Better Angels With Sarah Brown

John Goodwin, CEO of The LEGO Foundation, talks to Sarah Brown about the need to “redefine” play and “reimagine” learning.  He argues that play is often overlooked by society when in fact it helps children to develop important skills for adult life, such as critical thinking and problem solving. “Play is the way that children are naturally wired to learn and by subjugating it to the end of line means that children are really inhibited from having the opportunity to get the maximum learning opportunity,” he says. John also talks about the important role that education played in his own life, particularly teachers, who helped him to develop self-belief, confidence and resilience.

Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, speaks with Sarah Brown about the need for young people to vote - and to vote well - if they want to make a difference to people’s lives.    In the inaugural episode of this Better Angels podcast series, he argues that voting  is “the most basic and fundamental form of engagement” in democratic countries.   He also discusses the education crisis facing millions of child refugees around the world - a crisis which has been exacerbated by Covid-19.    Calling for greater investment in the education of young refugees, he says that  “education is as important for refugees as it is for anyone”.

Refugee camps in Greece remain overcrowded and unhygienic beyond imagination, but until Covid-19 struck new education centres were a daily lifeline for children who had fled conflict and persecution, many arriving after perilous journeys from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This episode provides a glimpse into life in those camps and talks to the team behind Theirworld’s new report that offers a way forward out of the refugee education crisis. Sarah talks to organisations making a difference there, and to two refugees who shed their personal light on what those on the islands are going through. Sarah talks to Maysa Jalbout, author of the report ‘Finding Solutions to Greece’s Refugee Education Crisis’; Justin van Fleet, president, Theirworld; Abi Hewitt, CEO and co-founder of Love Welcomes; Tanko Doris Laure, refugee from Cameroon; Sanda Leslie, refugee from Cameroon; Josie Naughton, chief executive officer, Help Refugees; Naoko Imoto, education chief UNICEF Partnership Office in Greece.   Theirworld is a major f

Sarah Brown explores the themes of the new Penguin paperback How to Go Work, and its subtitle, the Honest Advice No Else Ever Tells You, with authors Lucy Clayton and Steven Haines. Initially recorded just before lockdown for young activists and those starting out on their careers, Steven and Lucy then added an interview about how the coronavirus crisis is requiring all of us who are lucky enough to still be working to re-evaluate the value and impact of what we are doing. Steven draws on his extensive campaign experience at Save the Children, and Lucy on her background in advertising and ethical fashion, to provide valuable advice in this challenging time to be starting out in the world of work, or beginning a new job or project.

Sarah Brown talks to guests at Theirworld’s sixth International Women’s Day event, where women from all walks of life, with a few men dotted around, gathered to talk and share their experiences, contacts and ideas on how to unlock big change for girls and young women. We hear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank managing director, nearly moved to tears as she accepted our first Unlock Big Change award. We hear from other inspiring women, including Jo Brand, self-proclaimed ‘comic, writer, mother and super-model’; Amrit Kaur Lohia, musician and Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador; Sophie Walker, chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust; Yvette Cooper MP, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee; Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer at Unilever; Rosemary Leith Berners-Lee, co-founder of the Web Foundation; Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, mathematician and co-founder of the Stemettes, and not forgetting, of course, Theirworld’s very own Jamira Burley, who hosted the event.

This is a special edition of the Better Angels podcast where we talk to iconic changemakers around the world. This episode has been recorded for the People’s Postcode Lottery – for everyone who plays it and everyone who works there supporting both the players and the charities – at Theirworld we want to say thank you and share some of our stories from our Better Angels interviews so you can hear about the impact that your support makes. Here you will hear from global leaders from the United Nations, European Commission, Africa, and Lebanon, from the Theirworld leadership team, our ambassador Nick Sharratt and if you listen to the end how well known actors like David Morrissey, Sir Patrick Stewart and David Tennant add their voices to our campaigns and causes they care about. Theirworld’s vision is to end the global education crisis and unleash the potential of the next generation. Five years ago, while nearly half of the world’s out-of-school children were caught up in conflict, its aftermath and natural

Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative in the United States, discusses the impact of prison education with Sarah Brown. As he says, ‘nothing does more to create a sense of hope and purpose in otherwise desperate places than the opportunity to learn’.  A leading advocate for his cause, Max’s programme enrols jailed men and women in academic courses that culminate in a degree from the prestigious Bard College in New York.  He has a battle on his hands to make the case for prison learning in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world, which sees 630,000 prisoners released annually, only for nearly 50 per cent to end up back in prison within five years.

In something of a first for Better Angels, Sarah talks to husband & wife advocates for change - Dan Snow, the popular TV presenter and historian, and Edwina Grosvenor, philanthropist and prison activist. They discuss their passion for speaking up for under-privileged people and how understanding the past informs their activism and awareness.  Edwina’s charity strives for positive change in the justice system, while she is also a founding investor and Ambassador of the Clink Restaurant chain, which trains prisoners for work in the catering industry. She talks about how a visit to a prison drug rehabilitation unit at the age of 12 inspired a career supporting prison reform.  Her work has taken her all over the UK and around the world, visiting different models of criminal justice and witnessing first hand examples of best – and worst - prison practice.  Dan Snow discusses the need to appreciate the complexity of people’s pasts and personal stories when assessing how to pursue social justice and reform. Know

Young activists share their ideas on campaigning to end the global education crisis. Sarah speaks to four of Theirworld’s Global Youth Ambassadors, inspiring young campaigners. They share their passion for helping children around the world gain access to education and talk about the important role education has to play in providing life skills that will serve them long into the future. Wanja Maina is an inclusive education campaigner from Kenya whose mother carried her several miles each day on her back to school because of her disability. She ended up with a Master’s degree and a commitment to see others get into school and learning no matter what barriers they may face.  Javita Nauth is an American-Guyanese Global Youth Ambassador from Guyana who focuses on Early Childhood Education. One of her major projects is reconstructing  eco-friendly and earthquake resistant schools in rural parts of Nepal Badly affected by the 2015 earthquake. Pavel Sarwar, originally  from Bangladesh, is now living and working in M

Sarah talks to remarkable campaigner and inclusion expert Vibhu Sharma about how to bring more children and young people with disabilities into education. Sharing the difficulties she went through at school, Vibhu speaks about making sure that others do not have the same experience. They discuss what makes education truly inclusive, for children with or without a disability, or young refugees or children living in conflict situations This interview was recorded in September 2019 during the United Nations General Assembly in New York This episode of Better Angels was edited by Warren Borg, Worgie Productions.

June Sarpong MBE, writer and broadcaster, takes over as guest host, talking to Justin van Fleet, President of Theirworld and Executive Director of the Global Business Coalition for Education. Justin describes how a trip to Bolivia as a teenager inspired him to work in education, and how education is providing hope and a degree of normality to thousands of young people trapped in desperate conditions in refugee camps on the Greek islands.  They discuss Theirworld’s #WriteTheWrong campaign to provide an education to the 260 million children around the world who every day are denied a place in school. This podcast interview was recorded in New York in September 2019 during the United Nations General Assembly. This episode of Better Angels was edited by Warren Borg, Worgie Productions.

Sarah talks to activists at the heart of the Extinction Rebellion campaign, which seemed to burst out of nowhere in the spring of 2019 with its demand for action to end the world’s climate crisis and ecological emergency. In the midst of new actions in London, Clare Farrell, Will Skeaping and Dr Deepa Shah discuss how the movement has made its mark, and how traditional campaigning methods were failing to influence governments.  Clare Farrell is a fashion sustainability expert and co-founded Extinction Rebellion out of horror at the cost of fashion production to people and the planet. Will Skeaping is a former advertising executive, and co-editor of The Extinction Rebellion Handbook: This is Not a Drill. Dr Deepa Shah is a London GP and member of Doctors of Extinction Rebellion. This podcast interview was recorded on 8th October 2019 at Soho Radio with thanks for the studio use. This episode of Better Angels was edited by Warren Borg, Worgie Productions.

Comedian, Writer and Actor Rosie Jones joins Sarah for a conversation on what drew Rosie to comedy in the first place and the representation of people with disabilities on TV and in the media. Inspired by the passion for her call for disability, inclusion and equal rights, Sarah jumped at the opportunity to speak to Rosie during the Edinburgh Fringe 2019, where Rosie’s sold-out one-woman show entitled ‘Backward’ provoked the question - “Am I backward, or are they?”   Sarah and Rosie discuss the impact and legacy of the London 2012 Paralympics as a platform for not only athletes, but presenters with disabilities, and the need for more representation of disabilities on British TV outside of disability-focussed programmes. Rosie also highlights the need for more education around disability, and her aim is to get her story out to raise awareness of different disabilities. She is also very funny (Rosie that is, not Sarah!)

Sarah looks back at 3 years of conversations with extraordinary Better Angels Sir Patrick Stewart, Caroline Criado Perez, Sarah Corbett, Theo Sowa CBE, Jamira Burley and Peter Tatchell. This one-off Greatest Hits episode revisits different campaigning styles, why these remarkable campaigners are advocates for change in their field, and their incredible journeys. Join Sarah and experience a sample of the magic moments where these incredible activists tell us how they’re taking down barriers and opening up opportunities for the most vulnerable and marginalised people. Caroline Criado Perez is a writer and feminist activist and one of Britain's best known campaigners for women’s rights and visibility. Jamira Burley is a youth activist and social justice advocate, fighting to create sustainable and systematic change to improve the lives of young people across the world. Sir Patrick Stewart supports various social issues including progressive politics for fairness and social justice, addressing domestic violence w

Slay in Your Lane Authors Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené join Sarah to discuss the success of their first book as a best-selling guide to life for black British women, and their newly published book Slay in Your Lane: The Journal. Yomi and Elizabeth explain the intentions of Slay in Your Lane steering Black British women to find role models, share advice and build stronger connections with each other and in their wider working environments. They also tell Sarah how their project developed, how it hit home with some many women and how they see Slay in Your Lane developing into a movement beyond their expectations.  This episode takes us into more depth on the initial idea, explores how their language focuses on activism, and how they wanted to share the achievements and advice of prominent Black British women whilst adding their own views and recommendations for achieving a balanced and successful working and personal life. Yomi is an award-winning journalist writing for The Guardian and many other medi

In this new series of the Better Angels podcast, host Sarah Brown is exploring how different personality types call for change. For the final episode of this series, Sarah speaks with Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy and Change at Save the Children Kirsty McNeill, who is leading teams to galvanise the public and influence policy makers on humanitarian action, global development and help for children here in the UK.

In this new series of the Better Angels podcast, Sarah Brown is exploring how different personality types call for change. In this episode of the series, Sarah speaks to a range of guests about the new styles of campaigning, ones that look different to what we usually see and don’t always start with big budgets. These campaigns are often down to one person, affected in a personal way, which can launch some of the most innovative ideas. First we hear from James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand, co-founders of Oscar’s Book Prize, an annual prize for the best books written for under-fives, awarded each year in memory of Oscar Ashton. Sarah talks to James and Viveka about their young son Oscar, who passed away 2012 when he was three and a half years old and how Oscar’s Book Prize has grown over its six years of operation. Next, Sarah speaks with Ivan Rosales, a campaigner whose own immigration status gave him insight into the experiences of those living in limbo right now in the United States, as undocumented young p

In this Better Angels interview special, host Sarah Brown speaks with James Ashton and Viveka Alvestrand, co-founders of Oscar’s Book Prize, an annual prize for the best books written for under-fives, awarded each year in memory of Oscar Ashton. Oscar’s Book Prize champions the vital importance of reading to young minds and as Chair of Theirworld, who recently mobilised a global campaign for investment in early learning and pre-primary education, Sarah understands the importance of advocacy such as this. Invited this year to be a judge of Oscar’s Book Prize 2019, Sarah talks to James and Viveka about their young son Oscar, who passed away in 2012 when he was three and a half years old and how Oscar’s Book Prize has grown over its six years of operation.

In this new series of the Better Angels podcast, Sarah Brown is exploring how different personality types call for change. In this episode of the series, Sarah speaks to a range of guests about the Voices of activism.  First we hear from Scottish actor David Tennant about his work supporting various charities, including Comic Relief and Worldwide Cancer Research. Sarah speaks to David about how to best use his well known voice for a good cause. Sarah then speaks with Omotoke Titilope Olowo, a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador from Nigeria, who represented her country and the charity at the United Nations meetings in 2018. Sarah speaks with Omotoke about her work as a special needs therapist at a school in Nigeria, and how her work shapes her campaigning voice. Next, we hear from Kim Polman, founder of Reboot the Future, a non-profit organisation that aims to use the Golden Rule, 'treat others as you would wish to be treated,' to inspire, unite and hold to account leaders and citizens to build an increasingly

In this Better Angels Interview Special, Sarah Brown speaks to Caroline Criado Perez, a writer and feminist activist and one of Britain's best known campaigners for women’s rights and visibility. Starting with The Women’s Room project, a national campaign to call for female experts to be better represented in discussion, Caroline then took on the Bank of England, who were at risk of removing the only other female face, apart from the Queen, from British banknotes. This lead to the Bank of England announcing Jane Austen would feature on the £10 note. In 2018, Caroline’s latest campaign culminated successfully in the instillation of the first ever female statue, of suffragist campaigner Millicent Fawcett, in London’s parliament square, opposite The House of Commons. Ever engaged as a feminist activist, Caroline works now to inspire and explore women’s participation in the democratic process, and has just published a new book Invisible Women. Building on her interview in The Noise of Activism, you can hear Caro