Crystal Lander, Executive Director of Global Affairs for Pathfinder International joins me in a lively discussion of women, health, and climate change.
Pathfinder International is a global women’s health organization that helps women and children in more than 20 countries gain access to healthcare, education, and family planning services. Crystal is responsible for leading the design and delivery of advocacy campaigns, overseeing advocacy and engagement strategies, and serving as an ambassador for the organization on a global scale. She is an experienced senior policy and development expert, both here in the United States and around the world.
Highlights include:
9:00 – CL: “We had projects where we worked with fishermen and stakeholders basically advocating together for more sustainable fishing practices because there’s nothing more powerful than local voices coming together to advocate for their needs.”
10:05 – CL: “Many times it was women organizing and saying, are you seeing this at this lake? Are you seeing that, that way? Because these women were already leaders in local communities, but now they have something that they needed to do together. And what they may not know is who makes the decision on, who’s got that contract. Now who’s sucking the water out of our local lake, or who’s overfishing in a place that they never had that before.”
14:18 – CL: “Sadly, we know that in the US and around the world, violence increased tremendously around COVID from all different types of stresses that were bringing into the family level. So these women were looking out for other women and raising awareness and actually being able to say, we need to check on this pregnant woman who may also be experiencing violence. So you had these women really coming together and getting the resources and frankly being recognized by their local and national government.”
19:35 – CL: “Women as agents are so important for their voices to be out there, you know, their collective voices, but also for them to identify and say, these are the things that I would like to do with my body. I want to have a child. I don’t want to have a child. I want to have this much space in between. We are such advocates for what women choose to do with their own bodies.”
27:05 – CL: “What’s happening in Ethiopia has a lot to do with access to water and a dam. So when you’re talking about access to water and who’s able to control that water flow, you’re getting back to power dynamics again and equitable distribution of resources.”
Leading with Health is hosted by Jennifer Michelle. Jennifer has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a former EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. She is on a mission to create a healthcare system that actually cares about the patients and the providers.