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Over 250 years ago, Robert Burns wrote, "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." His words resonate today as millions are forced to flee their homes due to war, climate change, poverty, and more. Yet, overcrowded camps, drownings, and forced returns too often await them. Instead of focusing on solutions, much of the effort goes into stopping migration. In this episode, Sasha Chanoff, founder of RefugePoint, discusses innovative solutions to help refugees in extreme danger and how we can change the future for migrants worldwide.
This week on the Building Interest Podcast, Jay Tuli discusses pivotal moments and critical decision-making with Sasha Chanoff, CEO & Founder of RefugePoint, an inspiring author, humanitarian, and value-based leader.
The global refugee crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time and climate change is poised to make it a lot worse. So what do we do? Today, Sasha Chanoff, founder and CEO of Refuge Point, offers some creative system level-solutions and – more importantly – a radically new way of seeing refugees. If you're feeling pessimistic about the current situation, listen up, because Sasha will make you hopeful.If you want to learn more about RefugePoint, visit refugepoint.org--If you aspire to be a System Catalyst and need resources to help you on your journey, subscribe to our newsletter. To learn more about our mission and our partners, visit systemcatalysts.com.Subscribe to our YouTube channel This podcast is produced by Hueman Group Media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ep. No. 64 — Disobeying his boss turned a humanitarian crisis into a calling / Sasha Chanoff, CEO and Founder, RefugePoint and Co-Author, “From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions”. In 2000, refugee expert and humanitarian aid worker Sasha Chanoff was in the Congo on a mission to evacuate a very specific set of Tutsi refugees, who were on a UN resettlement list. But as he was about to leave with those refugees, Chanoff was invited into a tent. And what he saw in that tent would shake the foundation of his life, soul, and career. That “crucible moment” as Chanoff calls his experience in that tent prompted him to launch RefugePoint, whose mission is to address the critical and unmet needs of those who fall through the cracks of humanitarian assistance and have no other options for survival. RefugePoint has a special focus on women, children, and urban refugees. Chanoff is the co-author of the leadership book, “From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions,” which he co-authored with his dad, noted non-fiction writer, David Chanoff. He has won many awards and accolades for his extraordinary contributions to addressing the global refugee crisis. In this moving episode, Chanoff examines the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the global refugee and humanitarian crisis that it is exacerbating. And he dives deep into his and RefugePoints efforts to address the huge gaps in the systems put in place globally to help the 100 million people that have been forced to leave their homes, belongings, and families behind, sacrificing everything they know and love, as is happening in Ukraine today. As we commemorate World Refugee Day today and recognize the grim realities of the forced migration crisis happening all around the world, I'm honored to welcome a pioneer in the field, Sasha Chanoff, CEO and Founder of RefugePoint. If you liked this episode, check out these other episodes: 26. Technology is rewiring Ukraine's narrative / Alex Deane & Bryan Cunningham 63. Held hostage by a drug lord reveals the best and worst of humanity / Francisco Cantos Calderón / Former Vice President of Colombia 61. Heroism, activism, reconciliation with nature / Jerry White, Nobel laureate, landmine survivor 22. How is Polaris fighting human trafficking? / Anjana Rajan, CTO, Polaris 43. Ignoring advice to avoid philosophy pays off in big ways / Courtney Bowman, Palantir 21. Disenchanted doctor finds secret inspiration in heroin addict / Dr. Andrew Lees, Neurologist
As the number of forcibly displaced people around the world surpasses 100 million, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, joins Maysa Jalbout in The Impact Room to discuss new pathways to respond to the global displacement crisis.Ukraine alone has generated more than six million refugee movements since the Russian invasion in February, and the knock-on effect that this has had on grain exports has triggered global food shortages, which in turn threaten to lead to widespread unrest, and likely more displacement.The humanitarian system is at breaking point and with global displacement forecast to hit one billion by 2050, there is an urgent need for new and innovative solutions.Have we reached a tipping point? Do we as a world need to rethink our collective conscience regarding freedom of movement and what it means to be a refugee? Is the current system fit-for-purpose or does it need an overhaul?In a special edition of The Impact Room recorded in the run-up to World Refugee Day, host Maysa Jalbout puts these questions and more to the UNHCR chief. Also interviewed in this episode of The Impact Room is Sasha Chanoff, the founder and CEO of Refuge Point, a non-profit running refugee resettlement programmes and advocating for policy changes for the rights of refugees globally with a focus on long-term solutions.One organisation that is trying to help find long-term answers to displacement is Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), a nonprofit that helps to match skilled refugees to job opportunities in new countries to support labour mobility and plug global talent gaps.CEO Steph Cousins, explains to Maysa how TBB has found durable work solutions for hundreds of refugees in private and public sector companies in Australia, Canada, and the UK, and that it has plans to expand into Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, the US, and New Zealand.Also appearing on this episode to give their views on a global system that is supposed to help - but which often makes lives harder - are two young refugees: Amna Abo Zuhair, a Palestinian living in Jordan, and Jean Marie Ishimwe, a Rwandan in Kenya. Amna, 29, is a monitoring and evaluation project manager at Sitti, a social enterprise employing Palestinian refugee women from Jerash camp in Jordan. She is also the in-country director of Hopes for Women in Education, a language exchange, education, and women's empowerment organisation, as well as a steering committee member of the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative (RSRI), a global multi-stakeholder collaboration promoting opportunities for refugees to become self-reliant and achieve a better quality of life.Jean Marie Ishimwe, meanwhile, is the chairperson and lead of a refugee led organisation known as Youth Voices Community (YVC), which focuses on giving a voice to refugee and vulnerable local youths in Nairobi, Kenya. The 25-year-old is also the founder of a refugee-led Social Enterprise called Nawezaa, which uses media, mentorship, and technology to create impact in refugee communities.The Impact Room is brought to you by Philanthropy Age and Maysa Jalbout. This episode was produced and edited by Louise Redvers. Maysa Jalbout is a leader in international development and philanthropy. She is a visiting scholar at MIT and ASU, and a non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Find her on Twitter @MaysaJalbout.
The global refugee system needs transforming in order to meet the demands of the 21st century and to empower displaced people as humans, rather than seeing them as victims. Listen to the story of Bahati, a refugee in Kenya for 25 years and now an advocate for the innovative Labour Mobility Project, which is supported by Refuge Point as a new legal pathway to safety.About Refuge PointUsing private funds, RefugePoint was founded in 2005 to identify refugees who fall through the cracks of humanitarian aid. Initially providing life-saving care to HIV+ refugees in Nairobi, Kenya, the agency grew quickly, adding a range of services to support those with the most urgent needs. Over time, RefugePoint developed a unique, full-service response model for assisting urban refugees and facilitating their self-reliance.--BiographiesBahati ErnestineBahati Ernestine is a Continuing Care Assistant at Glen Haven Manor (GHM) Canada working with a team of healthcare providers to care for residents. Bahati is also a Research Associate at the University of Oxford's Refugee-Led Research Hub (RLRH). At the RLRH, Bahati supports the Academic and research pillars. Previously, Bahati has served as a UNV with the UNHCR Nairobi Branch Office as the Youth Activities Coordinator. She also worked as a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi during the COVID 19 pandemic. Bahati has a Nursing degree from Moi University in Eldoret Kenya, a certificate in Project Management in Global Health from the University of Washington, and a certificate in the Kenyan Sign Language from the University of Nairobi. Bahati is a former Rwandan refugee currently residing in Nova Scotia, Canada.Sasha ChanoffSasha Chanoff is the founder and executive director of RefugePoint, a humanitarian organization that finds lasting solutions for the world's most at risk refugees. He co-authored a new book titled From Crisis to Calling: Finding Your Moral Center in the Toughest Decisions with a foreword by David Gergen.Sasha is a recipient of the Charles Bronfman Humanitarian Prize, the Harvard Center for Public Leadership Gleitsman International Activist Award, and is an Obama Administration White House Champion of Change. He serves on the steering committee of New England International Donors and is an advisor to the Good Lie Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Warner Bros. film The Good Lie about the resettlement of the Sudanese Lost Boys.Sasha has appeared on 60 Minutes and in other national media outlets, and has received social entrepreneur fellowships from the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Ashoka, and Echoing Green. His book is about defining moral decision points in leadership, and is based on a life and death dilemma Sasha faced during a US rescue operation into the Congo to evacuate massacre survivors. The story is a featured video on the Women in the World / NYT website. Sasha has also told this story on the TEDx stage, for NPR's Moth Radio Hour, and in other forums. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with his wife and two children.
Where would we be without immigrants? RefugePoint founder and executive director Sasha Chanoff and Chickadee owner and executive chef John daSilva join host Billy Shore in Boston to discuss the hardships faced by immigrants and refugees and the promise and strength they bring to their new homes. “Refugees do revitalize cities - like Lewiston, Maine, or St. Louis, Missouri - that were on the decline and Somalis and Bosnians moved in and started businesses,” Chanoff explains. “Immigrant workers make up 30% of the workforce [at Chickadee]. If you take away 30% of the workforce in a workforce-depleted industry, the effects would be devastating,” observes daSilva. Chanoff shares a harrowing tale about rescuing hundreds of massacre survivors in war-torn Congo early in his career. “I was struck viscerally by this idea that if I could play a very small role in helping somebody who had gone through a lot of trauma and terror, and often lost so much in their lives… that was the most important thing I could do,” he says. “These people working for me are just doing the best that they can, working as hard as they can. How could we turn our backs on them? We need them,” concludes daSilva. Join in this engaging conversation between two guests who share their personal perspectives on how immigrants and refugees make us all stronger.
Sasha Chanoff is a humanitarian worker descended from Jewish great-grandparents who fled the early 20th Century pogroms in Russia and settled in the United States. The story of his courageous and resourceful great-grandmother inspired Sasha to work with refugees in war-torn parts of Africa. And it was there, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that he faced a life-or-death choice. Then, in his mid-20s, Sasha was part of a small rescue team deployed to evacuate 112 Tutsi survivors of a massacre. Strictly no more, as the International Organisation for Migration feared that taking anyone extra would jeopardise the entire mission. But then Sasha and his Muslim colleague Sheikha Ali found 32 widows and orphans who were not part of the quota, all close to death. They knew that these women and children were almost certain to perish if they left them behind – but disobeying instructions and taking them would endanger everyone else on the last evacuation flight. Mike Wooldridge hears what happened next from Sasha himself, two of his colleagues, and survivors of that hazardous mission. (Photo: Sasha Chanoff stands next to a hired armed guard in the safe compound outside Kinshasa, courtesy of Sasha Chanoff)
July 12, 2016 Facebook Live w Peg Samuel & Sasha Chanoff of From Crisis to Calling
Sasha Chanoff, executive director of RefugePoint, talks about his new book FROM CRISIS TO CALLING: FINDING YOUR MORAL CENTER IN THE TOUGHEST DECISIONS. He builds his story around a rescue mission in the Congo. More info available: Facebook www.facebook.com/fromcrisistocallingchanoff Twitter twitter.com/SashaChanoff Web www.chanoff.com
A woman tries to avoid a hard conversation with her dad but then gets stuck on a road detour and a humanitarian rescue worker is forced to decide whether he will break the rules to save more lives. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Host Cyrus Webb welcomes author Sasha Chanoff to #ConversationsLIVE to discuss his new book FROM CRISIS TO CALLING and what he hopes readers are able to glean from it.
Sasha Chanoff was in his mid-20s when he faced an urgent decision unlike any he'd encountered before - and more than 100 lives depended on it.