When the Trump administration slashed the budget and suspended most of the staff of the United States Agency for International Development last month, their representatives said the agency was using taxpayer dollars to fund a radical, “woke” agenda around the world. Criticism coming from the Left since the founding of USAID in 1961 has characterized USAID as an arm of American imperialism.

The reality, of course, is much more complicated. It’s heartbreaking to hear stories of children suddenly unable to attend school and receive essential vaccinations. But beyond the shockwaves of a sudden halt in the flow of assistance, there's a lot about US foreign aid that's up for debate. Questions like what does it accomplish? Does it really help? How does it help? Should it continue? Or, should foreign aid be scaled down over time?

Our host, Jamil Simon, has seen USAID projects succeed, and fall short – having worked for more than three decades as a USAID contractor, developing communication strategies to promote reform in more than 20 countries.

Our guest, Gregory Warner is a Peabody Award - winning journalist who has reported on USAID on the ground in places including Sub-Saharan Africa, Ukraine and Afghanistan. He was the creator and host of NPR's international podcast Rough Translation. Before that, he was an international correspondent for NPR, based in East Africa. Warner has reported on USAID on the ground in Africa, as well as in Ukraine and Afghanistan. He writes the Substack blog Rough Transition.

MORE FROM GREGORY WARNER

Subscribe to get Rough Transition in your inbox.

Read Warner’s recent reporting about the gutting of USAID and what it says about the perception of America in the world.

Listen to the Rough Translation episode about a woman who lied so she could receive aid designated for sexual violence survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Explore the Rough Translation podcast archive.

CONNECT WITH US

Do you have a story of your own about USAID? Keep the conversation going on LinkedIn, or drop us a line at info@makingpeacevisible.org.

Music in this episode is by Xylo-Ziko, Blue Dot Sessions, Gavin Luke, Feras Charestan, and Caro Luna.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Often the news covers crises without context. That's especially true when it comes to coverage of the Global South in international media.

Our guest this episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Etant Dupain, gives us a behind-the-headlines look at events in Haiti, his home country. Dupain says that the gangs who control much of the country now are supported by powerful elites. Their aim, his says, is to suppress a grassroots protest movement that is calling for accountability for the embezzlement of billions of dollars in development funds.

Dupain's new documentary film, The Fight for Haiti, tells the story of the Haitian movement against corruption and impunity, which started with a tweet and at its height had hundreds of thousands in the street.

In this episode, you’ll learn about

• The problematic history of foreign aid in Haiti including the aftermath of the the 2010 earthquake
• The Petrocaribe agreement with Venezuela that was supposed to fund crucial infrastructure projects in Haiti
• Creative tactics activists used to demand accountability
• Who profits when gangs overtake a country

Watch a trailer and learn more about the film and the movement at thefightforhaiti.com.

Protest audio used in the episode is from the film The Fight for Haiti, used with permission.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Israel and Hamas are just over two weeks into a ceasefire agreement, after fifteen months of fighting.

This is a paradoxical moment to talk about long term peace. The horrific October 7th attacks and the near - destruction of Gaza that followed, served to amplify already high levels of distrust, hate, and trauma. At the same time, the war has demonstrated to Gazans that their government placed conflict with Israel above their own survival. And it has shown Israelis that an indefinite blockade of Gaza doesn’t ensure their security.

So while the ceasefire doesn’t mean the end of the conflict by any means, it does offer an opportunity to envision a way out.

Our guest for this episode is Ksenia Svetlova, an expert observer of politics and media in the Middle East and the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics, and Security, or ROPES.

Svetlova is an immigrant to Israel from the Soviet Union, an Arabic speaker and a Middle East specialist. For fifteen years. Svetlova reported from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and different countries in the region. She served four years in Israel’s parliament representing the center-left Zionist Union Coalition.

MORE FROM KSENIA SVETLOVA

Read: Netanyahu’s phase two dilemma: Political survival vs defying President Trump, for Chatham House

Listen: ROPESCAST, the podcast from ROPES

Watch: Webinars and more on

ROPES’ YouTube channel

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Connect on social:

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Imagine you’re living through a crisis in your part of the world. It could be a natural disaster, a contentious election, or even a coup d’etat. Rumors are swirling on social media, on television, and even your family group chat. Events are unfolding rapidly, and you don’t know what to believe.

What if, just by sending a text message, you could reach a trusted source for an instant fact check?

Our guest today, Ed Bice, heads an organization called Meedan, that provides a consumer-facing fact checking service in countries around the world. Meedan’s software integrates with messaging apps, to connect people quickly with trusted news organizations. Instead of asking Chat GPT or Google, you can ask a customized chatbot, and get an answer based on reporting from your local TV station or newspaper.

Meedan’s work has been especially impactful during contentious elections in countries like Mexico, India, and Brazil.

Unfortunately, Meta’s announcement that it will stop fact checking on its platforms this year – including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook – threatens the funding and support essential for tools like Meedan to combat misinformation.

Ed Bice has been working for two decades to make the Internet a more collaborative and democratic space. And he’s still optimistic.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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This is a pivotal moment in Syria, the abrupt end of a brutal dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands and terrorized Syrian society. The Assad regime also suppressed speech, and we’re now seeing a surge in independent reports on the news and social media. The big question is what happens next? And what does this change mean to the region?

In this episode, we welcome back Zaina Erhaim to share her perspective on the sudden fall of the Assad regime, and what's ahead for Syria. Zaina is an award winning Syrian journalist, who is widely recognized for her commitment to ethical reporting and amplifying marginalized voices. She began her career reporting on the civil war in Syria, but fled to the UK after both the Assad regime, and opposition forces threatened her life.

Zaina Erhaim is the managing editor of Jeem, and a communications consultant.

Note: This interview was recorded on December 22, 2024. On December 30, Syria’s transitional government appointed Maysaa Sabrine as head of the Syrian central bank, the first woman to hold the role.

Listen to our 2022 episode with Zaina Erhaim, Decolonizing international journalism

More from Zaina Erhaim on Syria after Assad:

New York Times Opinion | Al-Assad Is Gone, and One Idea Fills My Brain

New Internationalist: Where to now for Syria’s women?

Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post: Images and narratives of Syria’s historic moment

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

Please consider supporting our work at the intersection of peace, conflict, and the media! Make a tax-deductible contribution today at makingpeacevisible.org. Thank you!

When you look at the online reactions to major events, or watch news footage of political rallies, you might conclude that people on the political Left have a completely different moral compass, – or sense of right and wrong–, from people on the political Right. But Kurt Gray, a social psychologist who studies morality and politics, says that’s not true.

The main thesis behind Gray’s work at the Deepest Beliefs Lab at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his new book Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics, and How to Find Common Ground – is that humans share a sense of morality based on fear of harm, the product of our evolutionary heritage. However perceptions of who is vulnerable to harm and how those vulnerable should be defended differs widely across the divide.

In this episode, Kurt Gray draws on research to shed light on issues including

• Why so many people reacted positively to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
• Why we often think our communities and our children are less safe than they actually are
• How the decline of local news may contribute to polarization
• Why facts rarely change minds in a political argument
• How to approach politics with a sense of “moral humility”

Learn more about Kurt Gray and the book at kurtjgray.com. Follow his newsletter, Moral Understanding: The Science of What Divides Us, at moralunderstandingnewsletter.com.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

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LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

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Support this podcast with a tax-deductible donation.

Photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind and writer Alisa Sopova create intimate, accessible portraits of Ukrainian civilians living close to the frontlines of the Russian invasion. Sometimes their subjects are picnicking in a park or tending a garden. Other times, they’re repairing a ceiling damaged by shelling or waiting for departure on an evacuation train. Anastasia and Alisa have been working together in Ukraine since the Maidan Revolution, also known as the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014. And over the years, they’ve returned to visit the same families, witnessing how the war touches men, women, and children over time.

Independent Projects

5K From the Frontline

Welcome to Donetsk

International media work:

NPR: The Ukraine war isn't new. These intimate photos show 3 families enduring it for years

The New Humanitarian: How seven years of war and COVID-19 split Ukraine in two

The New York Times: Opinion: Where There Are Fish in the Tap Water and Women’s Uteruses Fall Out

Time Magazine: The Strange Unreality of Life During Eastern Ukraine's Forgotten War

Music in this episode by Doyeq, One Man Book, and Bill Vortex

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

In the 2024 election, it was clearer than ever that Americans are “watching different movies,” as political analyst Van Jones put it. Essentially, we’re living inside different narratives that aren’t of our own making. During this campaign season more than ever before, the presidential and VP candidates appeared on sympathetic podcasts as a way to appeal to younger voters.

As a podcaster, journalist, and Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, a nonprofit working to depolarize America, guest Mónica Guzmán is an ideal voice to help us make sense of what happened, and provide some helpful perspective. On her podcast A Braver Way, Guzmán is joined by guests from across the political spectrum to unearth tools, insights, and messy real life stories that can guide listeners over the divide in their everyday lives. She says that Americans are being hurt by misinformation not only about facts, but also “misinformation about what’s in the hearts of other people.”

On this episode you’ll hear a few clips from A Braver Way – including from a conversation Guzmán, a political "blue" recorded with her parents – who voted for Donald Trump.

If your family is politically divided, you’ll definitely want to listen to this in time for Thanksgiving!

Learn more about our guest at moniguzman.com

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!