{"podcast":{"title":"Oxford Policy Pod","slug":"oxford-policy-pod-1217253","podcast_index_feed_id":1217253,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/oxfordpolicypod/","website_url":"https://oxfordpolicypod.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/207a37e4-f53f-49ea-a4fa-dbd21674f6a0/-wzfp-p29-bcpj9rdxu-l7fj.png","author":"Students at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University","episode_count":137,"summary":"A bi-weekly policy podcast based out of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The Oxford Policy Pod explores pressing policy issues around the globe and is produced by students reading for a Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. The podcast explores contemporary policy challenges that policymakers face all over the world, and taps into the rich diversity of policy experience and insights of the student body and faculty. The podcast is supported by the staff of the Blavatnik School of Government. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the students, speakers and featured guests only. They do not represent the views or position of featured organisations, or the Blavatnik School of Government and the University of Oxford. To keep up with the latest on our episodes, follow us on Instagram @OxfordPolicyPod_ and Twitter @OxfordPolicyPod.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T06:18:25.582004+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253"},"episode":{"title":"Rethinking Development Aid with Kevin Watkins","slug":"rethinking-development-aid-with-kevin-watkins","published_at":"2026-07-14T17:15:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/rethinking-development-aid-with-kevin-watkins","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253","url":"https://oxfordpolicypod.captivate.fm/episode/rethinking-development-aid-with-kevin-watkins","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/648fd2c4-d2c1-4de8-a458-268c8e3ef3d2.mp3","summary":"In this episode of Policy Pod, Nawaz Khan and Cristian Iftodii sit down with Kevin Watkins, visiting professor at LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa and former chief executive of Save the Children UK. Having spent three decades moving through Oxfam, the United Nations, the Overseas Development Institute, and the top of the international aid sector, Kevin Watkins has become one of its sharpest internal critics, unafraid to challenge the assumptions his own field runs on. Together, they explore the unravelling of UK aid as budgets shrink and priorities tilt toward bilateral spending, the flaws he sees in the \"growth first\" consensus that now dominates development policy, and what years leading UNDP's Human Development Report and UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report taught him about the numbers that actually move governments to act. Kevin Watkins also reflects on where the aid sector has lost its way, and what a serious reset of development policy would need to look like.","meta_description":"In this episode of Policy Pod, Nawaz Khan and Cristian Iftodii sit down with Kevin Watkins, visiting professor at LSE's Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2523,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/episodes/rethinking-development-aid-with-kevin-watkins/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oxford-policy-pod-1217253/rethinking-development-aid-with-kevin-watkins.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}