To kick off our 2018/2019 Summer Picks, we want to share some of our favourite podcasts from 2018 on making the world a better place. If you’ve been enjoying our Lantern podcast, we’re sure you’ll find something interesting in these shows.
Narrative-Style Podcasts
Future Perfect (Vox)
Vox’s Future Perfect dissects some interesting problems through the lens of Effective Altruism. Host Dylan Matthews, examines a different way in each episode where we can make society better in the most effective way possible. Topics run the gambit from reducing recidivism rates in prisons to a more humane way to consume fish.
Length: 20-25 Minutes
Frequency: Weekly
An Episode To Try: How To Make Prisons More Humane
People Fixing The World (BBC)
With a Planet Money style investigative approach, BBC's People Fixing The World explores new ideas from across the globe dedicated to fixing problems both big and small. Each episode typically centres around a new project or initiative launched in any corner of the world from green travel to fighting the 'water mafia' and community-led peace talks.
Length: 20-25 Minutes
Frequency: Weekly
An Episode To Try: Can Barcodes Help Giving To Those Experiencing Homelessness?
Listen to People Fixing The World on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Impact (Vox)
The second of our round up from Vox, The Impact focuses on dissecting the impact and effectiveness of government social policies with a particular focus on America. Whilst it can dive quickly into the political machinations of a policy, these are important considerations in ensuring policy achieves what it intends to do without being blocked and becoming practically useless.
Length: 25-40 Minutes
Frequency: Seasonal
An Episode To Try: Is fixing campaign finance easy as giving everyone $100?
Interview Podcasts
Small Changes (Guardian)
Small Changes is Guardian's global development interview podcast that showcases one-on-one interviews with people who have seen a problem in the world and have set out to change it. The stories are often about those leading change in a distinctive and unique way in their own community from a ballet school that provides refuge for girls from violence in Nigeria to how Malaria was wiped out in Sri Lanka.
Length: 15-25 Minutes
Frequency: Weekly
An Episode To Try: The Palestinian engineer using ashes and rubble to rebuild Gaza
80,000 Hours Podcast (80,000 Hours)
Rob Wiblin's 80,000 Hours Podcast doesn't shy away in terms of length nor difficult topics but manages to deliver some insightful in-depth discussions on how people across the world are using their careers to solve the world's most pressing problems. The podcast is an excellent addition to the fantastic 80,000 Hours Career Guide and is great for diving into the impact prospects of a particular career path or a cause area that you are passionate about.
Length: 1 Hour - 3 Hours
Frequency: Fortnightly
An Episode To Try: Tara Mac Aulay on the audacity to fix the world without asking permission
Listen to the 80,000 Hours Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts.
Humans Of Purpose (Purposeful)
Mike Davis of Purposeful brings weekly interviews with the leaders in the social impact space in Australia on Humans of Purpose, providing wonderful insights from those who are often senior leaders. There are some great windows into public policy and government in particular, in addition to a slew of more traditional coverage of social enterprise and not-for-profits.
Length: 40 - 60 Minutes
Frequency: Weekly
An Episode To Try: Jan Owen - The Future of Our Youth
Lantern (Project Lantern)
In case you forgot about Project Lantern’s own little podcast focusing on young people who are ‘trying to change the world’ and trying to understand what that actually means we wanted to include it. We are currently in Season 2 and each fortnight we bring you a new interview from a young person making a difference in a different ways from advocacy to social enterprise to film-making; we have you covered.
Length: 30-40 Minutes (Season 2), 40-60 Minutes (Season 1)
Frequency: Fortnightly
An Episode To Try: Educating 1 Million Girls
Comments