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Optimistic VoicesAuthor: Helping Children Worldwide; Dr. Laura Horvath, Emmanuel M. Nabieu, Yasmine Vaughan, Melody Curtiss
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics. Language: en-us Genres: Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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What Happens When Empowerment And Accountability Finally Work Together
Friday, 19 December, 2025
Send us a textWhat if your partnership model unintentionally silences the very people it’s meant to elevate? We sit down with Asia Blackwell, executive director of Maya Midwifery, to unpack how a well-intended collaboration in Guatemala drifted toward hierarchy by over-rewarding a few “standout” leaders while leaving many midwives underpowered. Asia lays out how they rebuilt trust with transparent systems, written agreements, and equitable pathways that spread training, decision-making, and visibility across the full team.Together, we reframe accountability as shared responsibility rather than control. Asia explains the pivot from informal, relationship-only trust to clear MOUs, role boundaries, and simple verification tools that protect everyone—midwives, boards, and donors. We challenge Western assumptions about leadership and administration, recognizing that Indigenous midwives already lead in their communities without needing titles to validate influence. When governance confuses literacy with legitimacy or paperwork with power, it narrows who gets heard and who gets help.Asia shares a vivid, Maya-inspired governance model built around the Ceiba, the sacred tree: midwives as the canopy, local admin as branches, the Guatemalan board as trunk, and US teams as roots. Donors become sun and water—vital, nourishing, and appropriately at a distance from day-to-day decisions. This design makes equity operational with feedback loops, shared metrics, and practical safeguards that honor local autonomy. The impact is palpable: midwives now present their own data, speak confidently in meetings, and describe renewed pride and energy at the birth center.If you’re working in global health, philanthropy, or any cross-border partnership, you’ll find practical guidance here: listen widely, rotate opportunity, document commitments, and let culturally grounded structures lead. Subscribe for more conversations on equitable, community-led maternal health, and share this episode with a colleague who’s ready to rethink how power and accountability can truly work together. ____Firmly Rooted - A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!To view the released trailer and sizzle reel, go to https://firmlyrootedfilm.com/or to https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org__________ ____Organize a Rooted in Reality mission experience for your service club, church group, worship team, young adult or adult study. No travel required. Step into the shoes of people in extreme poverty in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Helping Children Worldwide takes you into a world where families are facing impossible choices every day.Contact support@helpingchildrenworldwide.org to discuss how. Give to a 25 year legacy - plant seeds of hope! ________Travel on International Mission, meet local leadership and work alongside them. Exchange knowledge, learn from one another and be open to personal transformation. Step into a 25 year long story of change for children in some of the poorest regions on Earth.https://www.helpingchildrenworldwide.org/mission-trips.html******Support the showHelpingchildrenworldwide.org
