Michèle Young has over two decades of experience as an architect, in the UK and Poland, and as a humanitarian and international development practitioner. Michèle advised and supported teams worldwide to deliver best practice in emergency shelter, housing reconstruction and social infrastructure (re)construction in both conflict and environmental disasters in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

Now Michèle is the Development Coordination Manager, for Tower Hamlet, a local authority in London. In this role she is offering innovative and practical solutions to tackling the negative impacts of construction on residents and businesses and supporting a move toward a Circular Economy for the built environment.

Have you ever thought why the world map is upside down in My MARS mantra podcast logo? Meet Richard Turner, who gave me this idea to look at things from a fresh perspective. As we are celebrating the Earth Day earlier this week, let’s find out from Richard, what Sustainable Fundraising mean? How can we bring both the profit and not-for profit sectors together to reach a common goal for saving our planet?

Richard has over 30 years of fundraising experience for many UK-based charities, like Solar Aid, Action Aid, Farm Africa and Oxfam. Richard also trains on fundraising for charities around the world to turn supporters into advocates, by offering a great experience, by learning from failure and by telling a great story.

Farah Mihlar grew up in Sri Lanka, witnessing the civil war. She then became a journalist, and now a human rights activist working at international policy level, while teaching at Oxford Brookes University. Farah is passionate on advocating minority rights and women's rights, working on conflict prevention, peace building and transitional justice. Farah holds a PhD, where she did an ethnographic field research on political Islam and Islamic religious movements in Sri Lanka. Farah also continues to challenge the concept of decolonisation, and its impact on us in our day to day lives in academia as well as in practice.

Kate Bowen-Evans shares her story of growing up between two cultures in Buruni and England. This helped her to develop empathy and inner resilience to thrive and work in some of the most difficult places like Afghanistan, Palatine, Israel and many other conflict and disaster prone countries. Kate has now moved on from working in disasters and conflict zones to teaching on Humanitarian Practice. Kate’s own daughter's and her brother’s experience of living with disability motivated her to research on Disability Theology and to pursue a PhD in Biblical studies and marginalisation; and working on building leadership in various integrated projects in the Africa region.

Dr. Nafeesur Rahman has been working for nearly 3 decades on raising awareness, designing disability inclusive policies and systems to advocate for the rights of the persons with disability in Bangladesh and across Asia. He believes that to bring changes in policies and to implement them, it is important to have a long-term vision and several back-up plans. We also need to bring along the government and civil society in the same page. He shares many success stories on influencing governments, NGOs and international agencies, on adopting disability inclusive policies and implementing them. However, he believes that we still have a long way to go implement many of these policies for a truly disability inclusive society. If we are passionate and persistent, then we can patiently manage our frustrations and stresses to achieve a supportive environment for all.

প্রতিবন্ধী মানুষের অধিকার

প্রতিবন্ধী মানুষের অধিকার উন্নয়নের লক্ষ্যে ড. নাফিসুর রহমান প্রায় তিন দশক ধরে বাংলাদেশ এবং এশিয়াজুড়ে প্রতিবন্ধী ব্যক্তিদের বিষয়ে সচেতনতা বৃদ্ধি, তাদের অধিকারের নীতিমালা পরিবর্তন নিয়ে কাজ করছেন। তিনি মনে করেন, নীতিমালা পরিবর্তন এবং বাস্তবায়নের জন্য দীর্ঘমেয়াদি ও স্থায়ী পরিকল্পনা থাকা জরুরি। সরকার, আর সমাজকর্মীদের একই কাতারে নিয়ে আসা জরুরী। তিনি সরকার, এনজিও এবং আন্তর্জাতিক সংস্থাকে প্রতিবন্ধী অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক নীতি গ্রহণ এবং তাদের বাস্তবায়নে প্রভাবিত করার ব্যIপারে অনেক সাফল্যের গল্প বলেন I তবে, তিনি বিশ্বাস করেন যে প্রতিবন্ধীর অধিকার ও সমাজে তাদের স্বচ্ছন্দমূলক সহবস্থানের জন্য নীতিমালা বাস্তবায়নের ক্ষেত্রে আমাদের এখনও অনেক দীর্ঘ পথ যেতে হবে। আনন্দ ও ধৈর্য্য নিয়ে একসাথে কাজ করলে হতাশাও কমবে।

Nayoka Martinez-Bäckström currently lives in Bangladesh where she works as First Secretary (Environment & Climate) and Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Sweden, Dhaka. Before Bangladesh, she promoted sustainable city planning and development in Asia and Africa. Nayoka was born and raised in the Philippines and considers Sweden her home. Nayoka is also a mother of two twins. In this episode, Nayoka shares her optimism about Bangladesh and Sweden's climate and youth movement, which gives us hope for a more sustainable future.

Zoe Jordan is a researcher and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) in Oxford Brookes University. Zoe research looks into forced migration and humanitarianism. She focuses on how displaced populations respond to and manage their displacement in protracted and urban contexts. Zoe started her career working with NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti, leading and supporting humanitarian projects responding to urban displacement, internal displacement, and disaster recovery. She also volunteers with community-based organisations working with asylum-seekers and refugees in Jordan and the UK.