31:06: What will Dimagi do differently as a result of attending UNGA? 33:31: The talent gap in global health and development Resources mentioned: PEPFAR's new strategy: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PEPFAR-Strategic-Direction_FINAL.pdf Dimagi's 5 Year Strategy: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/ Global Fund Replenishment: https://www.devex.com/news/global-fund-replenishment-pledges-expectations-and-what-s-at-stake-103372 The Talent Gap in Global Development: https://www.devex.com/news/does-global-development-have-an-sdg-talent-gap-103799
"Unlike other technology sectors, the cost of failure is extremely high, but it's not born by the organization. It's born by the user....And so while we learn and it's helpful for us to view [digital health pilots] as a funnel, that's an incomplete view of the world because there is a real cost to equipping users and then dropping support for the application and dropping support from the organization. So I think we do need to have that mindset, but also realize...you can't just fail for free." - Jonathan Jackson Today's episode is part 3 in a series looking back on pivotal time periods in Dimagi's story in honor of our 20th anniversary. Today we look back at the time between 2010 and 2014 when Dimagi received two rounds of funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program to test CommCare through dozens of pilots in India. This was a time of maximum learning velocity, as we got feedback from users across many organizations and applied it to get better and better every week. Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Kriti Mehrotra, Impact Advisor Office of the CEO; Jeremy Wacksman, Global Director of Division Operations; and Sri Ranganathan, Director of Customer Success to unpack the learnings from this time period. Resources: https://confluence.dimagi.com/display/commcarepublic/Third-Party+Evaluations+of+CommCare DIV ROI report showing 24:1 Return on Investment of CommCare (see row 484): https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/0/2830/files/2021/09/SROR-21.03.12_clean-3.pdf https://www.dimagi.com/blog/usaid-div2/
Tim Wood has been at the forefront of building and investing in technology to improve health outcomes in low-and-middle-income countries over the last 3 decades - including work at the Grameen Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) where he served as a Senior Program Officer. During his time at BMGF he led a transformative, platform-level investment in Dimagi and its technology that breaks the mold of the industry's tendency to invest in projects rather than core technology. In this episode, Jonathan Jackson and Tim Wood tell the story of how that investment happened, why it was so important, and their reflections on the challenges and opportunities in global health and development today. In the course of the conversation, you'll also hear advice for getting funding from a funder like BMGF. This is part 2 in a 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of Dimagi's 20th anniversary. Key points 3:01 - Making the move from for-profit to impact-driven work and how Tim Wood made the decision to leave Microsoft to work in global health 4:36 - Why the global health and development industry needs people from the private and government sectors 7:22 - What made the BMGF grant to Dimagi unique 9:10 - The challenge of creating organizational sustainability when projects scale and the surprising disconnect between scale and revenue in digital health 10:20 - How core funding from BMGF supported achieving national scale projects at Dimagi 11:15 - The challenge of developing robust and impactful technology in global development 12:07 - "Pilotitis" in digital health: What is it? Why does it happen? 13:20 - How Tim Wood made the case to BMGF to invest in Dimagi at a platform level 16:50 - Turning the corner on sustainability at Dimagi and speaking to health impact 21:13 - Tim Wood's advice for social entrepreneurs seeking funding from BMGF or other foundations 25:20 - A trend of increased collaboration across funders in global health to help address country priorities 29:00 - The challenge of rolling out horizontal technology within a ministry of health and the need ensure you're working with stakeholders with a broad enough mandate to make your vision a reality 32:50 - What's concerning to Tim Wood and Jonathan Jackson when it comes to the use of technology to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 37:30 - How might we create a common language and ways to measure success of technology implementation to make better decisions and make investments in global health more effective? 40:00 - The tax on users of digital health pilots 41:00 - The need to have a plan for moving from paper to digital 42:40 - What is most exciting looking ahead in digital health? 43:40 - Co-investing across donors 47:30 - How can other Digital Public Goods be successful? What is the role of Digital Square? Links Digital Square - https://digitalsquare.org/ Grameen Foundation - https://grameenfoundation.org/ Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ World Health Organizations (WHO) Classification of Digital Health Interventions - https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-RHR-18.06
Jonathan Jackson is joined by 4 early Dimagi employees who were most involved in the creation of CommCare, the digital platform for impactful frontline work. CommCare is a low-code application builder that allows NGOs and governments to build applications to enable their frontline teams to deliver impactful services and collect data. It has been used by 1 million people all time and across 130 countries. The journey to create CommCare spans 14 years and is quite unusual: it's a story of tenacity, humility and continuous learning first and foremost from our users. You'll hear from Dr. Neal Lesh, Dimagi's Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Global Director of Research Strategy, Cory Zue, Dimagi's CTO from 2007 - 2017, and Clayton Sims, Dimagi's current CTO, about the pivots, disagreements and key decision points along the way. And you'll walk away with fundamental lessons for building software to tackle some of humanity's thorniest and intractable challenges. This is part 1 in a 5 part series highlighting milestone or turning point moments in Dimagi's history in honor of Dimagi's 20th anniversary.
Jonathan Jackson and Gillian Javetski, Dimagi's Chief of Staff, discuss why it's imperative in international development and global health to collaborate vs compete. We unpack fundamental lessons about collaboration gleaned over the last few decades at Dimagi. You'll learn: What distinguishes good collaboration from bad collaboration? What makes an exceptional collaborator? How has Dimagi developed a collaborative culture? And despite that, why have people called Dimagi uncollaborative? Why is it so important to be selfish when it comes to collaboration on shared impact? When should you re-evaluate a collaboration? And, when should you decline a meeting? Select quotes: “When you have limited resources, everybody kind of needs to be in a mindset of how do we make these resources go further? And so competition can be extremely healthy when there's plenty of profit and you want to let the best firm win and you want to just drive price down. But with global development, we're running extremely challenging projects. You have many different stakeholders and partners, and you're constantly trying to innovate as well. So you're not just selling widgets. And when you add all that together, your core skill is much more how do you successfully collaborate versus how do you successfully compete.” - Jonathan Jackson “It's also important to recognize when collaborations won't work. You know, you can have a shared problem but there's just cultural mis-alignment between teams or organizations. Prioritization can be a huge issue. Timelines can be a huge issue. So while we are huge advocates of out-collaborating over competing, collaborations are certainly difficult. And it does take a lot of skill and muscle building, both as an individual and as a team and as an organization to get good at this.” - Jonathan Jackson "One of the things that I I find is really important is to step above the transactional nature of the collaboration. You know, what's the immediate problem you're trying to solve- whether that's integrating two digital systems or aligning on the national CHW framework -to the higher level problem. What is the public sector really trying to get out of this project? What do patients really want to see from a change in terms of the healthcare services they're experiencing? How can you really make somebody's job better? And when you level up to that problem statement, it's actually a lot easier to find common ground on what's driving a collaboration. And so it's important, obviously the transactional and operational work needs to happen. But when you can align to that bigger level question, both organizations or many organizations are struggling with, it creates a lot more room for alignment that you can then bring down into the more transactional and operational work." - Jonathan Jackson Show notes: Dimagi's 5 Year Strategy Document: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/ TecSalud: http://www.tecsalud.io/ Ona: https://ona.io/home/ Medic: https://medic.org/
Dimagi has put a stake in the ground that to improve health and development outcomes and reach universal health coverage, we NEED to improve Frontline Worker jobs. Frontline Workers such as Community Health Workers are a critical part of health service delivery and many studies have proven just how impactful they are. We are facing a massive healthcare provider shortage globally which will likely be filled by Community Health Workers and non-specialized providers in a lot of contexts. But, they are underpaid, under-supported, and under-recognized. 70% of Frontline Workers are women, 86% are not fully salaried, and they deal with massive burnout. To improve outcomes, we need to improve the jobs of the people who create those outcomes. Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Neal Lesh share how this strategy came to be, why it's become so important, and how we are working to reach it. This is the final in our series exploring Dimagi's 5 Year Strategies, focusing on Strategic Priority 1: Improve Jobs to Improve Outcomes. SHOW NOTES: Dimagi's 5 year strategy: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/ Community Health Impact Coalition: https://chwimpact.org/ Resiliency Work with Johnson & Johnson: https://sites.dimagi.com/resilience-working-group
What does it mean that Dimagi is aiming to "Exceed Market Expectations" over the next 5 years? Dimagi has set out to creatively over-deliver on value today while shaping market alignment and raising expectations for tomorrow. In today's episode, we sit down with Ismaïla Diene, Managing Director for Dimagi's Solutions Division, and Fatou Sow, a Project Manager on our Solutions Division team, to dig in on a key consideration of this strategy: deepening our partnerships to drive national scale. Find out why achieving national scale for digital solutions like CommCare is so important to long-term impact, what makes it so challenging to achieve, lessons we've learned over two decades, and how we are approaching national scale partnerships going forward. You'll also hear about national scale projects in Burkina Faso and Madagascar. SHOW NOTES: Dimagi's 5 year strategy: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/ CommCare in Madagascar: Improving Health Outcomes in Remote and Low Connectivity Settings: https://dimagi.com/case-studies/access-madagascar/ CommCare in Burkina Faso case study from Exemplars in Health: https://www.exemplars.health/emerging-topics/epidemic-preparedness-and-response/digital-health-tools/commcare-in-burkina-faso Research showing a 24:1 return on investment for CommCare (see page 41): https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/0/2830/files/2021/09/SROR-21.03.12_clean-3.pdf
Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro speak with Dev More, Sr Director of Product at Dimagi, in part 3 of our deep dive into Dimagi's strategy of sustaining exponential growth. A big part of exponential impact growth at Dimagi is scaling CommCare by continuing to invest in its self-service capabilities. Dev is responsible for CommCare roadmap and product development and in this episode he shares how he is thinking about scaling CommCare to 1 million users, and specifically about how we are making CommCare most useful as an enterprise technology platform for data collection and service delivery for nonprofit organizations. You'll also hear how these same functionalities can support governments and national scale use cases of CommCare.
Central to Dimagi's strategy of sustaining exponential growth is building and scaling a thriving partner ecosystem, a community of local developers and implementers that can create content, build applications and drive innovations with CommCare to suit specific localized needs. In today's episode we talk to Rowena Luk, Dimagi's Chief Connector, about the role of partnerships in creating high-impact growth. You'll learn about Rowena's journey to global digital health, including how a Canadian physician working in Ghana convinced her of the need for technology to improve healthcare in Africa. She discusses what it was like being one of the first female hires at Dimagi, and why she left Dimagi for a sabbatical after 12 years. And we dig into what brought her back to Dimagi - a desire to build out the technology ecosystem in Africa. Rowena shares how the partner ecosystem can help topple what she calls the hubris of aid: "The hubris of aid is believing that we can help people better than they can help themselves. And that's not a mistake that we're making. There are people in these communities that understand agriculture that understand finance and understand health and malaria and HIV so much better than we do and can speak to the communities we serve so much better than we can. And being able to open up this ecosystem of partners is how we unlock the potential for these communities to lift themselves out of poverty." Even though investing in partner companies could be directly in competition with Dimagi, Jonathan shares why he was eager to do this: "We've always believed the communities have the answers and that we could be great at providing the digital infrastructure. But the solution itself would always be locally driven."
Dimagi recently published its 5 year strategy for High-Impact Growth. In this episode, we discuss Strategic Priority #2: Sustain Exponential Growth. Jonathan Jackson is joined by Dimagi's Director of Engineering, Danny Roberts, to unpack a key consideration: we prioritize platforms over projects. You'll learn: Why Dimagi won't accept linear growth, and how we plan to go about achieving exponential growth to reach and support Frontline Workers globally How Dimagi's focus on platforms has allowed us to develop CommCare with project-based funding How Dimagi's engineering team thinks about building new requests into the platform and how this allows CommCare to be priced at a fraction of the cost How the idea of investing in platforms is also a path forward for better supporting global health workforces
Learn about the very earliest days of Dimagi from our co-founders, Dr. Vikram Kumar and Jonathan Jackson. You'll learn: Who Dimagi's founders are and what drives them How the founders met How they came to focus on the problem of improving healthcare with digital technology What Dimagi's first project was like and why Dimagi ultimately decided to walk away from it How design under the mango tree became a core ethos The genesis of Dimagi's focus on creating value for the end user
A podcast about building and scaling sustainable digital solutions to serve people with the least access to resources brought to you by Dimagi. In this trailer episode, you'll meet Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi's CEO and co-founder. You'll learn what we mean by High-Impact Growth - a four pillar framework that's the result of 20 years of building, scaling, failing and building again.
In part 2 of the founding story we'll discuss some key moments in Dimagi's story such as shifting to open source, launching a software as a service model, and the impact of early hires on the trajectory of the company. We'll also hear from Dr. Neal Lesh, Dimagi's Chief Strategy Officer about why he joined Dimagi and the role Dimagi has played in the mobile health and digital health space over the last 2 decades. And we'll explore how Dimagi's culture has evolved in the last 20 years as the company has grown.
In this episode I chat with Margaret Odera. She is a veteran community health volunteer (CHV) that has spent her career serving the needs of the vulnerable in Nairobi's informal settlements. Margaret shares a heartbreaking but inspiring story about how she rose from the ashes of being diagnosed with HIV to dedicating her life to saving poor mothers and babies who are also living with the disease. Although she is not necessarily a technology or digital health innovator, I invited her to be a guest on the show for two related reasons. First, CHVs like Margaret often play an integral role in the implementation and scaling of digital health innovations in underserved communities. Therefore, it is important to highlight their value-add and needs. Second, Margaret is leading what seems to be a really important movement to professionalize and compensate CHVs. I believe her movement will ultimately contribute to strengthening community health structures to the benefit of the digital health ecosystem in Kenya and possibly across Africa. Special thanks to Amie Vaccaro, Global Marketing Director at Dimagi for connecting me with Margaret. Shout out to my daughters Zira (3) and Ada (6) for doing the intro and outro respectively of this episode :) If you have any thoughts on this episode, or recommendations of African health innovators that you'd like me to host on the show, please reach out to me directly on Twitter @DrSam_Oti, email: sam.oti@alumni.harvard.edu or via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-oji-oti. Please note that The MedxTek Africa Podcast is distinct from Dr. Oti's role as a Senior Program Specialist at Canada's International Development Research Centre. The information provided in this podcast is not medical advice, nor should it be construed or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The MedxTek Africa Podcast, its production team, guests and partners assume no liability for the application of the podcast's content.
On this first episode of 2022, I chat with Ismaïla Diene. He is the Vice President of Solutions at Dimagi, based out of Dakar, Senegal. Dimagi has spent the last two decades developing and scaling social impact technologies across the world. One of their flagship innovations is known as CommCare. They describe it as the world's most powerful mobile data collection platform. Ismaïla will be telling us more about this amazing platform and how it is empowering frontline healthcare workers in African countries such as Burkina Faso and Madagascar. You can learn more about CommCare by visiting: https://www.dimagi.com/ If you have any thoughts on this episode, or recommendations of African health innovators that you'd like me to host on the show, please reach out to me directly on Twitter @DrSam_Oti, email: sam.oti@alumni.harvard.edu or via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-oji-oti. Please note that The MedxTek Africa Podcast is distinct from Dr. Oti's role as a Senior Program Specialist at Canada's International Development Research Centre. The information provided in this podcast is not medical advice, nor should it be construed or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The MedxTek Africa Podcast, its production team, guests and partners assume no liability for the application of the podcast's content.
The Mind Renewed : Thinking Christianly in a New World Order
"I think society is pretty lost right now. And maybe, just maybe, my story can set one or two of us on a better path."—Cory Zue We are joined by the software developer and entrepreneur Cory Zue for a conversation on his now well-known essay, "Coming Clean : My experience of the pandemic in South Africa and the case for a more inclusive conversation about Covid and vaccines". The essay, which—if you will excuse the pun—quickly "went viral" after it was published on his blog on 4th January 2022, struck a chord with people—not least because it seemed to connect (in broad terms) with the experience of so many, but also because of its balance, its openness and its well-researched nature. So, join us as we explore Cory's reasoning and personal experience as documented in the essay. "Hi, I'm Cory. I'm a software developer and entrepreneur. I also write occasionally. These days I mostly work on SaaS Pegasus: the Django SaaS boilerplate. I also made Place Card Me—what I hope is the best way to make printable place cards on the internet. My website originated during a six-month sabbatical I took from my day job where I tried to launch a profitable product. I also write occasionally about building software. Oh, and I'm a one-man open startup. From 2007-2017 I served as CTO of Dimagi and led the team that builds its flagship product: CommCare. I'm now an advisor to the organization."—Cory Zue [For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]
The Mind Renewed : Thinking Christianly in a New World Order
"I think society is pretty lost right now. And maybe, just maybe, my story can set one or two of us on a better path."—Cory Zue We are joined by the software developer and entrepreneur Cory Zue for a conversation on his now well-known essay, "Coming Clean : My experience of the pandemic in South Africa and the case for a more inclusive conversation about Covid and vaccines". The essay, which—if you will excuse the pun—quickly "went viral" after it was published on his blog on 4th January 2022, struck a chord with people—not least because it seemed to connect (in broad terms) with the experience of so many, but also because of its balance, its openness and its well-researched nature. So, join us as we explore Cory's reasoning and personal experience as documented in the essay. "Hi, I'm Cory. I'm a software developer and entrepreneur. I also write occasionally. These days I mostly work on SaaS Pegasus: the Django SaaS boilerplate. I also made Place Card Me—what I hope is the best way to make printable place cards on the internet. My website originated during a six-month sabbatical I took from my day job where I tried to launch a profitable product. I also write occasionally about building software. Oh, and I'm a one-man open startup. From 2007-2017 I served as CTO of Dimagi and led the team that builds its flagship product: CommCare. I'm now an advisor to the organization."—Cory Zue [For show notes please visit https://themindrenewed.com]
Today we're talking to Jonathan Jackson, Co-Founder and CEO of Dimagi. And we discuss how Dimagi built out tech for contact tracing and data processing during the pandemic. How Dimagi has augmented their engineering teams by working with Caktus Group over the years, and tips for approaching each new task with curiosity. All of this right here, right now, on the ModernCTO Podcast! To learn more about Dimagi, chat them out at: https://www.dimagi.com In case you missed it: check out our episode with Colin Copeland, CTO of Caktus Group
Jon Jackson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dimagi, a social enterprise that delivers digital solutions to improve lives in over 130 countries. In today's conversation, we chat with Jon about the influences, the people, and the ideas that took him from being an MIT grad on Wall Street to the trenches building health systems in Zambia. As we reflect on Dimagi's founding story, we also hear Jon's conscious decision to be an idealist and an activist - in spite of the existential doubts that plague him to this day. We hear how the mismatch between frontline aid workers and donors played out for Jon as he built and launched a touchscreen Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in Zambia. From these formative experiences, Jon developed his philosophy towards high-impact technology. Then he baked that philosophy into the fabric of Dimagi. This is also the story of how to shape a business to match one person's philosophy of impact, particularly in the complex and often broken dynamics of the aid industry. How do you build an ecosystem for impact, one that can rise above the success or failure of any individual project or product? How do you build a company that can have a lot of failures, but ultimately when it succeeds, its success is inextricably linked to the success of those we serve? To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Today we dive into the life and side hustles of Ismaila Diene, a senior executive within Dimagi. Born, raised, and now returned back to Senegal, he shares his experience with the diaspora, homecoming, foreign aid, entrepeneurialism, and structural inequity. Ismaila is a member of Dimagi's global executive management team. He leads our team in West Africa, runs a major global consulting practice, and is Dimagi's representative to government in multiple countries. At the same time, he also manages to bring technology leadership to our product roadmap, raises two children, and balances a host of side hustles outside of work. Ismaila shares how growing up with four sisters has made him a 'feminist by default'. Following the influences that shaped many in his generation, he went abroad to study and work - before making the fateful decision to come back to Senegal. Outside of his work in aid and with Dimagi, Ismaila leads many local initiatives, including one to strengthen agricultural enterprise and another to provide health insurance. These efforts provide a fascinating case study on the kind of aid that can be driven for Senegal from within Senegal. To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Rosa Akbari is a humanitarian technologist. She deploys digital technologies for crisis response, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Most recently she was a Senior Advisor in Technology for Development at Mercy Corps, and before that has worked with organizations such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Dimagi, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). Our conversation with Rosa is also a case study on the use of digital identities, cash programming, and the interplay of machine interoperability with human trust, in times of crisis. Rosa shares the story of how her family left the Middle East, and how she couldn't resist going back. We talk about setting up Wi-Fi hotspots in Haiti, digital identities in Iraq, and digital vouchers in the Central African Republic (CAR). We explore the design challenges of working with both low literacy and low numeracy populations. Through this journey, we hear some familiar themes re-emerge, such as the importance of watching, listening, and learning from the local context. And how crucial it is to respect local knowledge and institutions, in order to make change that lasts. To find out more, access the show notes at https://AidEvolved.com Let us know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@AidEvolved) or by email (hello@AidEvolved.com)
Hi, I'm Tom Rhoads, CEO of Spencer Health Solutions. Our podcast People Always, Patients Sometimes was created to feature innovators, disruptors, and patients driving new ways of doing things in clinical trials. Little do we know that the coronavirus would escalate the need for transformation and demonstrate which organizations were prepared to move ahead more quickly. Today we've invited Jake LaPorte, co-founder and global head of The BIOME by Novartis. Jake has spoken on the topic of digital innovation and health tech startups, and impacting patient's lives. We enjoyed our conversation with Jake so much that we have a second episode with him on the schedule. Join us for this episode of People Always, Patients Sometimes as we listen to Jake's insights on The BIOME by Novartis in digital health and clinical trial innovation. Janet Kennedy (00:52): Hi, my name is Janet Kennedy and I am your host for People Always, Patients Sometimes, a production of Spencer Health Solutions. Today we have invited Jake LaPorte to join us. He founded and leads The BIOME by Novartis, also known as Novartis BIOME, the company's first ever externally branded innovation lab. The BIOME has garnered global recognition for supporting innovative tech and digital health companies and connecting them to Novartis's vast network of expertise and resources to accelerate solutions that improve and extend patients' lives. I really love that and I can't wait to find out more about it. Jake, welcome to the podcast. Jake LaPorte (01:32): Thank you so much, Janet, for having me. I appreciate it. Janet Kennedy (01:35): You know, you've had a very interesting back from before you got to Novartis. So do you mind bringing us up to speed and telling us how you ended up where you are? Jake LaPorte (01:43): I started off my career as a scientist. I was actually an organic chemist. I did a little bit of medicinal chemistry, but early on, I sort of learned that while I loved talking about and learning about science, I didn't necessarily love the bench work. So after graduate school, in order to get a different experience and try to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I joined a global consulting firm, McKinsey and company, but there I focus primarily on the pharmaceutical industry and even within the pharmaceutical industry, primarily on R and D. And I got really obsessed with trying to make a contribution to what was starting to be discovered at the time as the R and D productivity problem, right in pharma. And now obviously there was data suggesting that we were on an unsustainable path and I generally believe in bringing technology and science to society to improve human health. So I want to make a contribution to solve the RD productivity problem. During my time at McKinsey, I sort of learned a tremendous amount, but at some point I got tired of kind of talking about it and wanting to try to do something about it. So that led me on a journey to work at a global CRO called PPD with one of the clients that I had at McKinsey. Her name is Kristine Bigaven. She was the chief medical officer at PPD at the time. We learned a tremendous amount from her. She ultimately was hired at, into Novartis to lead a big part of their global drug development organization. And I followed her there to Novartis, to lead digital strategy and innovation for our global drug development organization. And then ultimately then created The BIOME within that. And now we're trying to grow The BIOME into an enterprise wide solution for all of Novartis. So that's, that's sort of my snapshot of my journey to where I'm at today. Janet Kennedy (03:33): Okay. So I want to talk about the good old days of 2017 and digital development. What did that mean in 2017? Jake LaPorte (03:44): Digital development meant to us, which was the name of my organization was really thinking about how to harness these digital technologies and solutions that were starting to arise and incorporate them into future clinical trial paradigms that made them that made clinical trial is a better experience for patients and the healthcare providers that were participating in our trials and frankly, as well as to make them more efficient and effective and faster so that we could more effectively develop our portfolio of medicines just to make a concrete, right. We were looking at paradigms like decentralized trials, for instance. And how do we bring those about in a scaled way into our portfolio? We were looking at things like digital end points and evidence, and how do we incorporate digital technologies to capture new information in trials to make the development of our medicines more effective. Janet Kennedy (04:41): And tell me a little bit about the sense of urgency then versus now, was it something that like this was on our five-year plan or were you really trying to focus on things that, how can we get some tests going sooner? Jake LaPorte (04:55): So I'm sort of where we're at today. Obviously we've had a huge catalyst in this area also known as COVID 19, which has obviously challenged the conventional way to do clinical trials pretty significantly. So I think the urgency to do something in this area is unparalleled now compared to where were at 2017. However, we, you know, as Novartis, we had a pretty aggressive schedule to transform the way we did trials back in 2017. And it was more about how do we do some of these digital solutions at scale versus continuing to do them in pilots. But of course the urgency, now that folks have to transform as a matched, due to this new challenge in health. Janet Kennedy (05:42): Now, when you were looking at digital platforms in 2017, 2018, even early 2019, were you looking at things that you would absorb within your ecosystem or were these more partnership opportunities? Jake LaPorte (05:58): So I think most of the time, what we were looking at is for partnership opportunities. So many of these solutions and digital, and by the way, I think this also applies to the broader part of the enterprise are not things that are naturally owned by a specific pharmaceutical company, because most of the time for digital solutions to be meaningful, they need to be adopted at scale within the healthcare sector, right? Which necessarily requires that multiple pharmaceutical companies are using these things as a standard that multiple healthcare systems are using these things as a standard. So oftentimes that almost suggests that there's a partnership that needs to happen. Janet Kennedy (06:40): So what made you decide that the work you were doing in general needed this big investment of time and effort and physical location in creating The BIOME. Jake LaPorte (06:53): What it ultimately came down to is a little bit of what I said before that that partnerships are often so critical to building meaningful digital solutions that solve complex healthcare problems. And if you really reflect on where we're at as an industry, the pharmaceutical industry is not digitally native, but obviously we need to transform. And so we almost always require a partner to some extent, to help us build a digital solution. The complication is that we have just never, as an industry, built a capability to partner with the external digital health ecosystem effectively. And so there tends to be these barriers or this friction that naturally exists between a major multinational pharmaceutical company and the digital health and tech ecosystems. And The BIOME is really a focus on how do we break down those barriers and allow our internal teams to more fluently partner. And co-create with the digital health and tech ecosystems. That's really what The BIOME is about. We knew we needed to get better at partnering and that's what The BIOME is focused on. Janet Kennedy (08:03): So I'm really envisioning here, you have the big giant pharma company, and then you've got the fly by the seat of their pants startup. Those don't seem like they would mesh very well? Jake LaPorte (08:14): Perhaps not, but in a lot of instances, if you partner with younger companies that are maturing in the right ways, they can bring about beautiful solutions that can really have an impact on healthcare, but it's the key, the devil's in the details. How do you partner with them in the right way? A lot of the expectation tends to be that that partners are going to come with a fully baked solution that can easily be plugged in to an environment and deployed at scale. In the reality, what we found is that you need to be able to be committed and make an investment in these companies to really adapt their solution and help them co-create their solution so that it can be adapted into our, the context of the pharmaceutical industry. So let me give you an example of what I mean by that, that we've come out with publicly. And we talked about right, is a BIOME project that we did in support of our global health organization. And they had already launched an initiative to increase access to medicines for sickle cell disease patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. What we did is we helped them find a technology that by the way existed in Portland, Oregon, with this company called Hemex Health, that would allow them to identify patients in Sub-Saharan Africa, more effectively, diagnose them more effectively, and therefore allow them to get medicines to these patients more effectively. But that of course required that we make an investment in this company. They weren't for instance, approved by the FDA in Ghana, which is where we were launching this initiative. So we put some regulatory resources around this company to accelerate the regulatory approval onto the Ghana market to allow them to participate in this initiative. And now they're involved in this initiative and hopefully through this partnership, we're going to be able to get more medicines to the patients that need them faster with regards to sickle cell disease. So again, when you partner and you think about how to partner in an effective way, it can really, really increase your ability to extend and improve patient's lives. Janet Kennedy (10:28): And in that example, it really sounds like you were utilizing skillsets, experience, existing departments within Novartis to help advance. So you were giving really a helping hand to a company who maybe didn't have that deep experience or capabilities. Does that sound right? Jake LaPorte (10:44): Yes. That's a fantastic observation, Janet. That's exactly right. And I think that you can extend that to a more general Axiom that as a pharmaceutical company, you need to think about the complimentary resources and expertise that you have, that you can bring to bear and how to connect that effectively to the partners that you're working with and be able to make that investment in them in order to co-create solutions that are really going to have an impact. Janet Kennedy (11:10): Alright now, I want to talk about culture and mindset a little bit. Yes. We've been talking about digital for a long time. How long has telehealth been in the market, 20 years? And we are just now due to, COVID seeing this exponentially explode. Well, it's about time, but too bad. It took a global pandemic to change our mindset in working with a large company that has, I'm using my little air quotes here, always done it that way before, have you had to work with your internal existing team about helping them be more flexible in their mindset and think about not solving the one problem, but solving the multiple problems, looking for the multiple right answers. Has that been a challenge? Jake LaPorte (11:54): So culture and mindset are so fundamental to any kind of transformation that one undergoes, whether it's a digital transformation or some other transformation we've placed a big emphasis in Novartis on the appropriate cultural transformation that we need to undergo in order to successfully transform into a company that's driven by data and digital. We thought a lot about that. We're making a lot of investments in that space. In fact, we have a whole learning organization that is focused on how we upskill our organization with regards to digital skillsets and a mindset, right. That needs to be accompanied with that. When you say it's a challenge, I think, yes, it is a challenge. It's more of a journey that we need to go on. We see it as a journey that we're on in order to up-skill and change the mindset of all of our associates within Novartis to embrace data and digital, and be able to think about how to take smart risks with how they implement digital solutions to really improve the way they do their work. Janet Kennedy (13:04): What about the speed of drug development? And maybe that's an oxymoron right there versus digital tools. Digital is advancing at exponential rates and yet protocol design isn't there yet. Where does digital come into play? Are you trying to work at it from the very base level, or is there a way even with an existing protocol, you can find ways to bring digital tools in? Jake LaPorte (13:29): I think it kind of requires both approaches really Janet. So I think there's ways right now that you can have an impact on the way you design trials from a conventional standpoint, by being able to bring in more meaningful datasets and really think about, and challenge how you did design inclusion, exclusion criteria, right? To make your trial more amenable to a broader population without sacrificing the scientific objectives you have, and the questions that you need to answer that certainly can be done today. I think going forward, there's an opportunity to reimagine how one, for instance, designs a trial, and frankly how one acquires the data needed to answer their scientific questions. There's been discussion in the community around some people call them digital twins, other people roughly allude to the same concept as in silico trials and our ability to acquire more sophisticated information, either through just tapping into existing populations, without them being in a trial, for instance, like in real-world evidence or even using new systems like organoids that can replicate the functionality of complex human systems will only grow over time. And you can start to imagine where some of the stuff we do in trials today with human patients will not need to be done in the future because that data can be acquired by different means. Janet Kennedy (15:01): So using simulation technology? Jake LaPorte (15:03): For instance, yes. So you can imagine we'll get more sophisticated over time with how we acquire and our ability to acquire real world evidence, and then how to translate that into meaningful ways in which we can simulate pieces of a trial or pieces of a development program. So it doesn't burden the ecosystem as much. And we're starting to see this happen already. This happens already with virtual control arms, for instance, and people have been applying this successfully in the oncology space already, right? So not having to stand up an entire control arm for studies can reduce the burden on the healthcare sector in a pretty significant way. Janet Kennedy (15:46): I'm curious about the 'I don't know what I don't know' issue. Are you finding that your data scientists are coming to you saying, man, wouldn't it be nice if we knew this next level of information and let's go find a digital platform that's building that, or are you finding that the digital folks are coming to you with, "Hey, but if you had this kind of information, you could do even more with it?" Jake LaPorte (16:11): Yeah. I think there's always a tension, right? I think it kind of happens both ways in different scenarios. I think there's what we try to do is we try to work with our business teams to understand what their challenges are and the questions they're trying to answer and try to take more of our activity based off of solving those challenges. But there's always that dynamic as you alluded to, you don't know what you don't know. So we also make an investment in trying to understand what is happening in the digital health and tech ecosystems and make our associates within Novartis, more aware of what's going on so that they're able to have a better understanding of how those new things could be applied to how they work. It happens in both directions I would say. Janet Kennedy (16:59): Are you finding that patients are embracing digital and I'm thinking more specifically of more mature patients that aren't necessarily still smartphone enabled, et cetera, et cetera. How does that impact some of the decisions you're making? And again, you mentioned going to Ghana where I actually imagined cell phone adoption is relatively good because it serves as the primary computer for those that have it. But I'm curious about the disparity between the patient's ability to utilize digital tools. Jake LaPorte (17:31): Yeah. So this brings up a fantastic point that I think the overall sector needs to think more about, and that's building digital literacy across the entire population in order for us to use these healthcare technologies more effectively. And that not only includes patients by the way, but it also includes healthcare providers. So how do we build that literacy? How do we build into the natural way in which people experience their lives and practice medicine, that ability to really select the right tools for them that work that makes sense for their lives. You can almost think about it as an analogy of how do you build the app store for digital health solutions, right? Because that's a great analogy where it's very customer centric. You go in with a particular need, you're able to search the solution set pretty quickly. You're able to download and try a solution. If that doesn't work, you're able to kind of find another solution. And so how do we get to that point? It's a tougher question, obviously in healthcare and as an entire sector, including the payers and providers, as well as pharma, I think we need to think more about how do we build this literacy within different populations. You mentioned Ghana, for instance, as a perfect example, there is a huge adoption of cell phones, but they're not necessarily state of the art smartphone. So you have to think about building digital solutions that work on more basic flip phones, for instance, and think about there, there that there might be different partners that are needed to build those solutions. And in fact, we have a very good partner called Dimagi, who thinks a lot about how to build data architecture and solutions that allow people to capture healthcare data on a more basic cell phone so that you can really take advantage of the technology that exists in an area. Thinking about that in a meaningful way is important. Thinking about how to increase the digital literacy within populations that are older, that may not have kind of grown up with technology is important. So all of these things factor into how we increase the impact of digital health. And frankly, that I think boils down to culture and mindset shift, not only within companies, but within the broader population as well. Janet Kennedy (19:51): So who has that responsibility then? Drives from pharma primary care providers from the patients themselves advocating? Jake LaPorte (19:59): I think we need to find a way to work together as a community to bear that responsibility. I think it's a shared responsibility amongst everyone that participates in healthcare. I think it's a responsibility of the payers. It's a responsibility of the healthcare professionals and the providers and the organizations that focus on them. It's a responsibility of pharma, for sure. It's a responsibility of patients and patient advocacy groups to be thinking about that. And the only thing I can say, and I hope people could take away from this podcast is if we can find more ways to work together as a community to advance digital health, I think we'll all be better off for it. Janet Kennedy (20:41): Well, I couldn't agree more. Let's focus back on The BIOME for instance, if I'm a digital health startup and I was involved in startup weekend for health a few times in the Raleigh Durham area. Very exciting. Sometimes people came in with ideas that they felt very strongly about and they just needed tech teams to help them develop them. Others were just throwing spaghetti up on the wall, but ended up with something kind of solid. When you have people come into The BIOME, are they literally coming into a working space? Jake LaPorte (21:11): In some cases they can be, but we actually are trying to really think about models, which really are accessible to everyone and anyone in the world, because really what The BIOME focuses on is how do we help companies, external partners work with our internal teams to build solutions. And so a lot of that work can frankly be done virtually. And a lot of the support that we give companies can be done virtually. We certainly have physical locations and certainly companies that are local to our physical locations can take advantage of them to the extent that they want to or need to. But the nature of us focusing on digital technologies suggests that there's certainly a lot that can be done virtually as well. And so we're adapting our model to take that into account. One thing that you asked about was how do companies really engage and get involved with Novartis and the Novartis BIOME? And we certainly recognize as a company that the journey for an external partner to find the right people within Novartis to support them and match what they're trying to do can be chaotic. We're on a journey as a company to make that faster and more effective and a better experience for our external partners. And one of the things that we're developing actually frankly, has been developed already is called the Novartis digital brain. The easiest way to explain is it's a partner relationship management platform so much like customer relationship management. We want to have a way to track all the interactions we're having with our external partners, for the purposes of trying to understand how we match the right internal teams with the right external partners. Ultimately, we want to open this platform up so that it's accessible to any external partner in the world that can update and manage their profile on the Novartis digital brain. And tell us all of the great things that they're doing potentially within Novartis or outside of Novartis and help us match them to a team in Novartis. That's trying to do something where their solution makes sense to be matched to, and therefore kind of cut through all of the arduous process of trying to knock on 20 different doors and figure out the right person to work with within a large complex organization. Janet Kennedy (23:42): Well, that's exciting. Is it by invitation only right now, or how do companies get to your attention? Get to the platform? Jake LaPorte (23:50): We don't have the module yet where external companies can access the Novartis digital brain. It's definitely on our product roadmap right now. We're building profiles of all the companies we already work with through a combination of third-party external databases like tech crunch or health Excel, as well as internal inputs into those profiles that have been already developed through teams that are working with these partners. But over time we have the aspiration of inviting partners onto this platform, and it's not going to be something that's exclusive where we only invite a select few people. We, again, we really want to democratize access to this platform as a way to cultivate the best relationships with our external partners and match them to the right scenarios in order to work with teams and develop solutions that make sense. Janet Kennedy (24:40): Okay. So right now it's still door knocking for some folks, but you are systematizing and organizing companies you are currently in partnership with. Jake LaPorte (24:49): Yeah, that's right. I mean, we're on a journey. So certainly I don't want to give the impression that we solved all of these problems in The BIOME yet we're on a journey. And frankly, we always like to talk to external partners and understand the challenges that they're having. As we really seek to build out our services and products, we eat our own dog food, if you will. And that we're trying to really become more customer centric and get feedback from our external partners and therefore use that feedback to inform the next series of products that we develop. But we're definitely on a journey. Janet Kennedy (25:25): Alright. Well, I know that we'll have your contact information in the show notes of this podcast episode. So I'm sure you don't mind if people reach out to you via LinkedIn and get to know you there. Jake LaPorte (25:35): I do not mind. No. Janet Kennedy (25:37): Well, I can't thank you enough for being here. We have a lot more to talk about. So I give the audience a heads up that there's going to be a part two conversation, when we talk more specifically about COVID-19 and the acceleration of digital trial initiatives. So for now, Jake, thank you so much for joining me and I thank everyone for downloading this episode of People Always, Patients Sometimes. If you enjoyed the conversation, a review and rating on iTunes will help us find more listeners. This podcast is a production of Spencer Health Solutions. Thanks again, Jake. Jake LaPorte (26:09): Thank you. It was a pleasure being here and I look forward to part two.
Audrey Philippot is the Managing Director of the Saas Division which she created as an intrapreneur at Dimagi, the social enterprise that develops technology solutions to support underserved populations. Previously, Audrey had worked as a strategic consultant at McKinsey & Company, as a strategy team lead with LVMH – the French luxury group – at the World Bank and for non-profits in developing countries. Audrey received her MBA at HEC in Paris, France, and her Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. In This Episode: Social Enterprise projects are very motivating to launch, but few scale up and touch as many lives as the founders envision. Yet Audrey Philippot and team created and grew CommCare to become the #1 mobile data collection platform, empowering frontline workers in 80 countries. One striking example: the birth of 1 in 70 babies in the world is registered on CommCare. Learn how Audrey combines “inclusive, empathic, and empowering” leadership and quantitative skills to both build a successful social enterprise and live a very full life.
In this episode of The Digital Fast Lane, I talked with Sam Farnham, Associate Director of Marketing at Dimagi. Dimagi is a for-profit social enterprise that offers technology for social impact. He discussed more about the brand, the challenges they face in building a referral network, the marketing strategies deployed for brand building, and more. Find Sam on LinkedIn! You can check out this interview — and many more — by subscribing to the Louder Online podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
*This episode was pre-recorded on the 27th of February 2020, before the global lockdown ensued.* In this episode, we are joined by perhaps one of the warmest souls I have met in all of my travels, I connected with our guest a few weeks ago while exploring the Republic of Benin. She is an international development worker with Dimagi- an international organization on a mission to build technology that improves the efficiency and quality of impact-driven work globally. She serves as Director of Project Delivery in 6 countries across Agriculture, Education, nutrition and HIV prevention. Our guest also works as Pipeline and Reports officer with the World Food Program. She is a recipient of the highly acclaimed Princeton in Africa Fellowship and a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she bagged a Cum Laude (Latin for Honors) in History and Political science and a minor in French! We gab about what it’s like to get into International Development work, our shared love for cooking, trade stories of curing our biggest fears, how to manage personal safety when traveling abroad and why being helpful is the surest to connect with people while abroad. — This week's notification squad shoutout goes to @radioboy_ricky. To be next week's shoutout, jump over to Instagram and follow me there @thebensonekpo, shoot me a DM about anything, the person with the most insane conversation gets a shoutout. — Follow me on socials: www.instagram.com/thebensonekpo/ www.twitter.com/thebensonekpo/ Email: heybenson@icloud.com Website: www.thebensonekpo.com sAIRzCM9biNHzfF08aPJ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bensonekpo/message
Interviews with pioneers in business and social impact - Business Fights Poverty Spotlight
As the globe continues to grapple with the coronavirus epidemic, we hear from an expert in frontline healthcare data – Jon Jackson. The technology Jon and his company Dimagi have created has already helped during the Ebola crisis. During this podcast we explore how data can assist us today. Whether it is contact tracing, data collection, decision support, and information dissemination – Jon explains why this information can make a real difference but also why COVID-19 is very different from Ebola. This podcast may help you, as the technology Jon is talking about isn’t just for national governments, but can be used by all frontline health professionals, as well as potentially businesses who want to assist during the global emergency. In fact, Dimagi has developed template applications to help organizations get started quickly and will be offering CommCare for free on these projects for the duration of the crisis. In addition, you’ll hear Jon provide pragmatic, practical advice on how to get technology working for you as quickly and efficiently as possible. Dimagi: https://www.dimagi.com To find out more and take action in the fight on COVID-19: https://snipbfp.org/coronavirus
Frontline health workers represent the lifeblood of many health care systems in low- and middle-income countries around the world. These workers operate outside hospital settings to meet the community's poorest people where they live and work, ensuring health care initiatives impact the families that need them most. CommCare, a product developed by the MIT spinout, Dimagi, allows frontline health workers to build useful tools that can be accessed even offline by cell phones of all types. *Edited to reflect Dimagi’s response to COVID-19. Read the article: http://news.mit.edu/2020/dimagi-commcare-health-0309
To learn more about Dimagi, check out their website at dimagi.com.More information on this and other episodes can be found at codelouder.org.
In episode 8 of CAMTech Chats, CAMTech’s Director, Dr. Kris Olson, chats with Jonathan Jackson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Dimagi, about the translational grant CAMTech awarded Dimagi six years ago, the growth of CommCare, engaging frontline health providers in human centered-design, and what he wishes all innovators in impact-oriented social enterprise would be laser focused on. CAMTech Chats is moderated by Nicholas Diamond.
Mobile devices have the power to connect people from underserved communities to empowering resources and information. Which is why mobile tech is so critical for today’s NGOs and aid programs to positively impact the people they serve. Special guest Rowena Luk, VP of Strategy at Dimagi, joins the show to discuss the challenges, and rewards, of using mobile apps and tech to drive global change. She details how Dimagi develops apps with a focus on in-field testing, as well as the design constraints that guide their process. She shares examples of other programs that have found success through mobile tech, and we discuss how we can use our skills to push for positive change in our own communities. < Download MP3 > < Listen on ctrlclickcast.com > Show Notes: Demystifying the Web Series Dimagi Amnesty International 30 Hour Famine Kiva GiveDirectly Tostan International Terre des Hommes XKCD The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Dominion board game Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Review our show on Stitcher Sponsored By
Similar to essentially any other industry, the problem of efficiently collecting project or program level data that can be readily crunched, analyzed and, ultimately, used by managers for decision making has been, and will continue, to be a conundrum for the development and humanitarian aid community for the forseeable future. I have often heard the frustration from professionals in the field, who wonder out loud why we haven't be able to put together one, or perhaps a small set of, technology solutions that can be used for monitoring any output, anytime. Beyond the actual technology itself, a key part of this conversation is the question of how to implement such a solution in a way that is not only relevant for a project, but also for the workers tasked with the actual data collection. And, going further, how to build a tool that doesn't add a massive time burden to those who are already tasked with the impossible. Dimagi is one company who are attempting to solve these problems and today's guest on the 110th Terms Of Reference Podcast, Mohini Bhavsar, is on the front lines for them in Dakar, Senegal. She is Dimagi's Deputy Regional Director in West Africa and she has extensive experience supporting mHealth (or Mobile Health) projects at scale. Currently, she provides strategic guidance for scale-up and trainings for Dimagi’s largest mHealth projects in West Africa, including a partnership with Terre des Hommes in Burkina Faso for the implementation of a tablet based clinical diagnostic tool for eIMCI protocols, a pregnancy danger sign and referral management application developed with Africare in Senegal and a multi-pronged health services and stock management application developed with URC for community health workers in Benin. Formally based in India, from 2011 to 2014, Mohini supported over 50 local and international NGO partners pilot mHealth applications. She has worked closely with partners such as Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Save the Children, and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Prior to Dimagi, Mohini worked with Tula Salud in Guatemala to evaluate and support scale-up of their mHealth initiatives.
Dimagi Kamjori Ya Pagalpan Se Bachne : Pujya Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu Tips
Dimagi Kamjori Ya Pagalpan Se Bachne : Pujya Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu Tips
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