Trumanitarian

Wigdan Seedahmed [https://WigdanSeedahmed] joins host Lars Peter Nissen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-peter-nissen/] for a conversation that drifts between code and Sudanese music, and into the quiet art of translating magic into data - without letting magic slip. Wigdan is not on autopilot. In a sector often dominated by compliance and performative intellect, she carries a rare kind of mind - one that doesn’t just react or repackage, but thinks. Her intelligence is quiet, original, and layered - the kind that allows her to interact within the wild, magical, messy reality without flattening it or abstracting herself from it. We talk about how she uses music as a dataset. How the hum of old Sudanese voices carries a politics that spreadsheets can’t capture. And how data, when reclaimed from its colonial grammar, can become a language of intimacy, resistance, and radical imagination. It’s about paying attention and letting different kinds of intelligence – logical, intuitive, ancestral – speak. Wigdan calls herself a Mathemagician. After listening, you’ll understand why. Wigdans Substack post on Sudans Sonic Archive [https://wigdan.substack.com/p/beyond-algorithms-sudans-sonic-archive?r=1xg47x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true]: Wigdans Zanig playlist [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTgXiTGuxA4wqDyHlT7Xvg2RRZlkXkzG5&si=kFdE9cAvZqcLGhvS] for Trumanitarian:

What is the role of cash distributions in the humanitarian reset? That is the question that Cate Turton [https://CateTurton], the Director of the Cash Learning Partnership (CALP) Network) [https://CashLearningPartnership(CALP)], Yolande Wright, the VP for Partnerships at GiveDirectly [https://GiveDirectly] and Alessandro Bini [https://AlessandroBini] the Director of the Somali Cash Consortium [https://SomaliCashConsortium] discuss with Lars Peter Nissen [https://LarsPeterNissen] in this weeks episode. > The conversation focuses on the current state and future potential of cash-based humanitarian assistance. The participants discusses the barriers and opportunities for further leveraging cash distributions in the humanitarian sector, particularly in light of the current resource constraints. Key topics included the evidence base for cash, the need to shift power and decision-making to affected populations, the challenges of integrating cash within the existing humanitarian coordination structures, and the role of localization in cash programming.Explore key insights from a high-level conversation on the future of humanitarian cash assistance. Learn about systemic barriers, localization, UN roles, and innovative cash delivery methods like lump-sum transfers.

What happens when a philanthropist shows up differently? In this episode, Maya Ghosh Bichara joins host Lars Peter Nissen to reflect on what it means to fund, partner, and build trust with integrity. Maya isn’t running a billion-dollar foundation - she gives small but catalytic grants, drawing on her experience from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to reimagine what money can do. They explore trust-based philanthropy, the need for humility, and how to move beyond extractive funding models. What would it take to let go of control, trust leaders on the ground, and how could we try to decolonize funding flows? Mayas biggest advice for change is to start implementing it yourself. This episode is a must for anyone curious about what a new generation of philanthropy might look like.

In this special crossover episode, Lars Peter Nissen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-peter-nissen/] (Trumanitarian [https://www.trumanitarian.org]) and Carla Vitantonio [https://CarlaVitantonio] (Living Decoloniality [https://www.centreforhumanitarianleadership.org/research/publications/living-decoloniality-podcast/]) sit down in Doha to explore the deep fault lines in humanitarian work — and why they’ve both turned to podcasting as a space for honest conversation. Carla unpacks the concept of decoloniality — the lingering structures, mindsets, and behaviors that survive long after formal colonialism ends. Together, they explore how power, bureaucracy, and hero narratives shape the humanitarian sector — and why we’re so often stuck tweaking language while avoiding the hard work of dismantling systems. They discuss the limits of reform, the danger of dressing failure as progress, and the need for new actors, voices, and institutional diversity. And they ask the question: If the big institutions can’t change, who can? These discussions extends too to podcasting and humanitarian events; how different formats, structure and diversity of people could create different reflections and outcomes. This is an episode about inquiry over certainty, and humility and small acts over heroism. Notes and Links: •⁠ ⁠The theory referred to in Carlas podcast: the theory of the colonial matrix of power by Aníbal Quijano [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/23906] •⁠ ⁠Living Decoloniality [https://open.spotify.com/show/310eRL3Zhd05JGYBYM10Cb] (Carlas podcast). The highlighted episodes: Episode with Michelle Lokot [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cToLBP3vNlSNGgl9OVJAA]; Episode with Karishma Shafi [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6lpWQIeZ0gUTnXyQNQlY35]; Episode with Themrise Khan [https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KXHMr6l0pI6TYsbHNmq8R] •⁠ ⁠Trumanitarian [https://trumanitarian.org/]episodes highlighted in the convo: Episode with Dr. Rola Hallam [https://trumanitarian.org/captivate-podcast/99-wiser/]; Ukraine episode with Care SG [https://trumanitarian.org/captivate-podcast/56-like-magic/]); Episode with Themrise Khan [https://trumanitarian.org/captivate-podcast/50-outside/]