Hisham Allam

DevelopmentAid Dialogues

Each episode features insightful conversations with experts and practitioners, offering valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping our world. DevelopmentAid is a platform where we share knowledge and fostering collaboration within the development community. We believe that by sparking meaningful conversations, we can contribute to finding innovative solutions for a more just and sustainable future.

Website

15 June 2026

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

Neglected tropical diseases affect more than 1.5 billion people, close to one in six worldwide, yet they remain among the least visible and mediatized health problems on the planet. The medicines to treat most of them already exist, often for less than US$0.50 a dose. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam speaks with Dr. Wendy Harrison, CEO of Unlimit Health, about why...

06 May 2026

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

As the ongoing U.S./Israel–Iran war reverberates across the region—affecting energy markets, transport routes, and economic stability in the Middle East and North Africa—the question for the development sector is becoming more urgent: can Gulf donors sustain their expanding role in global aid, or will their priorities shift inward? In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham...

08 April 2026

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

In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam spoke with Lotfullah Najafizada, an Afghan journalist and founder of Amu TV, a Washington-based international news outlet reaching audiences inside and outside Afghanistan. With nearly 20 years on Afghan media frontlines—including over a decade as Tolo News director and multiple Press Freedom Awards— he joined us ahead of the...

25 March 2026

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

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam spoke with Jonathan Criss, CEO and Founder of Vital Lyfe. After more than 13 years working on Dragon and Starlink, from cargo racks to reusable spacecraft, Criss left to establish Vital Lyfe, a company building small-scale purification systems for remote villages, disaster zones and infrastructure-poor communities already...

04 March 2026

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

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam interviewed Fadi Bou Ali, a sustainable finance specialist working at the intersection of capital markets and climate solutions, for an in-depth look at how green and blue bonds are reshaping climate finance. Fadi, an expert within ABAAD - Resource Centre for Gender Equality, explains that green bonds and regular loans are...

18 February 2026

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

Every year, the World NGO Day is a moment to recognize the work nonprofits and community-based organizations do in some of the world’s toughest places—and to be honest about the pressures they face, from shrinking civic space to falling budgets and rising security risks. To mark the day, DevelopmentAid Dialogues host Hisham Allam speaks with Linda Nordby, Head of the Humanitarian Division at...

04 February 2026

Why big donors can’t deliver without NGOs: A dialogue with UNICEF’s Dara Johnston

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues—marking International NGO Day at the end of February—podcast host Hisham Allam interviewed Dara Johnston, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for UNICEF in Palestine, for an in-depth look at how nonprofits complement big institutions on the ground. With a month-long series spotlighting NGOs' grassroots role in crises, community voices and global...

21 January 2026

Reframing Dutch Aid: Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026

Reframing Dutch Aid: Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026 How does the international aid sector survive shrinking budgets? Hisham Allam asks Steven Collet, Deputy Director-General of International Cooperation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With a background ranging from the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to diplomatic missions in Tanzania and Vietnam,...

08 January 2026

Who really benefits from COP summits? Paulo C. De Miranda on power, money and climate reality

In climate politics, it is easy to treat COP summits as a travelling show: intense media noise, careful drafting marathons, and then a quick shift to the next crisis. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam talked with Paulo C. De Miranda about when these summits stopped being just diplomacy and started to matter for people, balance sheets and fragile communities. Paulo,...

17 December 2025

UNOPS Rewires Aid Accountability: Tracking Scope 3 Emissions in the Development Sector (A Conversation with Samantha Stratton-Short)

The United Nations Office for Project Services, widely known as UNOPS, is pushing climate accountability into the core of development work by tackling the most elusive part of its carbon footprint: Scope 3 emissions. In this episode of DevelopmentAid Dialogues, host Hisham Allam speaks with Samantha Stratton-Short, Head of Strategic Initiatives, Infrastructure and Project Management at UNOPS and...