Moazzam Malik, CEO, Save The Children UK
In this conversation, Moazzam Malik, CEO of Save The Children UK, shares his journey from early upbringing in London to becoming a diplomat and prominent leader in international development and humanitarian work.
In this interview with Dave, Moazzam reflects on the importance of creating opportunities for young people. He also discusses his leadership philosophy, the culture at Save the Children UK, and the impact of UK aid cuts on global humanitarian efforts.
Moazzam addresses the current situation in Gaza and emphasizes the need for international cooperation to tackle pressing global challenges.
Takeaways
Opportunities come from family history and circumstances.
Education is a key route out of poverty.
Leadership is about delivering impact through teamwork.
Organizational culture is shaped by lived experiences.
Campaigning must engage hearts and minds to be effective.
The focus on children is a unifying force in advocacy.
Aid cuts have real-world consequences for vulnerable populations.
International cooperation is essential for solving global issues.
Young people are a source of hope for the future.
Effective communication is crucial in advocacy and leadership.
Quotes from episode
"Opportunities came to me because of the accident of family history."
"Poor people don't choose poverty. Nobody wakes up one day and says, I'm going to be poor today because it'll be a good gig."
"Leadership is about how does one deliver that? You've got to have ambition, a sense of mission."
"Change is a team sport, but change is also difficult."
"Aid sensibly used saves lives, builds futures for people."
"What gives me hope is young people, right? They will keep playing, they will keep hoping, they will keep dreaming, no matter how hard the circumstances are."
"There are children who are dying, there are mothers who are going without treatment, there are people who are more deeply impoverished with these aid cuts. If aid cuts kill, the reverse must also be true. Aid sensibly used saves lives, builds futures for people."
"[In Gaza,] the ceasefire is broadly holding. So the levels of killing and casualties that we were seeing in previous months is down. Undoubtedly, it's down. But it's not entirely ceased. Shelter is a huge problem. Access to water remains a huge problem. Access to food, particularly for poorer families, remains a huge problem for those that can't access the market. The use of aid as a weapon of occupation and the blockade have not entirely gone away."
"In my opinion, the UK government is complicit in the atrocities that have been perpetrated in Gaza. And I think that will have a long tail actually. I think that will have consequences, of course, for the Palestinians who continue to live in these terrible, terrible, terrible circumstances. But I think it has implications for the UK standing in the world too.”
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