If You Were In Charge

If You Were In Charge

If You Were In Charge with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini Each episode, she tackles a major global challenge but flips the script. Instead of hearing from politicians and pundits, Sanam talks to the frontline doers and imaginers—activists, organizers, and peacebuilders—whose lived experience, courage, and ideas are reshaping what’s possible. People who, if they were in charge, could change the world. Exploring what they’re already achieving, what they could do with greater power and money, and, most importantly, what gives them hope. Join Sanam and her daughter, Soleh, each week as they reimagine a better future with thought-provoking discussions and insights from leading global experts. If You Were In Charge is brought to you by the Bijan Ghaisar Foundation and ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network). This is an Africa Digital Audio (ADA) Production.

Episodes

August 14, 2025 68 mins
Welcome back to our special “If You Were in Charge” summer series with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week, we’re thematically pairing some of our favorite conversations and this time, we’ve brought together two powerful voices on wealth and generosity. First, filmmaker and activist Abby Disney shares what it was like to grow up as an heiress to the Disney fortune, and why she’s urging the ultra-wealthy to give more, and give bol...
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As we gear up for Season 3 of If You Were in Charge, we’re revisiting some of Sanam’s most compelling conversations, curated into thematic pairings to offer deeper insights into the complex issues we explore. This week, we bring you two powerful perspectives on building peace between Israelis and Palestinians—even in these dark and challenging times. First, Sanam speaks with Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger about the surge in violence by ...
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Sir Richard Dalton, former British ambassador to Iran, joins Sanam Naraghi Anderlini on this week's episode of If You Were In Charge. They discuss the collapse of diplomacy following recent U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, examining how Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA, Netanyahu's hardline policies, and the Ayatollah's defiance have escalated regional tensions. Dalton argues that without renewed multilateral engagement,...
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A personal reflection from Sanam on two weeks of war in Iran. What it is like watching the bombardment of her childhood neighborhood from afar. — We also wanted to celebrate our former guests, Women of the Sun from Palestine, who won the 2025 Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment. So we re-uploaded our conversation with Marwa Hammad of Women of the Sun in Palestine and Yael Braudo-Bahat of Women Wage Peace in Israel two remark...
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Dr. Jessie Stone, a six-time U.S. freestyle team member, shares her journey of how an illness to one of her team during a kayaking trip led her to establish a health clinic in Uganda. Now she is on the front line as USAID cuts mean millions can no longer access life-saving care. Welcome to If You Were In Charge with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. In the last ten years, Dr. Jessie Stone's clinic has served hundreds of thousands of patie...
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The fall of the Assad regime came swiftly in the end, with far less violence than anyone imagined. How did this happen? Can Syria emerge from its decades of brutality and bloodshed to become a bastion of hope in the Middle East? Sanam talks to Abir Hajibrahim, co-founder of Mobaderoon and one of Syria’s leading peacebuilders, who has built a network of dedicated peacebuilders and volunteers—preventing violence, reconciling communi...
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Politics and poetry may seem like an odd couple. But throughout history, and across cultures, through symbolism and story telling, writers and poets have captured the spirit of their age and shared them with us through time and geography - helping us make sense of human foibles, and the events of our our own world. In Episode 6 of If You were in Charge Sanam takes a different tack in her conversation with Christine Van Ruymbek...
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With the war on Gaza raging and violence escalating in the West Bank, few see hope for peace in the Middle East.  But Marwa Hammad of Woman of the Sun in Palestine and Yael Braudo-Bahat of Women Wage Peace of Israel, refuse to give in to such despair, and they refuse to give up on the future. In Episode 5 of If You Were in Charge, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini takes on the toughest conflict of our times, offering a slice of hope an...
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This week on the podcast, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini is joined by two distinguished voices in global diplomacy to examine the United Nations at a critical juncture.  Richard Gowan, Director for UN and Multilateral Diplomacy at the International Crisis Group, and María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, former President of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, and poet, delve into the mounting pressures facing the UN amid inten...
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What would have happened, if the US had heeded Afghan women's warnings about the Taliban, and supported their solutions before 2021? What if the international community supported  Afghan women's strategies for ending violence and building peace - then and now?  This week on #IfYouWereInCharge, Sanam speaks with Wazhma Frogh, Afghan woman peacebuilder and lawyer specializing in international human rights law and Afghanistan, and re...
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March 31, 2025 49 mins
Welcome to If You Were in Charge Season 2, a podcast featuring global peace strategist Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. This week, Sanam speaks with Chris Worman, Chief Global Strategy & Partnership Officer at GivingTuesday. Together, they discuss the critical role of civil society and philanthropy at a time when the sector is facing significant funding challenges. Their conversation explores the importance of generosity, civic engagemen...
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Welcome to If You Were in Charge Season 2, a podcast featuring global peace strategist Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. This week, Sanam speaks with Ece Temelkuran, renowned author of How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, which explores the mechanisms of autocracy and the decline of democratic principles. Each week, Sanam tackles a major global challenge and hosts leading practitioners and innovators to share...
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Welcome to If You Were in Charge, We are back for season 2 of your favorite show as always featuring global peace strategist, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week Sanam takes on a major global challenge and hosts leading practitioners and innovators to share their work and their solutions - if they were in charge with the necessary political and financial resources. Episode 1 coming Tuesday March 25th! If You Were In Charge is brough...
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Hi, good news we are working on season 2 of 'If You Were in Charge' But in the meantime something a little different this week. We’re partnering with Houses of the Moon Theater Company to share this special episode from their three-part podcast series “De Novo.” It’s adapted from an acclaimed documentary play of the same name. It tells the true story of Edgar Chocoy, a Guatemalan teenager who faces deportation after fleeing to the ...
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Yasmin Radjy, CEO of Swing Left, argues that Donald Trump is a transformative president and part of a global populist arc. So, how does the left find its own voice in an age of populism, and what possibilities does this trend offer the progressive movement to create radical change? Welcome to If You Were in Charge, A podcast featuring global peace strategist, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week Sanam takes on a major global challeng...
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Welcome to If You Were in Charge, A podcast featuring global peace strategist, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week Sanam takes on a major global challenge and hosts leading practitioners and innovators to share their work and their solutions - if they were in charge with the necessary political and financial resources. This week, we're doing something a little different. Sanam is joined by her twin daughters, Soleh and Lydia, to ref...
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Welcome to If You Were in Charge, A podcast featuring global peace strategist, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week Sanam takes on a major global challenge and hosts leading practitioners and innovators to share their work and their solutions - if they were in charge with the necessary political and financial resources. After each discussion, Sanam is joined by one of her twin daughters, Soleh, to hear her reaction and gain a diffe...
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November 25, 2024 58 mins
Welcome to If You Were in Charge, A podcast featuring global peace strategist, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. Each week Sanam takes on a major global challenge and hosts leading practitioners and innovators to share their work and their solutions - if they were in charge with the necessary political and financial resources. In episode 8, Sanam speaks with Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, about critical issues surrounding data pr...
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Welcome to If You Were In Charge, a podcast with renowned global peace strategist Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. In each episode, we invite global thought leaders to share the radical solutions they would implement if given unlimited political and financial power. In this seventh episode, Sanam speaks with Mohammad Darawshe a leading political analyst and expert on Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel. After the conversation Sanam is join...
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Welcome to If You Were In Charge, a podcast with renowned global peace strategist Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. In each episode, we invite global thought leaders to share the radical solutions they would implement if given unlimited political and financial power. In this sixth episode, Sanam speaks with Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger about the escalating violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. How to create...
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