High-Impact Growth: Recent Episodes
Dimagi
A podcast for social entrepreneurs, global development funders, nonprofit leaders and anyone grappling with the challenge of how to build solutions that are both immensely impactful and also achieve high-growth. Join Dimagi CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Jackson, along with co-host Amie Vaccaro as we unpack learnings from 20 years building digital solutions for global health and development, explore barriers to and opportunities for high-impact growth, and speak with industry leaders from around the world.
Dr. Kelly Collins and Gillian Javetski join co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro for a candid conversation about the market for digital health products.
Kelly returned from the World Health Assembly with a burning question: How can we teach global health to buy software as a commodity, the same way they might buy drugs or diagnostic tools? How might we peel back the influence of aid and donor funds on digital health so that we can build tech products for global health that matter?
In this conversation, Gillian, Kelly and Jonathan each share their approaches to maintaining focus on solving problems and creating value for the digital health user across CommCare, SureAdhere and CommCare Connect.
Topics include:
- The dual challenge of increasing security demands and increasingly limited funding
- The lag in procurement maturity compared to technological advancements, and the importance of creating must-have, high-value products.
- What it takes to shift from donor-driven to user-focused development
- Dimagi’s ability and strategic position to lead this shift
- The need for better market education to support a healthier market for tech products in global health and development
Show Notes:
- Is Aid Killing The Startup Ecosystem In Africa? (Part 1) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aid-killing-startup-ecosystem-africa-part-1-david-chen-mgi8e
- Is Aid Killing the African Startup Ecosystem? (Part 2) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aid-killing-african-startup-ecosystem-part-2-david-chen-ovp4e
- Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/0374532125
- CommCare connect year in review: https://dimagi.com/commcare-connect-2023/
- CommCare Connect reaches a milestone of 100,000 service deliveries: https://dimagi.com/commcare-connect-reaches-100000-deliveries/
- CommCare webpage: https://dimagi.com/commcare/
- Sureadhere webpage: https://dimagi.com/sureadhere/
- Steele Foundation for Hope: https://www.steelefoundationforhope.org/
Jayson Morris, Jonathan’s coach, joins the podcast for a candid dialogue on the challenges of social enterprise leadership amidst increasing uncertainty. Jayson shares his journey from investment banking to international development and eventually to coaching, highlighting his experience with burnout and neuroadrenal fatigue. He emphasizes the importance of tapping into the body’s innate wisdom and using tools like the Enneagram and self-compassion to support leadership. The discussion emphasizes how somatic awareness can help leaders manage stress, build trust and presence, and lead teams through complex challenges. Jonathan and Amie share their experiences with incorporating somatic techniques into their leadership styles, illustrating the shift from performance-driven to capacity building. This episode is packed with tools and techniques, drawing from somatics and a wide range of powerful frameworks to help each of us lead positive change.
Related Resources:
Jayson Morris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-morris/
Jayson Morris coaching website: www.withinsight.coach
Brene Brown
Amy Edmondson | Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management
Self-Compassion by Kristen Neff
Locating Yourself - A Key to Conscious Leadership
Tara Brach | Meditation, Emotional Healing, and Spiritual Awakening
Jack Kornfield | Buddhist Monk
Sharon Salzberg | Meditation Pioneer
Positive Intelligence | Saboteurs Test
Inside Out 2
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
In Part 3 in our series on AI, Brian DeRenzi, head of Dimagi's research and data team, joins Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro to discuss how advances in AI can affect global health and development. They discuss AI's rapid evolution, practical applications, and the importance of thoughtful implementation to avoid a future where only the privileged benefit. The discussion covers Dimagi's focus on equitable AI through direct-to-client work, how AI can support health workers, and Dimagi’s new bot building and testing platform, Open Chat Studio.
Discussion points:
- AI Evolution: Exploring the rapid advancements in AI models and technologies
- Dimagi's AI Projects: Insights into Dimagi's current AI initiatives and their goals
- Generative AI in Healthcare: Practical applications and benefits for healthcare workers and clients
- Equitable AI Deployment: Strategies to ensure AI technology is accessible to all
- Open Chat Studio: Introduction to Dimagi's platform for developing and testing chatbots
- Language Accessibility: Challenges and progress in LLM’s support for low-resource language
Today we are sharing an episode from a podcast we think you'll enjoy. System Catalysts is about the incredible people who are fixing the broken systems that run the world.
Are you an organ donor? If yes, good for you! But you should know that your organs might not reach the person who needs them. That’s because the organ donation system is a mess, leading to over a dozen preventable deaths daily. Thankfully, our guests today – Greg Segal of Organize and Jennifer Erickson of Federation of American Scientists – tell us about how they discovered the hidden problem in organ donation and how they’re going to fix it.
If you want to learn more about Organize, visit organize.org.
Find more episodes at System Catalysts: https://www.systemcatalysts.com/episodes
System Catalysts is produced by Hueman Group Media.
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
One in 800 babies are born with clubfoot, a treatable birth impairment that left untreated prevents a child from walking, and becomes the root cause for illiteracy, abuse, malnutrition, and poverty in many parts of the world. Clubfoot is routinely treated at birth in high income countries, but historically children born in low and middle income countries have not had access to quality treatment. Today, co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld, co-founder of MiracleFeet to hear about how she and her team have dedicated themselves to making a simple, cost-effective treatment for clubfoot available to every baby born with the condition. They are on track to serve 100,000 children later this year with a goal to treat 70% of clubfoot cases in the countries they operate in. We discuss:
- Chesca’s journey from the moment she realized she wanted to get out of the corporate world and discovered a fixable problem she could focus on, including her recent decision to step down as CEO to ensure long-term sustainability of the organization
- How Chesca’s business background helped her take a different approach to building the organization and investing in technology to support its mission
- The art of storytelling for a little known cause focused on dignity and possibility
- How to fundraise from cost-effectiveness focused investors
- How the thoughtful implementation of a mobile data collection system (CommCare) allowed MiracleFeet’s providers to measure quality, deliver better services, and gather data to support continual fundraising
- How to ensure quality while scaling an intervention
- Pivotal moments in Chesca’s journey including breaking down in tears on a redeye to secure a $1 million grant from Google
- Listening to your intuition and backing it up with rigorous data and analysis
Chapters:
01:26 Welcoming Chesca: The Journey Begins
01:57 Chesca's Backstory: From Global Childhood to Business World
03:55 Discovering a Treatment for Clubfoot: A Life-Changing Moment
05:16 The Birth of MiracleFeet: From Vision to Reality
05:34 Taking the Leap: Transitioning from Corporate to Social Impact
08:59 Building MiracleFeet: Challenges, Fundraising, and Growth
21:08 Reflections on Storytelling, Fundraising, and Instinct
27:19 Expanding Reach and Impact: The Future of MiracleFeet
39:11 Harnessing Technology for Global Health Impact
40:22 Innovative Solutions to Healthcare Challenges
42:57 Empowering Local Teams with Data
46:27 Navigating Founder Transition and Organizational Growth
56:53 Mentoring the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
01:12:37 Reflections on Business Acumen in Nonprofit Success
MiracleFeet: https://www.miraclefeet.org/
MiracleFeet's use of CommCare: https://www.miraclefeet.org/stories/the-tool-that-saved-us-in-2020
Impact Delivery: https://sites.dimagi.com/impact-delivery
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Jeroo Billimoria, a remarkable serial social entrepreneur. Starting at age 12, Jeroo has founded several impactful organizations, including Child and Youth Finance International, Aflatoun, Childline India Foundation and Catalyst 2030. In this candid conversation we learn about her journey and discuss:
Solving for root cause problems
Creating impactful outcomes through co-creation and collaboration
Building collective ownership and trust
Letting go of ego and planning for organizational transition
Managing the relational and management aspects of scaling an organization and a movement
The art of listening
How to stay optimistic The journey of Catalyst 2030 in creating a social innovation sector
Advocacy and changing funder mindsets
Increasing representation from the Global South
Resources:
Join Catalyzing Change Week May 6-10, 2024: http://catalyst2030.info/RegisterCCW
Catalyst 2030: https://catalyst2030.net/
Jeroo Billimoria on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeroo_Billimoria
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Glasswing International is a NGO with a remarkable journey, having impacted more than 2.2 million lives through their education and health initiatives throughout Latin America and New York City. Co-founder and President Celina de Sola shares her insights on the organization's evolution and growth to 600 employees, and their community-driven approach that led to the organization's non-clinical model for mental health care. The podcast explores scalability, sustainability, and the role of technology and data in highlighting growth as well as the gaps, to enable organizations to achieve greater impact.
In this insightful podcast episode, we feature guests Andrea Fletcher, Chief Digital Strategy Officer, and Remy DeCausemaker, Open Source Lead at the Digital Service at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), discussing the critical role of digital technology in shaping healthcare strategies within the U.S. government. The discussion delves into the intersections of technology, healthcare, and government strategies, emphasizing the significance of open source collaboration, addressing challenges, and preparing for the future of healthcare systems. Hear fresh perspectives on AI, privacy-enhancing technologies, and the importance of AI transparency in policies.
In part 2 of this series on Artificial Intelligence, Jonathan Jackson and Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi’s Research and Data team lead, openly talk about the rapid evolution of AI, its vast potential, and what Dimagi has been up to over the last few months since winning the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges grant to build a frontline worker coaching chatbot. In this candid conversation, they discuss the value of collaboration, the ethical and philosophical considerations of AI as a tool to empower, rather than replace human services, the looming threat of inequitable dystopia and ways that we are partnering with other organizations to ensure that the benefits of this new technology are spread equitably.
Our co-hosts are joined by thirteen-time #1 bestselling co-author and pioneer in Category Design, Chris Lochead, to discuss Category Design, and how it's relevant for NGOs and social impact organizations. He delves into the fundamentals while offering insights on how to shift from the current competitive state to a new, transformative future. This episode is brimming with compelling story examples such as the women's labor movement and its powerful tagline of “equal pay for equal work”. He also shares a personal anecdote about a home-based climate change response in Santa Cruz, where he employed out-of-the-box thinking to get multiple stakeholders to buy-in for a bigger change. If you are a NGO or social impact organization engaged in breakthrough work, then this episode is for you.
Topics include:
- Why Category Design matters for NGOs and social impact organizations
- Reframing problems in a way that captures attention and makes people feel invested in your cause
- How to think beyond the present to envision a different future
- The importance of language and framing for creating category buy-in
- Manifestos that bring to life the different future an organization aims to create
Warning: This podcast contains explicit language and unfiltered conversations – listener discretion is advised.
STOP TB has an ambitious objective driving the RTC initiative: ending global tuberculosis epidemic by 2030. In this episode, we talk about the innovative efforts taken by STOP TB's Reimagining TB Care initiative, addressing the intricate challenges of combating tuberculosis through comprehensive 360-degree, people-centered approach.
Our guest speaker, Jackie Huh from Stop TB, will share insights on her initiative "Reminagining TB Care" and discuss the importance of putting people at the center of technology innovations. Within this context, we explore the core objectives of RTC, gaining valuable insight into the notable advancements achieved thus far, obstacles faced & strategies RTC employs to overcome these challenges, all while keeping their focus on what matters most – the people.
Exploring the world of healthcare driven by technology, our conversation also features Kelly Collins of SureAdhere who has brilliantly recognized the potential of technology while keeping the essence of people-centered care, with SureAdhere’s VDOT. We will explore how Kelly's endeavors seamlessly align with the evolving landscape of global healthcare, particularly in TB.
Moreover, we'll discuss the possibilities of collaboration among organizers, governments, and providers, all converging with a shared vision.
Co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by MHP Salud’s CEO, Dr. Maggie Dante and Data and Evaluation Analyst, Rachel Udow. MHP Salud is championing Community Health Workers across the US both within their organization and through training and consulting on how to best integrate CHW programs. Over the last decade, MHP Salud has been on a digital transformation journey - leveraging technology to improve service delivery. The conversation unpacks many of the best practices the organization has developed to leverage digital to deliver impact at scale.
Topics discussed:
How MHP Salud has used one technology platform to deepen and improve impact over time
MHP Salud’s digitization journey, including expanding use cases of CommCare across programs
How the organization has developed the human capacity and processes to support a long term Impact Delivery approach
The role of user-centered design and training in successful technology implementation.
The significance of buy-in from CHWs and creating a culture of validation
The integration of technology, including CommCare and Tableau, to improve efficiency and save costs
Insights on strategic thinking, recruitment challenges, and long-term sustainability in community health programsRelated
Resources:
Learn more about MHP Salud: https://mhpsalud.co/about
Access MHP Salud resources and social media: https://bit.ly/m/mhpsalud
CHW Core Consensus Project: https://www.c3project.org/
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro
Social impact organizations and governments worldwide are under immense pressure to do more with less. We are confronting an array of complex, constantly-evolving pressures ranging from economic uncertainty, humanitarian crises, inflation, pandemics, and climate change. All of this means we need to deliver more services to more people. And, we often need to do it with flat or decreasing levels of funding.
Digital solutions have the potential to help us do more with less, to create more value for every dollar invested. But most digital transformations either fail outright, or fail to create this sustained value.
In today’s episode, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro explore a new approach called Impact Delivery designed to address the challenges we are facing in global health in development and the ways technology can and must step up to better deliver on its potential in creating a world where everyone has access to the services they need to thrive.
Topics discussed:
How technology is failing global health and development
Why a new approach is needed
The three pillars of Impact Delivery: Better Impact, More Impact and Sustained Impact
Tangible examples of what each pillar looks like in practice
What this approach means for social impact organizations and governments
Dr. Dixon Chibanda started Friendship Bench after losing a patient to suicide who could not afford to travel to the hospital in Zimbabwe where he worked. There had to be a way to make mental health care more accessible. Today, Friendship Bench has a team of grandmothers across Zimbabwe who are trained to deliver evidence-based high-impact therapy on park benches, making mental health support readily available. In this episode, Jonathan Jackson learns about the incredible journey of the Friendship Bench intervention in conversation with its Founder and CEO, Dr. Dixon Chibanda. Get a behind the scenes look at how this incredible program and intervention has achieved resonance and scale by offering community-based psychological interventions to people in need. You’ll learn how Friendship Bench has trained grandmothers to deliver high-impact therapy, discover the tremendous healing power of storytelling and vulnerability, explore the role CommCare plays in enabling digital data collection and analysis, and dig into the three-part formula for creating a scaled intervention that applies beyond mental health. This episode is a great listen for anyone wanting to learn about the foundational role of digitization in enabling programs to scale and inform data-driven decision-making.
Topics include:
- How the Friendship Bench intervention started
- Leading randomized controlled trials (RCT) to provide evidence for the effectiveness of the Friendship Bench intervention
- Scaling up the Friendship Bench to reach 100,000 people last year
- Engaging government stakeholders and building referral pathways for long-term sustainability
- Focusing on improving overall health outcomes, not just mental health
- The power of effective storytelling and vulnerability
- The role digitization plays in scaling and sustaining the program
- Partnering with Dimagi and using CommCare to become fully digital
- The importance of addressing mental health at the community level
Related Resources:
- Friendship Bench: https://www.friendshipbenchzimbabwe.org
- TedTalk - Why I train grandmothers to treat depression | Dixon Chibanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cprp_EjVtwA
Disclaimer: The audio quality in certain parts of this episode has been compromised, but we trust you are still able to share in this rich conversation. We apologise for any inconvenience.
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Hosts:
Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Discover the key ingredients to Ethiopia's incredible progress in digital health as Ali Flaming and Amie Vaccaro speak with Dr. Girma Tadesse, electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS) Project Manager with JSI. Stemming from a clear vision for improving health outcomes and data use, the Ethiopian government has been on a digital health transformation journey starting in 1991. As Project Manager for this effort, Dr. Girma shares Ethiopia’s journey moving towards a fully paperless system. You’ll hear how with government ownership and strategic resource allocation, they're establishing a strong foundation for long-term success, while also investing in the people and skills needed to create meaningful change. This is a must-listen for anyone working in and with governments and Ministries of Health wanting to learn how to leverage technology to support higher quality services. Ethiopia has been leading the charge of enabling healthcare workers by building scalable platforms and ecosystems for sustained impact and this conversation provides an inside look at how.
Topics include:
- The impact of a clear government vision focused on improving health outcomes and service delivery
- Exploring a data-driven approach to inform improvements and achieve universal health coverage
- The importance of government ownership and buy-in
- The need for clear communication of goals and resource allocation
- Investment in talent and expertise through university programs
- Moving beyond digitizing paper processes to creating real impact in healthcare delivery
- Utilizing digital platforms for multiple use cases and digitizing various health services
- Building scalable platforms and ecosystems for sustained impact
- Embracing an iterative approach to digital health transformation
Related Resources:
- JSI: https://www.jsi.com
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: https://www.gatesfoundation.org
- USAID: https://www.usaid.gov
- Children’s’ Investment Fund Foundation: https://ciff.org
- Superset: https://superset.apache.org
- CommCare: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/
- Simprints Technology: https://www.simprints.com
- USAID Digital Health Activity - Ethiopia: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/jsi-government-of-ethiopia-and-usaid-digital-health-activity/
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Hosts:
Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Rediscover the power of community health workers (CHWs) and their critical role in delivering healthcare globally in this captivating conversation with Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Madeleine Ballard, CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). Despite concrete evidence that CHWs work, millions are not salaried, skilled, supervised and supplied. The WHO recommends remunerating CHWs for their work but 86% of CHWs in Africa are not salaried. And worldwide, CHWs face essential medicine stock-outs 1/3 of the time. CHIC is a coalition of thousands of CHWs and aligned health organizations in 40+ countries who are making professional CHWs (proCHWs) the norm by changing guidelines, funding, and policy. In this episode, Dr. Ballard delivers actionable insights and inspiring ideas for creating sustainable change in global health. You’ll also hear about the countries leading the way, why this matters so much, and what it all means for technologists and funders who want to create a world where everyone has access to the services they need to thrive. The episode confronts listeners with a strong call to action to join the movement for proCHWs and ensure health for all.
Topics included:
- How technology can enable and support community health workers as well as connect and amplify movements
- Bridging the gap between policy and implementation in global healthcare
- Why we must support and unleash the intelligence of CHWs before focusing on AI algorithms
- How all technology companies must be intentional about using technology to avoid harm and extraction in healthcare
- Exploring the key role of strong political will and the importance of listening to CHWs, 70% of whom are women
- Why proper financing is crucial for implementing salaried CHW programs
Related Resources:
- CHIC proCHW Policy Dashboard: https://joinchic.org/resources/prochw-policy-dashboard/
- Championing a Movement to Pay and Professionalize Community Health Workers with Margaret Odera: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/professionalizing-chws
- Payment of Community Health Workers: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langlo/PIIS2214-109X(22)00311-4.pdf
- Equity and AI in Global Health: Exploring Large Language Models, Building Chatbots and Embracing Discomfort: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/equity-through-ai
- Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC): https://joinchic.org
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If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends. Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Testing out a new format for this podcast - short form responses to questions from you, our audience. Plus video!
In this Your Questions Answered episode, we break down a recent learning that Jonathan Jackson shared on LinkedIn regarding working with governments on digital health programs:
“I used to think the goal with digital health programs as a technology partner was to get too big to fail. I’ve learned a lot however in the last 20 years. Now I know: the only path to success is to be too valuable to fail.”
We discuss taking an Impact Delivery approach for digital, and answer the following audience questions:
- Can you kindly provide specific instances where you have consistently provided benefits to your users, clients, and communities? Understanding how you have avoided becoming stagnant and maintained the growth of your program would be highly beneficial.
- How do you suggest measuring and assessing the value-added for users, clients, and communities?
Related Resources
- Burkina Faso case study by Dimagi: https://www.dimagi.com/case-studies/mhealth-tdh-burkinafaso/
- Burkina Faso case study by Exemplars in Global Health (shows savings driven by digital health): https://www.exemplars.health/emerging-topics/epidemic-preparedness-and-response/digital-health-tools/commcare-in-burkina-faso
- Ethiopia project overview: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/jsi-government-of-ethiopia-and-usaid-digital-health-activity/Jonathan’s original LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7082470123483066368?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7082470123483066368%29
- Related Podcast episode: Prioritizing Platforms Over Projects with Danny Roberts: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/prioritizing-platforms-over-projects
- Related Podcast episode: A New Era for Development with Raj Kumar of Devex: Shifting from a Project Mindset to an Investment Mindset: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/kumar-devex
- Related Podcast episode: Building Resilience: The Key to Combating Burnout in Frontline Workers with Lilianna Bagnoli: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/resilience-building
- WellMe free trial (resilience building application for Frontline Workers): https://sites.dimagi.com/wellme-trial
Depression alone is projected to be the third leading cause of disease burden in lower and middle income countries by 2030, where 75% of people don't receive any treatment.
In this episode we delve into the escalating global issue of mental health care. Jonathan Jackson speaks with three of Dimagi’s experts: senior health strategy specialist Lauren Magoun, senior project analyst Anaba Sunday Atua, and senior mental health strategy consultant Christie Civetta. Gain insights from the team’s diverse experience and learnings in project analysis and the implementation of mental health initiatives, as well as approaches to combating the barriers to mental health care delivery and the grave lack of funding. You’ll walk away from this episode with a clear understanding of the role of Frontline Workers in providing intervention, the need for human connection in digital solutions, and the positive impact of integrating mental health care into broader health strategies. This episode challenges funders, implementers, and technologists working in the mental health space to consider the intersection between mental and physical health in developing solutions that create lasting impact and achieve holistic health outcomes.
Topics include:
- The opportunities and future possibilities for mental health care innovation
- The potential of digital solutions to break down barriers and deliver impactful, scalable and cost-effective programs
- The realities of mental health stigma and care in low-and middle-income countries
- The advantages of community-based interventions and the role of trusted members in addressing stigma
- The importance of human connection in mental health care delivery
- The intersection of physical and mental health with a focus on anxiety and depression
Related Resources:
- Bending the curve: the impact of integrating mental health services on HIV and TB outcomes - United for Global Mental Health: https://unitedgmh.org/knowledge-hub/bending-the-curve-the-impact-of-integrating-mental-health-services-on-hiv-and-tb-outcomes/
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Poor countries are developing a new paradigm of mental health care. America is taking note: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23402638/mental-health-psychiatrist-shortage-community-care-africa
-
Basic Needs Ghana (Anaba’s former employer): https://basicneedsghana.org/
- Reimagining global mental health care with a person-centered, digitally-enabled approach with Dr. Vikram Patel co-founder of Sangath and successor to Paul Farmer at Harvard Medical School: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/reimagining-mental-health
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If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.
Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In this episode, we discuss technology's impactful role in making services accessible, specifically in the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB). Listen as Chris Buri, a TB survivor and patient advocate, shares his experience with TB treatment and the importance of patient support and advocacy in TB care. You’ll also hear about his personal journey of resilience and advocacy, the challenges and opportunities presented by TB treatment, and the potential of technology such as VDOT (Video Directly Observed Therapy) to improve patient outcomes. This is a great listen for those wanting to learn more about the impact of TB on patients and their families, the need for person-centered care, and the important call to action for more research and funding in TB treatment and advocacy.
Topics discussed:
- An introduction to Chris Buri, a TB survivor and patient advocate
- Chris's experience with TB treatment, including challenges with medication side effects and treatment adherence
- The importance of patient support and advocacy in TB treatment
- The role of support groups in providing emotional and practical support to TB patients
- The impact of TB on patients and their families, including social stigma and financial burden
- The need for patient-centered care in TB treatment, with a focus on patient empowerment and engagement
- The potential of technology to improve TB treatment adherence and patient outcomes
- The challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in TB treatment
- The need for more research and funding in TB treatment and advocacy
- Chris's call to action for healthcare providers, policymakers, and the public to prioritize TB treatment and support
Related Resources * SureAdhere: https://www.sureadhere.com * CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): https://www.cdc.gov * Colorado Department of Public Health: https://cdphe.colorado.gov * Denver Health:https://www.phidenverhealth.org * We are TB: https://www.wearetb.com Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In this episode we chat to renowned epidemiologist, healthcare innovator, and educator Dr. Richard Garfein and social entrepreneur and infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Kelly Collins, as they share their journey of turning an idea from research in academia into a successful commercial enterprise. They discuss their experiences in starting SureAdhere, licensing the software from UCSD, and signing up health departments to use the technology. You’ll also hear about their work in using Video Directly Observed therapy (VDOT) to transform tuberculosis (TB) treatment, and how they expanded their company's reach to cover diseases from hepatitis C to opioid use disorder. The episode highlights the importance of following evidence-based decision-making and empowering patients and healthcare workers alike by leveraging technology, innovation, and passion.
Topics include:
- The development of Video Directly Observed Therapy (VDOT) technology
- The role of DOT and VDOT in healthcare interventions
- Telemedicine during COVID-19 and beyond
- Digital technology to support medication assisted treatment and opioid use disorder-The importance of evidence-based decision-making in developing and testing technology
- The decision to start a company to scale VDOT technology and make it more widely available
- The challenges of licensing the software from UCSD and signing up health departments to use the technology
- The impact of VDOT on improving patient experiences and healthcare provider efficiency.
- Lessons learned from the experience of starting and growing SureAdhere
- The decision to join forces with Dimagi
Related Resources:
- SureAdhere: https://www.sureadhere.com /
- The Stop TB Partnership: https://www.stoptb.org
- The UK National Health Service: https://www.nhs.uk
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov
- Verizon Foundation: https://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/grant-requirements
Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up
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Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/
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Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA
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Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
“There is no health without mental health.” - Dr. Vikram Patel
Dr. Vikram Patel is a psychiatrist, professor, renowned researcher and the incoming chair of Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine where he takes over for the late Dr. Paul Farmer. Through decades of field-defining research, Dr Patel has shown how community-based resources can meet a growing burden of mental illness globally. In this episode, we explore Dr. Patel’s journey from training as a psychiatrist in London to working in Zimbabwe and co-founding Sangath - an award-winning Indian NGO, committed to improving mental health care across the globe. This episode is a must-listen for those wanting to learn about strategies for scaling mental health care that extend beyond the traditional healthcare system and understanding how technology can help to improve the quality of psychological and social interventions.
Topics include:
- The importance of supporting Community Health Workers and Frontline Workers to treat mental illness and address the crisis of human resources in healthcare and mental health
- The integral difference between mental health and mental illness
- The critical need for integration of mental health support into universal health coverage
- The connection and influence of mental health on other chronic diseases
- The role of the ‘accompaniment model’ in mental health care
- Understanding how non-specialist providers can deliver the ‘active ingredient’ in mental health intervention for two thirds of mental illness
- The failings, future and possible fixes for the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) in psychiatry
- Introducing a stepped care approach in addressing individual’s mental health needs
- The importance of human connection in mental health treatment
- The need to shift from a diagnostic model to a person-centered approach
- Exploring measurement based peer supervision in mental health treatment programs
- The top 3 ways to leverage digital to augment humans in mental health care, not replace them
Related resources:
- Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments - Collaboration between GMH@Harvard's Project EMPOWER, Dimagi, Sangath and the University of Toronto https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot/
-
How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/
-
Dr. Vikram Patel profile and research: https://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/vikram-patel
-
Learn about Dr. Patel’s new role as Chair of of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/patel-named-new-chair-global-health-social-medicine
Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/ Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA
If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.
Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Dimagi’s CommCare platform has been shaped by its users since its inception. Today, we revisit some of the first Community Health Workers who helped design and test CommCare back in 2008 in Tanzania. Co-host Amie Vaccaro speaks with two people who led that early research – Gayo Mhila, who has recently interviewed 5 of the earliest users, and Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Global Director of Research. Through the conversation you’ll learn how technology can enable CHW’s to provide vital support to their communities, and how CHW input helped shape essential functionality of CommCare marking the genesis of Dimagi’s Design Under the Mango Tree approach.
Topics include:
- Insights from 5 of the earliest users of CommCare - how they got into community health work and their experience with CommCare
- How CHW feedback led to the creation of logins, referrals, supervisor applications, case management and more foundational functionality in CommCare
- How switching from paper to digital helped tackle stigma, earn trust and improve efficiency for CHWs
- How technology can support and bolster relationships (not replace them)
- The journey to creating value for users at different levels of a health system with digital
- How digitizing community health work can support expanded digital literacy for women and why it matters
- Training techniques for technology adoption
- The importance of user-driven design or as Dimagi’s calls it “Design Under the Mango Tree”
Related Resources:
- CommCare: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/
- Design Under the Mango Tree: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/
- High-Impact Growth podcast Ep 10: Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare
In this episode we explore the journey of Margaret Odera, a Community Health Worker and mentor mother in Kenya. Following her HIV diagnosis, Margaret received life-changing support from a mentor mother, which inspired her to dedicate her life to helping other HIV-positive mothers and their newborns. As the founder of the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN), Margaret is also leading the charge to professionalize and amplify the voices of these unsung heroes in the health sector. We discuss the role of Community Health Workers in disease prevention and health promotion; the need for better tools, technology, and training, and the steps Margaret is taking toward professionalizing Community Health Worker roles to ensure fair compensation, improved working conditions, and preparedness for future pandemics.
Topics discussed:
- What a typical week looks like for Margaret
- The realities of community health workers - their working conditions and the lack of compensation
- The unfortunate status of payment for Community Health Workers in Kenya
- How lack of payment for Community Health Workers reflects a gender issue
- How Margaret came to found the Community Health Workers Champions Network (CHWCN) and early wins
- Challenges faced in professionalizing Community Health Workers
- The role of technology in professionalizing community health workers
- The need for better Community Health Worker representation and visibility at various levels of health governance
- The role of Community Health Workers in preventing future pandemics
- The support needed from health systems at large to train, support, and equip Community Health Workers
Related Resources:
Margaret Odera, Heroine of Health: https://www.intrahealth.org/vital/community-health-worker-advocate-and-now-heroine-health
Women in Global Health profile of Margaret Odera: https://womeningh.org/our_members/margaret-odera/Video by IntraHealth of Margaret Odera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZAEwz2BUU
Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up
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Please subscribe and follow this podcast so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.
Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
In a world where stress is inevitable, burnout is rife, and the global mental health burden is growing, it's crucial to develop the skill of resilience to recover, adapt, and grow from stress. This episode highlights how building resilience can guard against burnout, a workplace phenomenon that affects many Frontline Workers, resulting in feelings of fatigue, detachment, and a reduction in professional efficacy. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Lilianna Bagnoli to dig into Dimagi’s work on resilience-building through the launch of the WellMe application - a user-friendly tool focussed on equipping Frontline Workers with resilience-building behaviors, that can be used across geographies, languages, and Frontline Worker cadres. You’ll also hear about the ways in which we can scale access to mental health support for individuals and Frontline Workers, how technology can support this, and what this means for technologists, implementers, and funders working in global health.
Other topics discussed:
- Why resilience-building is important amongst Frontline Workers
- The growing mental health crisis & four interventions that can help deliver mental health support at scale
- Leaning into collaborative approaches to deal with stress on all levels amongst essential and non-essential staff
- An introduction to Dimagi’s WellMe application & the feedback received from the user testing phase
- The importance of adapting messages and language from user testing to appeal to specific contexts and demographics
- The need for organizations to incorporate resilience-building into professional development efforts
- The effects of bolstering mental health on the results of treatments for other health issues
Related Resources:
- The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development: https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(18)31612-X.pdf
- WellMe: https://sites.dimagi.com/wellme-trial
- Grand Challenges Canada funded project to scale up peer supervision for delivery of psychological treatments: https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/empower-gcc-project-pilot
- Promoting effective mental healthcare through peer supervision: https://sangath.in/peers/
- How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/
- WellMe: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/introducing-wellme-the-resilience-app-for-frontline-workers/
- What We Learned from our Working Group on Health Worker Wellbeing: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/what-we-learned-from-our-working-group-on-health-worker-wellbeing/
- Equipping Health Workers to Recover, Adapt and Grow https://chwi.jnj.com/resilience
- A Toolkit to Protect Against Burnout on the Front Lines: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources
- Resilience Message Program: Evidence-based, free, and adaptable messages to increase health worker resilience: https://chwi.jnj.com/about/global-interventions/the-resilience-collaborative/resources
- When there is no word for resilience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdcT6gSh-xY
- Making Resilience Resonate: https://sites.dimagi.com/guidebook-resilience-message-program
- Leveraging Advanced Analytics to Develop Engagement Profiles of a Digital Resilience Message Programme and Inform Scale Efforts: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-johnson-foundation-leveraging-advanced-analytics-to-develop-engagement-profiles/
- CommCare Companion Application:https://www.dimagi.com/blog/johnson-and-johnson-foundation-commcare-companion-application/
- Digital health solutions need to consider the health worker: https://www.devex.com/news/sponsored/opinion-digital-health-solutions-need-to-consider-the-health-worker-102333
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi’s Research and Data team lead, to discuss Dimagi’s work exploring large language models to create chatbots for global health and development use cases. They discuss how we might leverage AI to advance equity despite the reality that it can also decrease equity, while recognizing the irreplaceable value of human-to-human connection in healthcare. We also discuss the potential of ChatGPT to support more accessible SMS workflows, how voice to text can support non-literate populations, and how to embrace the discomfort of this moment in a way that propels us towards creating positive impact.
Topics include:
- Exploring large language models and GPT-4 for Chatbots in Global Health and Development
- Building tools to support and elevate equity in AI
- AI's Impact on Productivity
- Potential Hype and Pitfalls of AI
- Measuring utility, accuracy, safety, and purpose adherence in chatbots
- The importance and opportunity in using LLMs with SMS and Voice-to-Text for non-literate populations
- Leveraging AI in a way that elevates and supports human effort instead of replacing it
Sign up to our newsletter, and stay informed of Dimagi’s work :https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up
We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi
Twitter:https://twitter.com/dimagi/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA
If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.
Hosts: Jonathan Jackson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/
Amie Vaccaro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/
Related Resources: * GatesNotes, The Age of AI has begun: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun * Palantir, Bending Artificial Intelligence to our collective will: https://www.palantir.com/newsroom/letters/our-new-platform/ * Comparing Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Patient Questions Posted to a Public Social Media Forum: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2804309
Global development is evolving quickly in the face of social, economic, and political changes. Jonathan Jackson sits down with Raj Kumar, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Devex, a leading independent online news platform for development professionals, to discuss how 2023 marks the start of a new, more challenging development era. With growing competition between China and Russia and the West, a new set of economic circumstances, and overwhelming humanitarian needs, development professionals need to get more value for money. And this requires a change in mindset and how things are done - shifting from a project-based mindset to a collaborative, results-driven investment mindset.
Topics discussed:
- Why and how we need to shift from a project-based to an investment-based mindset
- The role of Devex in changing the development sector
- How funding for development is changing and needs to change
- The potential of philanthropy in funding development work
- How technology deployed thoughtfully in support of the people closest to the challenges is poised to unlock significantly more value
- Prioritizing results over projects for better resource allocation
Related resources:
- “From the editor-in-chief: 3 ways 2023 may define a new development era” by Raj Kumar on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/from-the-editor-in-chief-3-ways-2023-may-define-a-new-development-era-104723
- “Could this app transform delivery of last-mile health services?” by Catherine Cheney on Devex: https://www.devex.com/news/could-this-app-transform-delivery-of-last-mile-health-services-104113
- Devex: https://www.devex.com/
- The Business of Changing the World by Raj Kumar: https://pages.devex.com/the-business-of-changing-the-world.html
- Devex Book Club podcast: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html
- GatesNote on AI: https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Age-of-AI-Has-Begun
- Co-Develop: https://www.codevelop.fund/
- Dimagi’s Big Break: Receiving Instrumental Core Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with Tim Wood, Former Senior Program Officer https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gates-foundation-funding
Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with three Community Health Workers, supported by the Lwala Community Alliance, as they share first-hand their journey into community health, their day-to-day, the impact of digital tools on their work, and the importance of salaried Community Health Workers in creating greater access to critical health services worldwide. This is part 2 in a two-part series on the important work Lwala Community Alliance is doing in transforming the community health landscape in Kenya. A must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the important work of Community Health Workers.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The critical role of technology in supporting essential service delivery
- A day in the life of 3 Community Health Workers in their communities
- Top challenges faced by CHWs - from difficult clients to weather conditions
- The importance of paying, training, supervising and supporting CHWs
- Policies for a safer and more conducive working environment for CHWs
Related Resources:
- Lwala Community Alliance: https://lwala.org/
- Community Health Impact Coalition: The Problem: A Dual Human Rights Issue https://joinchic.org/resources/the-problem-a-dual-human-rights-issue/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Julius Mbeya, Co-CEO of the Lwala Community Alliance, to discuss their approach to addressing health challenges in Kenya. By using a community-led health model, they are able to provide quality, affordable healthcare to underprivileged communities, and reduce maternal and under-five deaths. This is part one in a two-part series on the important work Lwala Community Alliance is doing in transforming the community health landscape in Kenya. A must-listen for anyone interested in innovative digital approaches to healthcare to effect lasting impact.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- A breakdown of Lwala’s community-led health model
- The path to providing affordable healthcare to communities in informal settlements
- How and why Lwala is digitizing its Community Health Workers
- Reducing maternal and under-five deaths
- The importance of data collection and longitudinal tracking understand impact over time an to create an evidence base
- Working with the government to bring interventions to scale
Related Resources:
- Lwala Community Alliance: https://lwala.org/
- Community Health Impact Coalition: The Problem: A Dual Human Rights Issue https://joinchic.org/resources/the-problem-a-dual-human-rights-issue/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Olukunle Akunwisi, Technical Officer for Digital Access at FIND & Erica Troncosco, Technical Advisor and Portfolio Lead for Frontier Technology Solutions at Jhpeigo, at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the value of innovation in improving health equity through thoughtful diagnostics, involving the user in the design process, investing in the digital literacy of the Frontline Worker, and engaging country stakeholders to ensure buy-in.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The importance of diagnostics in improving access to care and curbing disease prevalence
- Addressing the biggest diagnostic gaps at various levels of care
- The experiences and lessons learned from working on digital health projects
- Balancing the use of technology with ensuring that those new technologies are actually helping Frontline Workers provide better care
- The value of innovation and involving the user in the design process
- The need for investment in health worker digital literacy and the accessibility of infrastructure in more remote settings for digital health interventions
- The importance of engaging the countries or stakeholders in which the solution or innovation will be designed, understanding the context of use, and getting user buy-in
Related Resources:
- FIND: https://www.finddx.org
- Jhpiego: https://www.jhpiego.org
- Principles for Digital Development: https://digitalprinciples.org
- Design Under the Mango Tree - Dimagi’s approach to designing with users: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/20-years-of-designing-under-the-mango-tree/
- Solving Hard Problems, Designing Under the Mango Tree, and Taking a Product Approach: Lessons Learned from the Making of CommCare featuring Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Clayton Sims, Cory Zue and Dr. Neal Lesh: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/making-commcare
- Dimagi’s 5 Year Strategy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13O7SKwrQiMXM04zmB3jLxOEkCC0TF3UiJ7qwJm4mF_g/edit
- Dimagi’s High-Impact Growth Framework: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v_ial9hXI7Hy0c_T4A1uX-VOgx4DNeKNC_o_PZy4F2k/edit
In today’s episode we flip the script and Jonathan Jackson interviews Amie Vaccaro to discuss her career journey, her experiences, and the lessons learned so far in growing the marketing team at Dimagi. The potential of digital to support iNGOs and governments can only be really unlocked when it becomes a foundational layer that supports all aspects of the organization’s work horizontally. We often see digital projects failing when they are focused on one specific vertical or silo and not able to add value across an organization. Amie has been on a parallel journey building marketing as a horizontal and foundational team at Dimagi and together Jonathan and Amie unpack some of the lessons Amie has learned that are applicable to anyone leading a digital shared service within an organization.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The challenges of standing up a new horizontal shared service in an organization
- How to sequence value creation to build trust and autonomy over time
- Partnering with leadership to understand and guide strategic direction
- Balancing execution work with high-level strategic work
- Empowering a team to say no and prioritize tasks
Related resources:
-
Simeon Yosefe, Malawi’s head of digital health, on the High-Impact Growth Podcast: https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/gdhf-22/simeon-yosefe
- Coaching program that Amie mentions: https://joinflourish.com/
High-Impact Growth podcast co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro reflect on 9 months of podcasting, from finding their voice, to key insights, tools, and insider tips for those considering starting a podcast. Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- What it means to share non-obvious perspectives - why they matter and the tradeoffs
- How to think about planning for your podcast - from choosing a co-host to creating the space for your podcast to evolve
- Key podcasting tools to consider when starting out (including Descript, Riverside and Anchor.fm which is now Spotify for Podcasters)
- Building out a podcasting team - roles to consider
- Balancing the drive for perfection against getting your story and perspectives out
Related resources:
- Reid Hoffman in conversation with ChatGPT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ATm9GxM3-n0
- Podcast hosting platform: https://anchor.fm/
- Descript podcast editing tool: https://www.descript.com/
- Riverside online recording studio: https://riverside.fm/
- B2B Podcasting Course from SweetFish Media: https://sweetfishmedia.com/course/b2b-podcasting/
- Gimlet Academy: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/gimlet-academy
Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with Liz Wiseman, researcher, executive advisor, and author of New York Times bestseller Multipliers and three other books to learn about multiplier leadership. In this candid conversation, Liz discusses the research behind Multipliers and how to apply it within global health and development to ensure you are fully realizing your team’s potential.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- A breakdown of the Multipliers leadership style and how to utilize it within any team environment to create 2x the impact
- Multipliers vs Diminishers vs Accidental Diminishers- where does your leadership style fall?
- Decoupling intent from outcome when it comes to management
- Creating a culture of empowerment where multiplier managers thrive
- How power dynamics and organizational culture feed into diminishing tendencies
- Finding the time to have a multiplier approach especially in a high-pressured environment
- Striking the balance between empowering and micro-managing
Related resources:
Lize Wiseman’s profile & books - https://thewisemangroup.com/who-we-are/our-team/liz-wiseman/
Jonathan Jackson unpacks the session he led at the Global Digital Health Forum called “Is the Digital Health Community Creating Better Jobs for Users?” In it, he discusses the idea of introducing a 10th Principle for Digital Development 'Make the users’ job better.' Creating better jobs for better outcomes is at the heart of Dimagi’s work and 5 year strategy.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- Why supporting and elevating the Frontline Worker is critical to the future of the digital health community (and Dimagi’s 5 year strategy)
- What would adding a 10th Principle for Digital Development look like?
- How prioritizing the end user influences the quality of the work they’re doing
- The tradeoffs and nuances inherent in prioritizing the Frontline Worker when digitizing a health program
Related resources:
Principles for Digital Development: https://digitalprinciples.org
Announcing our five-year strategy for High-Impact Growth: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Lauren Magoun, Dimagi’s Senior Health Strategy Specialist, at the Global Digital Health Forum to discuss the realities of the global mental health crisis, the lack of access to mental health care, and the innovative work Dimagi is driving to develop digital solutions that enable frontline providers to address the gap in mental health care.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- Enabling non-specialist frontline providers to provide mental health care
- The power in taking a protocolized approach to mental health treatment
- An exploration of the ways that we can leverage digital innovation to scale mental health care programs
- The impact of an integrated treatment program - incorporating mental health treatment into treatment programs for other illnesses for example
- How digital can augment vs replace humans in mental health care
- How the global health and development community is thinking about mental health
Related resources:
- Vikram Patel, Sangath - https://sangath.in/our-people/dr-vikram-patel/
- How Digital Solutions Can Help Scale Mental Health Care: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/digital-solutions-scale-mental-health-care/
- Applications of Digital Technologies in Mental Health - #MQScienceFestival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmu1PQ1YrQw&list=PLVmwIEfrcKqnGhas9Vy4CmPEvG9xVvQdr&index=1&t=478s
- Resilience working group and guide: https://sites.dimagi.com/guidebook-resilience-message-program
- World Health Organization - depression stats: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
- Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms; Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay0214
- Epidemiology of maternal depression, risk factors, and child outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries; The Lancet: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221503661630284X
- Bending the curve: The impact of integrating mental health services on HIV and TB outcomes: https://unitedgmh.org/knowledge-hub/bending-the-curve-the-impact-of-integrating-mental-health-services-on-hiv-and-tb-outcomes/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Clayton Sims, Dimagi’s Chief Technology Officer, at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the opportunities, realities & future of artificial intelligence in the global health and development space.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- Exploring the highest impact use cases of AI for global health and development including language models, image processing, biometrics, diagnostics, chatbots, and threat detection.
- How AI tools can create more autonomy and expand the skillsets of an individual
- Looking at ChatGPT training data and structures, and the impact of minimal global vetting on the global development space
- The ethics around AI - and the impact it may have on data sharing
- Exploring the future of AI from an infrastructure standpoint
Related resources:
- GDHF 2022 - The Model is the Message - Clayton Sims - https://youtu.be/KaoXwfwNeBo
- GDHF 2021 Lightning Talk - Impossible is Normal - Clayton Sims- https://youtu.be/kzNXPsIlVaQ
- GDHF 2020 Lightning Talk - No One Else is Coming - Clayton Sims - https://youtu.be/PV3xWirg8S0
- ChatGPT by open.ai - https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Jacaranda Health’s co-executive directors Nick Pearson & Sathy Rajasekharan at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss challenges and learnings along their journey to impact in maternal and child health in Kenya.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- Navigating a major pivot as a digital health organization from running private health centers to partnering with governments to support gaps in maternal and newborn care
- Maximizing impact by improving communication with moms through a digital platform called Prompts
- Scaling capacity & exploring peer learning through a mentorship program for healthcare providers
- Amplifying the voices of Moms in the health system and closing service delivery gaps through feedback loops
- Implementing machine learning - the benefits and challenges
Jacaranda Health partners with governments to deploy affordable and scalable solutions through government hospitals, where the majority of underserved mothers and babies receive care. In Kenya, they work with the National Ministry of Health and with 20 Kenyan County Governments, with solutions deployed across 1,100+ hospitals and health centers.
Related resources:
- Jacaranda Health - https://www.jacarandahealth.org
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Mercy Corps’ Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team – Meri Ghorkhmazyan, Senior Director MEL, Alex Tran, Senior MEL Advisor and Hanna Camp, Senior Advisor, Technology for MEL. They discuss how MEL is the next generation of M&E and how it has fuelled program adaptation and higher level learning to improve frontline impact at Mercy Corps.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The difference between M&E and MEL
- The value of a MEL policy and the challenges of disorganized MEL technology
- How standardizing on technology for MEL allows teams to maximize comprehensiveness of data as well as timely action
- The ins and outs of creating enterprise technology agreements and the cost savings made possible
- Implementing a MEL technology training program with support from the Cisco Foundation
- Creating continuous buy in along the journey of change management
- How streamlining technologies can boost professional development opportunities for MEL technology practitioners.
- Empowering data practitioners to be able to make better decisions around program performance.
- The challenge of finding and retaining technically skilled staff
Related Resources:
Mercy Corps: https://www.mercycorps.org/
Mercy Corps’ 10 year strategy: https://www.mercycorps.org/press-room/releases/pathway-to-possibility
Mercy Corps’ Guide to Building a Digital Ecosystem for M&E at Scale: https://dimagi.com/blog/mercy-corps-guide-to-building-a-digital-ecosystem-for-me-at-scale/
CommCare enterprise offering: https://www.dimagi.com/commcare/enterprise/
Jonathan Jackson shares his candid reflections and takeaways from his time at the recent World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, as well as his stance on some of the biggest problems we are facing and the biggest bets we need to make to create a better world.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The background of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and its role at Davos
- The reality of the state of ‘poly crisis’ - multiple complex crises that a lot of organizations are facing currently
- The increasing scope of social entrepreneurship and social innovation on the global stage
- Shedding light on some of the main stage topics at Davos such as the Global Debt Crisis
- Advocating for Better Jobs for Frontline Workers and why this is important
- Leveraging technology to scale a more responsive & adaptive workforce
- The potential around AI & ChatGPT to amplify frontline impact
- Some of the most compelling ideas shared from social entrepreneurs at Davos
Related Resources:
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting: https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2023
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship: https://www.schwabfound.org/
Jonathan Jackson sits down with Rebecca Distler, Strategist for AI, Data and Digital Health at the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation at the Global Digital Health Forum, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of digital health and AI.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- Investing in enabling environments for digital health
- The need to plan for day 2000 on day 1, and the tension between short- and long-term thinking
- Uncovering effective entry points for building digital public infrastructure
- Putting the person at the center of health systems, not their disease
- Exploring "medical AI" vs "public health AI" and how to make use of insights that are generally unlocked from AI – an often forgotten step
- Creating a seat at the table for people who will be using digital tools and the importance of supporting health workers
- How technologies like ChatGPT are poised to fundamentally change workflows
Related resources:
- The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation: https://www.mcgovern.org/
“If you want to get a holistic picture of a person's health, you have to look at everything that concerns them, including for instance the issues of the local authorities - sanitation…water, everything to do with that. So we should not limit digital health to ministry of health. It's something that will go to all the other government ministries and agencies and may I say including the private sector.” - Innocent Chiboma, Principal ICT Officer for Digital Health, Ministry of Health of Zambia
Jonathan Jackson talks to Innocent Chiboma, Principal ICT Officer for Digital Health at the Zambian Ministry of Health, to discuss taking a whole-of-government approach to digital health and what it looks like in practice to build coordination and collaboration across ministries and the private sector.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- The importance of good governance and strategic clarity in driving digital transformation of health
- Creating buyin and fostering respect across ministries
- Breaking down siloes to take a more holistic view of health
- How to introduce new ideas within a government ministry
- Lessons learned in Zambia’s journey towards better access to health services
“I think the work that we're doing is inherently really complex. A lot of our partners are doing complex work and they're working in really complex environments. This a very necessary value because without this, we wouldn't actually be on that road to greater impact. “ - Avni Singhal
“We intentionally run towards taking on the highest impact projects. Knowing that of our portfolio of national scale programs, there’s a high likelihood half of them are canceled or put on pause or, or are never picked up again for reasons completely outside of our control. But the next time it comes up, like we run just as fast to that because we are running not to embrace complexity for complexity's sake, but complexity for the greatest impact.” - Gillian Javetski
Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro sit down with four Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer; Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff; Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager; and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the fourth and final in Dimagi’s newly articulated values: Embrace complexity for impact. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we continue growing. Listen to this episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to embrace complexity for impact and why this is so important for achieving high-impact growth.
Full description of the newly articulated value:
Embrace complexity for impact
Doing this work is by no means straightforward. We often come across forks in the road in our work: the simpler road, or the windier road to drive High-Impact Growth. We choose the road for greater impact - while always keeping our destination in mind.
- We believe in the potential for positive change. While the work we do is hard, we believe in the potential to do ambitious things that create real, meaningful change.
- We are comfortable in the gray. The path to greatest impact may not always be clear. We close the loop when we can and also find patience and comfort in navigating the unknown.
- When we fall, we get back up. We will hit blockades along our winding road to impact. We persevere in the face of inevitable setbacks.
- We evaluate when to stop. While we’re not afraid to embrace complexity, we consistently evaluate if we are doing the highest-impact work and actively choose work to stop doing. We try to avoid making the same mistakes twice.
Related Resources:Dimagi’s Careers Page: https://www.dimagi.com/careers/
“For us as a country, we want to implement and deploy comprehensive systems. A system that actually encompasses everything. Not only focusing on one company. HIV may be a starting point, but we want these resources not only to be limited to HIV, but they should cover everything. And by doing that, we ensure that we are taking care of everything. If a mother is pregnant, is HIV positive, or also has TB - all these will actually be taken care of because we have brought all this work together and those who are providing the care will actually provide this care within the same framework and the same environment. That will definitely improve the situation.” - Simeon Yosefe, Head of Digital Health, Ministry of Health of Malawi
Jonathan Jackson talks to Simeon Yosefe, Head of Digital Health for the Ministry of Health of Malawi, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of digitally transforming Malawi’s health system. You’ll hear about the importance of aligning digital health systems closely to the vision and digital health strategy of the government, how Malawi is creating policy guidance to ensure that its digital health systems work for Malawi, and why we need to take a comprehensive approach to digital systems. Malawi has been a leader in digital health laying out a bold digital health strategy and this episode is a must listen for any digital health practitioners working or wanting to work with Ministries of Health.
“I think the out-collaborate piece really stands out for me on this value. And a lot of our partners come to my mind. Dimagi’s had a lot of experience working across healthcare, across agriculture, across education. Yet we always approach a new partner as a unique new project that we're starting from scratch.We have a strong product, we have a strong method, but we're always looking to learn through our partners.” - Avni Singhal
“Another thing that it brings to mind is learning from our failures. And I think that's another thing that can be quite uncomfortable. But, in the interest of open learning it's so critical that we look at our failures, and try and figure out what went wrong and how we can do better next time…this is something that we do quite well on our teams.” - Simon Kelly
Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro chat to four team members at Dimagi - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer; Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff; Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager; and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the third in Dimagi’s newly articulated values: Evolve by learning and sharing openly. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we continue growing. Listen to this episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to evolve by learning and sharing openly and why this is so important to supporting our high-impact growth.
Full description of the newly articulated value:
Evolve by learning and sharing openly
No single person or organization can achieve our vision alone. We must work as partners (not vendors) to proactively understand our respective challenges, the impact we want to make, and to collaboratively chart the best way forward. We learn from what we’re doing and are unafraid in sharing those lessons, even when we wish the results were different.
- We start with “why?” The answers to the challenges we are working on may not exist, and we won’t get where we are going by applying existing thinking. We’re eager to explore new approaches, always starting by defining what we want to learn - which can sometimes be the hardest part.
- We out-collaborate rather than outcompete.While we’re proud of our individual contributions, we are most proud of the collective achievements that our team and our partners are able to realize.
- We use data to drive decisions. We can't learn or improve from what we can't measure. We know that feedback loops are integral to our continual improvement.
- We speak up. We ask questions to unpack assumptions. We share feedback directly and with kindness, out of a sincere desire to help each other understand and improve. We receive feedback with humility and gratitude.
Related Resources:
Podcast episode on Out-collaborating vs Out-competing:
https://sites.dimagi.com/high-impact-growth-podcast/out-collaborating-vs-out-competing
Dimagi’s Careers Page: https://www.dimagi.com/careers/
“80% of the time, it's easy to be respectful and empathetic. But that last 20% of the time, that's where the rubber really meets the road. It's being respectful and empathetic all of the time that really brings the team together and allows us to have these outsized, impactful outcomes… And that's really hard in an industry that is so stressful and complex as ours.” - Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi CEO
Co-hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by fellow Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer, Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff, Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager, and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the second in Dimagi’s newly articulated values: Lead with Empathy and Respect. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we are growing quickly all over the world. Listen to the episode to hear candid reflections on what it looks like to lead with empathy and respect.
Full description of the newly articulated value:
Lead with empathy and respect
We treat each other with kindness, empathy and respect, creating space for all voices and stories to be heard. We are building an equitable, inclusive and safe environment where we can bring our authentic selves to work.
- We work to improve equity. We understand that not everyone has equal access and opportunities. We strive to magnify underrepresented voices that we could otherwise miss, whether they be within Dimagi, users of our offerings, or other stakeholders.
- We challenge our biases.We acknowledge the existence of conscious and unconscious biases in our everyday interactions. We seek to actively understand, illuminate, and challenge them.
- We champion balance.We recognize that work is not life, and we respect our colleagues' lives outside of work. And we know our work is a marathon, not a sprint. To sustain ourselves, we need to take care of ourselves and look out for each other.
- We recognize each other's unique strengths. We know that everyone brings their own unique strengths to their work. We seek to discover these strengths, bringing out each other’s full potential.
Jonathan Jackson talks to Nick Martin, CEO of TechChange at the Global Digital Health Forum to discuss the evolution and maturation of the digital health industry over the last 10 years, including the role of training, great content, project sustainability and shared buy-in in creating the outcomes we all know are possible.
Some topics covered in this conversation include:
- How digital health has matured from conversations about “How do we successfully deploy a digital health pilot” to “how do we support digital health” which has now become a given.
- Connecting the dots for digital health - how do ministries of health take potentially fragmented digital systems and create better health outcomes with them
- The role of training - overcoming resistance, making technical topics interesting and engaging, and making the case to create top quality content
- Approaches to training including cohort-based social learning and emphasizing relationships alongside skills building
- The challenge of creating high quality community health worker training
- Telemedicine - managing tradeoffs between cost and impact over the long term
- Defining day 2000 success metrics on day 1 of a project and the importance of long term planning
- How the pandemic has forced ministries of health to get better at planning
Related resources:
TechChange: https://www.techchange.org/
Global Digital Health Forum: https://www.globaldigitalhealthnetwork.org/forum/
USAID: https://www.usaid.gov/
PATH: https://www.path.org/
Architects of Digital Health Board Game: https://architectsofdh.community.tc/catalog
Jhpiego: https://www.jhpiego.org/
“At Dimagi we’re not afraid of making mistakes. We’re not afraid of failing. We actually like to fail and learn through each other.” - Avni Singhal
“We try to partner to a much larger extent than I think would be reasonable for a software company under normal market conditions. But we’re not under normal market conditions, and what we’re trying to do and accomplish…requires a huge amount of boldness…At the same time, we don’t know if we’re right, and we have failed a lot over the last 20 years, ad we expect to fail a whole lot going forward as well. And that’s where that humility is so critical.” - Jonathan Jackson
Co-hosts, Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by four Dimagi team members - Lucina Tse, Chief Operating Officer, Gillian Javetski, Chief of Staff, Avni Singhal, Senior Customer Success Manager, and Simon Kelly, Director of Server Engineering - to discuss the first in Dimagi’s newly articulated values: Be Bold but Humble. At Dimagi, we care deeply not only about what we do and the impact we have, but also about HOW we do it. Articulating our values has become incredibly important as we are growing quickly all over the world. Hear candid reflections on what it looks like to be bold but humble at Dimagi and why it matters.
Full description of the newly articulated value:
Be Bold But Humble
Achieving High-Impact Growth requires that we act boldly, knowing time and resources are limited and the need is great. We take bold risks even though we may be wrong. We act boldly but don’t allow our ego to cloud our judgment. We take our work seriously, never ourselves.
- We own our outcomes. We take ownership of our commitments to each other and our stakeholders. We hold ourselves accountable for both good and bad results.
- We are not paralyzed by perfection. We prioritize creating over theorizing and shape ideas through collaborative iteration. Everything starts with an early draft, not a final pass. When in doubt, write it out!
- We make space to make choices. We can only be creative if we have the space to make decisions. We empower each other with autonomy to choose the way to achieve the best outcomes. We create space to try things that may fail, so long as we are clear on what we hope to learn.
- We don’t walk by problems. We leave things better than we found them. We look for ways to improve systems, and when we find them, we roll up our own sleeves or inform and support the rightful owner in making it better. If needed, we create structures where there are none.
“We went from no solution to a fully deployed at scale solution in less than six weeks. And all of that is really a testament to the power of a technology platform.” Sarah Sagan, Senior Director of Delivery
“I felt really patriotic. I felt really proud of my government. I felt really lucky to have the curtain lifted on my healthcare system and the way that state and local government contribute to healthcare in the United States…we had a front row seat to what was a really devastating and also a really important moment in US history and that was inspirational and will remain something that I'm proud of for the rest of my life.” - Lily Olson, Senior Director of Partnerships
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dimagi decided to support pandemic response efforts by building and releasing a free global COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing solution. We had been working for nearly two decades focused on Low and Middle Income Countries, but when the CDC approached us to support US public health response to COVID 19, we rose to the occasion. This episode tells the story of our entry to the US market and how we leveraged learnings from our global health experience to meet the needs in the US. Hosts Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Carter Powers, Managing Director of Dimagi’s US Health division, Sarah Sagan, Dimagi’s Senior Director of Delivery, and Lily Olson Dimagi’s Director of Partnerships to share the full story of an intense period of hard work, growth, and learnings. We reflect on the work we have done on the CommCare platform that allowed us to respond to an urgent need incredibly fast, how we approached entering the US market so that we could continue our global work, and the passion and courage of our team stepping up to support the critical work of US public health departments. We also share how this work led to the creation of Dimagi’s US Health division and where we’re headed.
This is part 5 of our 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of Dimagi's 20th anniversary.
Related Resources:
Bringing global best practices to US public health response: Key learnings from 20 years of building open source health solutions internationally. Webinar hosted by Linux Foundation for Public Health https://www.lfph.io/webinars/bringing-global-best-practices-to-us/
CommCare’s use cases for COVID-19: https://dimagi.com/covid-19/
CommCare for COVID-19 in the US: https://dimagi.com/covid-19/us-response
Learn more about Dimagi’s US Health team: https://sites.dimagi.com/usa
“It's not just getting started or getting to scale it's…how are you going to keep improving at scale?” - Jonathan Jackson, CEO and Co-Founder, Dimagi
Today we tell the story of the largest digital health project Dimagi has ever worked on supporting the Government of India’s Integrated Child Development Services, which is the largest public health and nutrition program in the world. Launched in 2018, the Common Application Software (ICDS CAS) helped tackle malnutrition by digitally equipping Frontline Workers with a mobile solution to strengthen service delivery and enable effective monitoring, timely interventions, and enhanced decision support.
Hosted by Jonathan Jackson in conversation with Kriti Mehrotra, Dimagi’s Impact Advisor, Shayoni Mazumdar, Dimagi’s Director of Strategy and Operations, and former Dimagi VP of Global Services, Stella Luk, you’ll hear unique perspectives and learnings from the scale-up of the project, including navigating procurement for physical materials, scaling teams and processes, practicing user-centered design, and how Dimagi grew and evolved to meet this challenge. This is part 4 in a 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of our 20th anniversary.
Related Resources:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/
GiveDirectly - https://www.givedirectly.org
CommCare Evidence Base: https://www.dimagi.com/toolkits/commcare-evidence-base/
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS): http://icds-wcd.nic.in/icds.aspx
Grameen Foundation - https://grameenfoundation.org/
Evaluation of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Continuum of Care Services (CCS) Intervention in Bihar. Mathematica: https://www.mathematica.org/our-publications-and-findings/publications/evaluation-of-the-information-and-communication-technology-ict-continuum-of-care-services-ccs
Effects of an mHealth intervention for community health workers on maternal and child nutrition and health service delivery in India: protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/3/e025774
India has one-third of world's stunted children: Global nutrition report. The Economic Times: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-has-one-third-of-worlds-stunted-children-global-nutrition-report/articleshow/66865016.cms
What is the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and why does it matter? Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Kelly Collins attended the 77th UN General Assembly and join the podcast to share their key takeaways from the week, including the Global Fund’s 7th Replenishment. You’ll also hear reflections on the talent gap in global health and development.
Highlights from the episode
2:45 Why UNGA week matters and why Dimagi attended
5:01: Overall impressions from the week
6:50 The need and challenge of breaking down silos in global health to leverage tools across areas of need, maximize value for money and improve health outcomes
8:15 What tech innovators can do to help break down silos
8:40 The reversal in progress on HIV, TB, and malaria due to COVID-19 and what that means for the development community
12:20: How do we get more value from existing funding
15:56: The need for integrated care
17:20 the need for political commitment to ending disease
18:35 The challenge of earmarking in aid funding and a bit of empathy for donors
21:29 the Global Fund: What is it and why does it matter?
25:16: What was it like at the 7th replenishment? Highlights and reflections
29:15: Dimagi’s $5M commitment to the Global Fund
31:06: What will Dimagi do differently as a result of attending UNGA?
33:31: The talent gap in global health and development
Resources mentioned:
PEPFAR’s new strategy: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PEPFAR-Strategic-Direction_FINAL.pdf
Dimagi’s 5 Year Strategy: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
Global Fund Replenishment: https://www.devex.com/news/global-fund-replenishment-pledges-expectations-and-what-s-at-stake-103372
The Talent Gap in Global Development: https://www.devex.com/news/does-global-development-have-an-sdg-talent-gap-103799
"Unlike other technology sectors, the cost of failure is extremely high, but it's not born by the organization. It's born by the user....And so while we learn and it's helpful for us to view [digital health pilots] as a funnel, that's an incomplete view of the world because there is a real cost to equipping users and then dropping support for the application and dropping support from the organization. So I think we do need to have that mindset, but also realize...you can't just fail for free." - Jonathan Jackson Today's episode is part 3 in a series looking back on pivotal time periods in Dimagi's story in honor of our 20th anniversary. Today we look back at the time between 2010 and 2014 when Dimagi received two rounds of funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program to test CommCare through dozens of pilots in India. This was a time of maximum learning velocity, as we got feedback from users across many organizations and applied it to get better and better every week. Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro are joined by Kriti Mehrotra, Impact Advisor Office of the CEO; Jeremy Wacksman, Global Director of Division Operations; and Sri Ranganathan, Director of Customer Success to unpack the learnings from this time period.
Resources: https://confluence.dimagi.com/display/commcarepublic/Third-Party+Evaluations+of+CommCare DIV ROI report showing 24:1 Return on Investment of CommCare (see row 484): https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/0/2830/files/2021/09/SROR-21.03.12_clean-3.pdf https://www.dimagi.com/blog/usaid-div2/
Tim Wood has been at the forefront of building and investing in technology to improve health outcomes in low-and-middle-income countries over the last 3 decades - including work at the Grameen Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) where he served as a Senior Program Officer. During his time at BMGF he led a transformative, platform-level investment in Dimagi and its technology that breaks the mold of the industry’s tendency to invest in projects rather than core technology. In this episode, Jonathan Jackson and Tim Wood tell the story of how that investment happened, why it was so important, and their reflections on the challenges and opportunities in global health and development today. In the course of the conversation, you’ll also hear advice for getting funding from a funder like BMGF. This is part 2 in a 5 part series highlighting pivotal moments in Dimagi's history in honor of Dimagi's 20th anniversary.
Key points
3:01 - Making the move from for-profit to impact-driven work and how Tim Wood made the decision to leave Microsoft to work in global health
4:36 - Why the global health and development industry needs people from the private and government sectors
7:22 - What made the BMGF grant to Dimagi unique
9:10 - The challenge of creating organizational sustainability when projects scale and the surprising disconnect between scale and revenue in digital health
10:20 - How core funding from BMGF supported achieving national scale projects at Dimagi
11:15 - The challenge of developing robust and impactful technology in global development
12:07 - "Pilotitis" in digital health: What is it? Why does it happen?
13:20 - How Tim Wood made the case to BMGF to invest in Dimagi at a platform level
16:50 - Turning the corner on sustainability at Dimagi and speaking to health impact
21:13 - Tim Wood’s advice for social entrepreneurs seeking funding from BMGF or other foundations
25:20 - A trend of increased collaboration across funders in global health to help address country priorities
29:00 - The challenge of rolling out horizontal technology within a ministry of health and the need ensure you’re working with stakeholders with a broad enough mandate to make your vision a reality
32:50 - What’s concerning to Tim Wood and Jonathan Jackson when it comes to the use of technology to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
37:30 - How might we create a common language and ways to measure success of technology implementation to make better decisions and make investments in global health more effective?
40:00 - The tax on users of digital health pilots
41:00 - The need to have a plan for moving from paper to digital
42:40 - What is most exciting looking ahead in digital health?
43:40 - Co-investing across donors
47:30 - How can other Digital Public Goods be successful? What is the role of Digital Square?
Links
Digital Square - https://digitalsquare.org/
Grameen Foundation - https://grameenfoundation.org/
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/
World Health Organizations (WHO) Classification of Digital Health Interventions - https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-RHR-18.06
Jonathan Jackson is joined by 4 early Dimagi employees who were most involved in the creation of CommCare, the digital platform for impactful frontline work. CommCare is a low-code application builder that allows NGOs and governments to build applications to enable their frontline teams to deliver impactful services and collect data. It has been used by 1 million people all time and across 130 countries. The journey to create CommCare spans 14 years and is quite unusual: it's a story of tenacity, humility and continuous learning first and foremost from our users. You'll hear from Dr. Neal Lesh, Dimagi's Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Brian DeRenzi, Dimagi's Global Director of Research Strategy, Cory Zue, Diamgi’s CTO from 2007 - 2017, and Clayton Sims, Dimagi’s current CTO, about the pivots, disagreements and key decision points along the way. And you'll walk away with fundamental lessons for building software to tackle some of humanity's thorniest and intractable challenges.
Jonathan Jackson and Gillian Javetski, Dimagi’s Chief of Staff, discuss why it’s imperative in international development and global health to collaborate vs compete. We unpack fundamental lessons about collaboration gleaned over the last few decades at Dimagi. You’ll learn: What distinguishes good collaboration from bad collaboration? What makes an exceptional collaborator? How has Dimagi developed a collaborative culture? And despite that, why have people called Dimagi uncollaborative? Why is it so important to be selfish when it comes to collaboration on shared impact? When should you re-evaluate a collaboration? And, when should you decline a meeting?
Select quotes:
“When you have limited resources, everybody kind of needs to be in a mindset of how do we make these resources go further? And so competition can be extremely healthy when there's plenty of profit and you want to let the best firm win and you want to just drive price down. But with global development, we're running extremely challenging projects. You have many different stakeholders and partners, and you're constantly trying to innovate as well. So you're not just selling widgets. And when you add all that together, your core skill is much more how do you successfully collaborate versus how do you successfully compete.” - Jonathan Jackson
“It's also important to recognize when collaborations won't work. You know, you can have a shared problem but there's just cultural mis-alignment between teams or organizations. Prioritization can be a huge issue. Timelines can be a huge issue. So while we are huge advocates of out-collaborating over competing, collaborations are certainly difficult. And it does take a lot of skill and muscle building, both as an individual and as a team and as an organization to get good at this.” - Jonathan Jackson
"One of the things that I I find is really important is to step above the transactional nature of the collaboration. You know, what's the immediate problem you're trying to solve- whether that's integrating two digital systems or aligning on the national CHW framework -to the higher level problem. What is the public sector really trying to get out of this project? What do patients really want to see from a change in terms of the healthcare services they're experiencing? How can you really make somebody's job better? And when you level up to that problem statement, it's actually a lot easier to find common ground on what's driving a collaboration. And so it's important, obviously the transactional and operational work needs to happen. But when you can align to that bigger level question, both organizations or many organizations are struggling with, it creates a lot more room for alignment that you can then bring down into the more transactional and operational work." - Jonathan Jackson
Show notes:
Dimagi’s 5 Year Strategy Document: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
TecSalud: http://www.tecsalud.io/
Ona: https://ona.io/home/
Medic: https://medic.org/
Dimagi has put a stake in the ground that to improve health and development outcomes and reach universal health coverage, we NEED to improve Frontline Worker jobs. Frontline Workers such as Community Health Workers are a critical part of health service delivery and many studies have proven just how impactful they are. We are facing a massive healthcare provider shortage globally which will likely be filled by Community Health Workers and non-specialized providers in a lot of contexts. But, they are underpaid, under-supported, and under-recognized. 70% of Frontline Workers are women, 86% are not fully salaried, and they deal with massive burnout. To improve outcomes, we need to improve the jobs of the people who create those outcomes. Jonathan Jackson and Dr. Neal Lesh share how this strategy came to be, why it's become so important, and how we are working to reach it.
This is the final in our series exploring Dimagi’s 5 Year Strategies, focusing on Strategic Priority 1: Improve Jobs to Improve Outcomes.
SHOW NOTES:
Dimagi’s 5 year strategy: https://dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
Community Health Impact Coalition: https://chwimpact.org/
Resiliency Work with Johnson & Johnson: https://sites.dimagi.com/resilience-working-group
What does it mean that Dimagi is aiming to "Exceed Market Expectations" over the next 5 years? Dimagi has set out to creatively over-deliver on value today while shaping market alignment and raising expectations for tomorrow. In today's episode, we sit down with Ismaïla Diene, Managing Director for Dimagi's Solutions Division, and Fatou Sow, a Project Manager on our Solutions Division team, to dig in on a key consideration of this strategy: deepening our partnerships to drive national scale. Find out why achieving national scale for digital solutions like CommCare is so important to long-term impact, what makes it so challenging to achieve, lessons we've learned over two decades, and how we are approaching national scale partnerships going forward. You'll also hear about national scale projects in Burkina Faso and Madagascar.
SHOW NOTES:
Dimagi’s 5 year strategy: https://www.dimagi.com/blog/dimagis-5-year-strategy/
CommCare in Madagascar: Improving Health Outcomes in Remote and Low Connectivity Settings: https://dimagi.com/case-studies/access-madagascar/
CommCare in Burkina Faso case study from Exemplars in Health: https://www.exemplars.health/emerging-topics/epidemic-preparedness-and-response/digital-health-tools/commcare-in-burkina-faso
Research showing a 24:1 return on investment for CommCare (see page 41): https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/0/2830/files/2021/09/SROR-21.03.12_clean-3.pdf
Jonathan Jackson and Amie Vaccaro speak with Dev More, Sr Director of Product at Dimagi, in part 3 of our deep dive into Dimagi’s strategy of sustaining exponential growth. A big part of exponential impact growth at Dimagi is scaling CommCare by continuing to invest in its self-service capabilities. Dev is responsible for CommCare roadmap and product development and in this episode he shares how he is thinking about scaling CommCare to 1 million users, and specifically about how we are making CommCare most useful as an enterprise technology platform for data collection and service delivery for nonprofit organizations. You'll also hear how these same functionalities can support governments and national scale use cases of CommCare.
Central to Dimagi's strategy of sustaining exponential growth is building and scaling a thriving partner ecosystem, a community of local developers and implementers that can create content, build applications and drive innovations with CommCare to suit specific localized needs.
In today's episode we talk to Rowena Luk, Dimagi's Chief Connector, about the role of partnerships in creating high-impact growth. You'll learn about Rowena's journey to global digital health, including how a Canadian physician working in Ghana convinced her of the need for technology to improve healthcare in Africa. She discusses what it was like being one of the first female hires at Dimagi, and why she left Dimagi for a sabbatical after 12 years. And we dig into what brought her back to Dimagi - a desire to build out the technology ecosystem in Africa.
Rowena shares how the partner ecosystem can help topple what she calls the hubris of aid: "The hubris of aid is believing that we can help people better than they can help themselves. And that's not a mistake that we're making. There are people in these communities that understand agriculture that understand finance and understand health and malaria and HIV so much better than we do and can speak to the communities we serve so much better than we can. And being able to open up this ecosystem of partners is how we unlock the potential for these communities to lift themselves out of poverty."
Even though investing in partner companies could be directly in competition with Dimagi, Jonathan shares why he was eager to do this: "We've always believed the communities have the answers and that we could be great at providing the digital infrastructure. But the solution itself would always be locally driven."
Dimagi recently published its 5 year strategy for High-Impact Growth. In this episode, we discuss Strategic Priority #2: Sustain Exponential Growth. Jonathan Jackson is joined by Dimagi's Director of Engineering, Danny Roberts, to unpack a key consideration: we prioritize platforms over projects. You'll learn:
Why Dimagi won't accept linear growth, and how we plan to go about achieving exponential growth to reach and support Frontline Workers globally
How Dimagi's focus on platforms has allowed us to develop CommCare with project-based funding
How Dimagi's engineering team thinks about building new requests into the platform and how this allows CommCare to be priced at a fraction of the cost
How the idea of investing in platforms is also a path forward for better supporting global health workforces
In part 2 of the founding story we'll discuss some key moments in Dimagi's story such as shifting to open source, launching a software as a service model, and the impact of early hires on the trajectory of the company.
We'll also hear from Dr. Neal Lesh, Dimagi's Chief Strategy Officer about why he joined Dimagi and the role Dimagi has played in the mobile health and digital health space over the last 2 decades.
And we'll explore how Dimagi's culture has evolved in the last 20 years as the company has grown.
Learn about the very earliest days of Dimagi from our co-founders, Dr. Vikram Kumar and Jonathan Jackson. You'll learn:
Who Dimagi's founders are and what drives them
How the founders met
How they came to focus on the problem of improving healthcare with digital technology
What Dimagi's first project was like and why Dimagi ultimately decided to walk away from it
How design under the mango tree became a core ethos
The genesis of Dimagi's focus on creating value for the end user
A podcast about building and scaling sustainable digital solutions to serve people with the least access to resources brought to you by Dimagi.
In this trailer episode, you’ll meet Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi's CEO and co-founder. You'll learn what we mean by High-Impact Growth - a four pillar framework that's the result of 20 years of building, scaling, failing and building again.