Dimagi 2d ago

What does it actually take for a country, government, or community to truly own a technology or an outcome? In this fast-paced and candid episode of High-Impact Growth, Dimagi CEO Jonathan Jackson and co-host Amie Vaccaro welcome back Nithya Ramanathan, CEO and co-founder of Nexleaf Analytics. Moving past polite sector rhetoric, Nithya and Jonathan break down why so many well-intentioned global health initiatives end up in "equipment graveyards" due to a broken "donor-to-hope" value chain. Grounded in her recent Stanford Social Innovation Review piece on country ownership, Nithya unpacks the three critical ingredients of true ownership—financial transaction, genuine control, and intrinsic pride—and advocates for a drastic shift: flipping the historical 80/20 investment split to focus heavily on human operational systems rather than chasing technical perfection. Featuring real-world insights from a recent cross-country ministry workshop on vaccine cold chains, this episode offers an honest look at the iterative dance between technology and policy. The conversation doesn't offer tidy answers, but it pushes the critical questions. Related Resources: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/scaling-global-health-innovations  Nithya Ramanathan, Nelima Otipa, and Hosea Kintu lay out a framework for moving from government partnership to country ownership in global health innovation. Referenced directly in the episode. https://www.nexleaf.org/ A non-profit social enterprise co-founded by Nithya Ramanathan that uses data and technology to improve global health systems, particularly vaccine cold chains. https://www.gavi.org/ A global health partnership that co-supported the multi-year vaccine cold chain and operational maintenance initiatives discussed in the episode. Kevin Starr / Mulago Foundation (https://www.mulagofoundation.org/our-team/kevin-starr) Thought leader behind the concept of "Coke bottle philanthropy" cited by Nithya — the false notion that a single scalable solution can be handed to governments like a product off a shelf. https://dimagi.com/commcare/ Dimagi’s SaaS product designed to support frontline workers and track community health outcomes at scale. Sign up to our newsletter⁠ (https://sites.dimagi.com/newsletter-sign-up%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%C2%A0) , and stay informed of Dimagi’s work We are on social media - follow us for the latest from Dimagi: ⁠LinkedIn⁠ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/dimagi/) , ⁠Twitter⁠ (https://twitter.com/dimagi/) , ⁠Facebook⁠ (https://www.facebook.com/dimagi.inc/%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0) ⁠⁠, ⁠Youtube⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt8JcRhWywkVJRR_YWv4OhA%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%C2%A0) ⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review and share your favorite episodes with friends.  Hosts: ⁠Jonathan Jackson⁠ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanljackson/) and ⁠Amie Vaccaro (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amievaccaro/)