220: The Politics of Social Change - Weh Yeoh

The Politics of Everything

Australians are highly generous people. The Charities Aid Foundation report in 2022 identified Australians as the fourth most generous, out of 119 countries surveyed. At the heart of this is a theme of social change our topic today.

Charitable causes seem to be everywhere – from micro philanthropy from individuals using platforms like GoFundMe to large-scale global NFP brands like the International Red Cross or Amnesty sweeping into disaster and war zones and asking for our support financially as on a more sustained basis through donation plans or even bequests.

My guest today Weh Yeoh has a recently released book, 'Redundant Charities' where he challenges everything we thought we knew about the charity sector and presents a daring and personal exploration of the inherent flaws within today's charitable models with bold alternatives for creating lasting social change. At the heart of the book lies an audacious claim: Perhaps the most impactful action a charity can take - Is to shut down.

Weh Yeoh is also CEO AND CO-FOUNDER of UMBO a social enterprise, FOUNDER of OIC CAMBODIA, and a TEDX SPEAKER. He was born in Sydney and lived, volunteered and worked in Cambodia for over five years and is a professionally trained physiotherapist who has also completed a master’s in development studies. When he founded OIC in 2012, there was not one local speech therapist in Cambodia, despite an estimated over 600,000 people needing speech therapy. Within four years, he handed off leadership to a predominantly local team because, with his decades of experience and expertise in the social sector, he knew it was the right thing to do to create real, sustainable change for the charity. As such, Weh wants more international charities to embrace the idea of redundancy.

In this show you will hear from Weh on:

1. Giving is big business as much as a social justice marker. Is the way a charity runs itself the main drawback to its success in doing what it says it wants to – say reducing health risks and preventable diseases through funding vaccination programs- or is that just marketing too?

2. You stepped back from the OIC, the charity you founded in Cambodia, and handed it over to members of the Cambodian community to take over, what did you learn from that and how is the community benefiting today because of it?

3. Do you think government and business should have a hand in the non-profit sector and if not, why not?

4. Can you explain what you mean by charities addressing the symptoms rather than the underlying problems? Why does that matter if they do?

5. Takeaway: What is your final message for us on The Politics of Social Causes?

Connect further:

(99+) Weh Yeoh | LinkedIn

Redundant Charities

Redundant Charities Book discount code

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