Visions of a Better World

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Salim Edward and Viola Wallenius, two founding members of Home Street Home. We previously discussed community-led development, healthcare, education and climate action in Makongeni, Kwale County, Kenya. In this second part, we turn to international cooperation, innovation, youth unemployment and future visions for Kenya. Home Street Home is a non-profit organisation registered in Kenya, Finland and Switzerland. Working alongside the local community, it supports children’s and young people’s education, health and wellbeing. Salim Edward is a Kenyan community leader and entrepreneur whose work focuses on financial management, organisational sustainability and community-led development. Viola Wallenius is a Finnish educator, author and director of Home Street Home. Her work focuses on programme development, global education and international partnerships. Both live and work in Makongeni, bringing perspectives grounded in everyday life within the community. Salim and Viola challenge one-dimensional portrayals of Kenya. They describe a country marked not only by serious challenges, but also by resilience, ambition and a strong entrepreneurial culture. We discuss youth unemployment, equal international cooperation and “white saviour” narratives. Social media makes it easy to react to global problems, but reactions do not always lead to meaningful action. Salim and Viola encourage listeners to remain curious, support locally led organisations and commit to causes beyond moments of temporary attention. Looking ahead, Salim and Viola share their vision for the future of Home Street Home. They discuss reducing its dependence on unpredictable donor funding, developing long-term partnerships and expanding income-generating initiatives such as the Ubunifu workshop. Their goal is an increasingly sustainable organisation led by its Kenyan team. They also reflect on Kenya’s future and the importance of creating meaningful opportunities for the country’s educated and ambitious young people. What might people in Europe learn from Kenya? Salim and Viola point to resilience, interdependence and the strength of community relationships. Their experiences of parenthood and life in Makongeni also lead to a wider reflection on safety, basic needs and what it means to live a good life. Learn more and support Home Street Home: Website: https://www.homestreethome.fi Instagram: @homestreethomery Hosts: Astrid Aminoff and Max Tallberg About Global Visions: Global Visions is a Helsinki-based non-profit association bringing people and organisations together to develop ideas for a more just, equal and sustainable world. Watch our panel discussions: Explore more on the Global Visions YouTube channel Follow us: Website: https://www.globalvisions.fi/en Instagram: @globalvisionsry YouTube: GlobalVisionsry Bluesky: https://globalvisions.bsky.social TikTok: @globalvisionsry LinkedIn: Global Visions TAKE OUR TEST: https://visionary.globalvisions.tech The Visions of a Better World podcast Producers: Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff Music licensed from PremiumBeat.

In this episode, we reconnect with Salim Edward and Viola Wallenius, two founding members of Home Street Home, to discuss community-led development, healthcare, education and climate action in Makongeni, Kwale County, Kenya. Home Street Home is a non-profit organisation registered in Kenya, Finland and Switzerland. Working alongside the local community, it supports children’s and young people’s education, health and wellbeing. Salim Edward is a Kenyan community leader and entrepreneur whose work focuses on financial management, organisational sustainability and community-led development. Viola Wallenius is a Finnish educator, author and director of Home Street Home. Her work focuses on programme development, global education and international partnerships. Both live and work in Makongeni, bringing perspectives grounded in everyday life within the community. Salim and Viola discuss Home Street Home’s recent achievements, including expanded maternal healthcare, free ultrasound examinations and workshops for expectant mothers. They also describe inclusive early-childhood education, support for children with disabilities, vocational training and social enterprises that strengthen local livelihoods and the organisation’s long-term sustainability. We also explore an EU-funded global education project connecting students in Kenya and Finland. Through school visits, workshops and the Together–Yhdessä event in Pori, young people exchange perspectives on sustainable development, global responsibility and locally relevant solutions to shared challenges. The conversation examines how rising living costs, changes in international development funding and pressure on healthcare services are affecting food security, education and access to essential services in rural Kenya—particularly for women, children and economically vulnerable families. Salim and Viola also discuss how drought, unpredictable rainfall, warming coastal waters and declining fish stocks affect farming, fishing and household incomes. Community-led responses include mangrove restoration, solar energy, recycling, waste management and sustainable sources of income. Finally, we hear about Home Street Home’s new solar-powered clean-water system. Designed to treat saline and contaminated groundwater, it aims to provide safe drinking water for the organisation’s healthcare centre and the wider Makongeni community. This episode shows how local leadership, international partnerships and community knowledge can build resilience and hope amid global change. Learn more and support Home Street Home: Website: https://www.homestreethome.fi Instagram: @homestreethomry Hosts: Astrid Aminoff and Max Tallberg About Global Visions: Global Visions is a Helsinki-based non-profit association bringing people and organisations together to develop ideas for a more just, equal and sustainable world. Watch our panel discussions: Explore more on the Global Visions YouTube channel Follow us: Website: https://www.globalvisions.fi/en Instagram: @globalvisionsry Bluesky: https://globalvisions.bsky.social TikTok: @globalvisionsry LinkedIn: Global Visions YouTube: GlobalVisionsry The Visions of a Better World podcast Producers: Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff Music licensed from PremiumBeat.

What if trade wars, sanctions, debt crises, and geopolitical rivalry are not merely political failures, but symptoms of deeper flaws in the architecture of the global economy? In this two-part episode of the Visions of a Better World Podcast, Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff are joined by Professor Heikki Patomäki and Dr. Konsta Kotilainen both contributors to Deweaponizing Interdependence: Bringing the Idea of International Clearing Union into the Twenty-First Century (available open access), to discuss the book’s central arguments and their relevance in today’s increasingly fragmented world economy. The conversation explores how the current international monetary system contributes to global instability, geopolitical tensions, and economic inequalities. In the first episode, the guests discuss the weaponization of economic interdependence, the limits of monetary hegemony, and why the absence of adequate global monetary institutions may itself be generating conflict. In the second episode, the focus shifts to solutions and the idea of a Global Clearing Union: an international institution that would facilitate trade and financial exchanges through a shared accounting system, helping to reduce global imbalances while encouraging cooperation between both debtor and surplus countries. Inspired by John Maynard Keynes’s original proposal, the discussion considers whether such reforms could contribute to a more stable, democratic, and equitable global order. Heikki Patomäki is Professor of World Politics and Global Political Economy at the University of Helsinki and one of Finland’s leading scholars of global political economy, democracy, and global governance. His work explores international relations, economics, philosophy, peace studies, and futures thinking, with a particular focus on democratic transformation at the global level. He has held professorships and visiting positions at institutions including Nottingham Trent University, RMIT University in Melbourne, and the University of Cambridge. Konsta Kotilainen is a postdoctoral researcher in world politics and global political economy at the University of Helsinki whose work explores global governance, monetary theory, economics, and philosophy. His doctoral dissertation on monetary sovereignty and macroeconomic policy autonomy received an international PhD Thesis Prize from the University of Pavia. He is currently writing a book on supranational currency arrangements funded by the Kone Foundation and is also a researcher in the University of Helsinki’s Fragile Frontier (SPACE) project on space governance, resilience, and geopolitical change.. Suggested Resources Global Justice Report 2026 Critical Realism & Peace Studies - Keynote Prof. Heikki Patomäki Our Common Future: World System Scenarios for the 21st Century Follow: @globalvisionsry (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) GlobalVisionsry (YouTube & Linkedin) More information: www.globalvisions.fi/en Producers: Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff Our music is licensed from premium beat.

What if trade wars, sanctions, debt crises, and geopolitical rivalry are not merely political failures, but symptoms of deeper flaws in the architecture of the global economy? In this two-part episode of Visions of a Better World Podcast, Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff are joined by Professor Heikki Patomäki and Dr. Konsta Kotilainen both contributors to Deweaponizing Interdependence: Bringing the Idea of International Clearing Union into the Twenty-First Century (available open access), to discuss the book’s central arguments and their relevance in today’s increasingly fragmented world economy. The conversation explores how the current international monetary system contributes to global instability, geopolitical tensions, and economic inequalities. In the first episode, the guests discuss the weaponization of economic interdependence, the limits of monetary hegemony, and why the absence of adequate global monetary institutions may itself be generating conflict. In the second episode, the focus shifts to solutions and the idea of a Global Clearing Union: an international institution that would facilitate trade and financial exchanges through a shared accounting system, helping to reduce global imbalances while encouraging cooperation between both debtor and surplus countries. Inspired by John Maynard Keynes’s original proposal, the discussion considers whether such reforms could contribute to a more stable, democratic, and equitable global order. Heikki Patomäki is Professor of World Politics and Global Political Economy at the University of Helsinki and one of Finland’s leading scholars of global political economy, democracy, and global governance. His work explores international relations, economics, philosophy, peace studies, and futures thinking, with a particular focus on democratic transformation at the global level. He has held professorships and visiting positions at institutions including Nottingham Trent University, RMIT University in Melbourne, and the University of Cambridge. Konsta Kotilainen is a postdoctoral researcher in world politics and global political economy at the University of Helsinki whose work explores global governance, monetary theory, economics, and philosophy. His doctoral dissertation on monetary sovereignty and macroeconomic policy autonomy received an international PhD Thesis Prize from the University of Pavia. He is currently writing a book on supranational currency arrangements funded by the Kone Foundation and is also a researcher in the University of Helsinki’s Fragile Frontier (SPACE) project on space governance, resilience, and geopolitical change. Suggested Resources Global Justice Report 2026 Critical Realism & Peace Studies - Keynote Prof. Heikki Patomäki Our Common Future: World System Scenarios for the 21st Century Follow: @globalvisionsry (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) GlobalVisionsry (YouTube & Linkedin) More information: www.globalvisions.fi/en Producers: Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff Our music is licensed from premium beat.

This episode is a recording of our recent event held in Think Corner in Helsinki. Whose Future? Global Visions in a Contested World explored the state of the world in 2026 and what today’s shifting power dynamics mean for societies most affected by global inequality. As geopolitical tensions escalate and global governance faces growing contestation, the discussion asked: where does power truly lie, and whose futures are prioritized? A central theme was the meaning of a “multipolar world.” Does multipolarity create new space for countries and communities outside traditional centers of power, or does it merely reshape old hierarchies under new forms? The panel connected global dynamics — including deglobalization, autocratization, colonialism, neoliberalism, and populism — to everyday realities such as livelihoods, public services, migration, citizenship, and the struggle to meet basic needs. The discussion also explored what is often missing from mainstream narratives, and where there may still be room for solidarity, political agency, and alternative futures. Guests: Walden Bello is a renowned scholar and activist, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at SUNY Binghamton, and co-founder of Focus on the Global South in Bangkok. He received the Right Livelihood Award in 2003 for exposing the impacts of corporate-driven globalization. His latest book is Global Battlefields: Memoir of a Legendary Public Intellectual from the Global South. Robtel Neajai Pailey is Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her work focuses on Critical Development, African, and Race Studies, with research on citizenship, belonging, and structural transformation in Africa. Her award-winning book is Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa. Dr. Bonn Juego is a political economist and Senior Lecturer in International Development Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. He serves as Chair of the Finnish Society for Development Research and studies crises and alternatives to capitalism, with a focus on the Global South and North–South relations. Moderated by Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff. The event was part of the pre-conference programme of Development Days 2026, celebrating FSDR’s 40th anniversary. Global Visions is a non-profit association based in Helsinki, Finland, working to bring people and organisations together to develop ideas aimed at building a better world. Follow and learn more: Instagram: @globalvisionsry Bluesky: globalvisions.bsky.social TikTok: @globalvisionsry LinkedIn: Global Visions Watch our Panel Discussions on our YouTube Channel YouTube: GlobalVisionsry More information: www.globalvisions.fi/en Take our Visionary Test and find out what type of Visionary you are! https://visionary.globalvisions.tech The Visions of a Better World podcast Producers: Max Tallberg and Astrid Aminoff Our music is licensed from Premium Beat.