Small Islands Big Picture

About Small Islands Big Picture

Directors of ODI Global's Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative, Emily Wilkinson and Matt Bishop, cut to the heart of the political, economic, social and environmental challenges facing SIDS, and how their incredible people are responding to them. Every episode includes expert guests from the Caribbean, Pacific and elsewhere. To get in touch, visit https://odi.org/en/about/our-work/resilient-islands/ (https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/YP0PCRo0QHYOgzFNEZk8?domain=odi.org/) or send us an email to info@odi.org (mailto:info@odi.org) with "small islands" in the subject line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

ODI Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI)

Category

business · science · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Jul 2023

Latest episode

10 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   10 Sept 2026

   The State of SIDS Report 2026

   In June 2026, RESI launched the first ever “State of SIDS” report, an extensive analysis of how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are responding to a rapidly changing global context in which the defence of their special case is more urgent than ever, but also potentially requires new ideas, innovations and arguments to support this action. The report was developed by a cross-regional team of almost 30 SIDS experts. In this episode, which is the counterpart to Episode 24 on the SIDS Future Forum, Emily and Matt explore the report and its implications in depth. In “Island Voices”, we hear from Jabal Hassanali from the Global Island Partnership. Our RESI colleagues, Jack Corbett and Eliorah Malifa join us for the “Explainer”, to discuss the process of putting the report together. Then, in the “Big Picture”, some of the lead authors of the thematic chapters tell us what their key messages are. Finally, in “No Stupid Questions” Matt and Emily reflect on the overarching insights from the report and how they might shape preparations for the SIDS Future Forum and State of SIDS report in 2028. Featuring: Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield Jabal Hassanali | Strategy Manager, Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) Jack Corbett | RESI Director and Deputy Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia Eliorah Malifa | Lead editor and Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia Stefano Moncada | Director, Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta Preeya Mohan | Professor at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad Yvonne Underhill-Sem | Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand Merisa Thompson | Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, UK Viliame Kasanawaka | Director of ShipWrecked Lab, Fiji Kalim Shah | Associate Professor and Director of the Island Policy Lab at the University of Delaware, USA Gail Hurley | RESI Director and Development Finance Expert Resources: Programme page | Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) (https://odi.org/en/about/our-work/resilient-islands/) The Report | The State of SIDS 2026: Defending the Special Case (https://odi.org/en/publications/the-state-of-sids-report-2026-defending-the-special-case/) RESI Book | Sustaining Development in Small Islands (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sustaining-development-in-small-islands/97BB4D82A06B15F09C18911C8701D527) RESI Report | How SIDS view their development partners (https://odi.org/en/publications/how-small-island-developing-states-view-their-development-partners/) Trailer for new RESI film | Climate Blueprint: Barbados (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/diayakA1l4k) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Opening session recording: navigating the now (https://youtu.be/E_H-xgo7dhc) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | State of SIDS Report Chapters 1 and 2 recording (https://youtu.be/m-4HdcyjxTs) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | State of SIDS Report Chapters 2 and 3 recording (https://youtu.be/xS_pFYtf5VA) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Event homepage and resources (https://odi.org/en/events/sids-future-forum-2026-shaping-the-future-of-small-island-developing-states/) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Wilton Park Event Report (https://media.odi.org/documents/WP3759_SIDS_Future_Forum_2026_Report.pdf) SIDS Future Forum 2024 | Shaping the Future of SIDS (https://odi.org/en/publications/sids-future-forum-2024-meeting-report/) LISTENER SURVEY: To help us make Small Islands, Big Picture even better, we’ve put together a short audience survey and would love your input. You can find the survey at this link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeRqVWFznzHtWBvYxXEleYY4elXt4DhkOTQ38dGtZKMi8BlBA/viewform?usp=header) and your feedback will help us shape future episodes, topics, and guests. If you have a moment, please fill it out: it only takes a couple of minutes would mean a lot to us. Thanks for listening and supporting the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   30 Jul 2026

   Where do African SIDS fit into small-island development?

   African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are sometimes overlooked in global debates that tend to be dominated by the Pacific and the Caribbean. Yet across Africa’s island states, substantial advances are being made in terms of regional collaboration, good governance, sustainable development, climate resilience and cultural protection. At the same time, the region faces distinctive challenges: vast distances separate African SIDS and their critical mass is limited relative to counterparts elsewhere. In this episode, Emily and Matt are joined by Stefano Moncada from the University of Malta to speak to panel of experts – Paul Akiwumi from Ghana, Penda Choppy from Seychelles, Ramola Ramtohul from Mauritius, and Antonio Palazuelos Prieto from Cape Verde – about the exciting developments that are happening across African SIDS. They explore what is going on across the continent and why African island development matters to the wider story of small islands, highlighting lessons, successes and insights that can inform resilience and development efforts across the global community of islands. Featuring: Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield Stefano Moncada | Director, Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta Paul Akiwumi | Senior Fellow, London School of Economics and former Director of the UNCTAD Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes Ramola Ramtohul | Associate Professor in Gender Studies and Sociology at the University of Mauritius Antonio Palazuelos Prieto | SIDS Expert at UN Economic Commission for Africa Penda Choppy | Director, Creole Language and Culture Research Institute at the University of Seychelles Resources: Programme page | Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) (https://odi.org/en/about/our-work/resilient-islands/) Stefano’s profile | University of Malta website (https://www.um.edu.mt/profile/stefanomoncada) Paul’s profile | Paul Akiwumi LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-akiwumi-00121945?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios) UNCTAD’s work on productive capacities | SIDS PCI website (https://unctad.org/project/stronger-and-greener-productive-capacities-just-transitions-caribbean-small-island) Ramola’s profile | Ramola Ramtohul LinkedIn (https://mu.linkedin.com/in/ramola-ramtohul-042260365) Ramola’s book | The Mauritian Paradox (https://africanbookscollective.com/books/the-mauritian-paradox/) Antonio’s profile | Antonio Palazuelos LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniopalazuelos/) Penda’s profile | University of Seychelles website (https://unisey.ac.sc/personnel/penda-choppy/) A paper by Jack, our RESI Co-Director | African Exceptions (https://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/133889692/Cheeseman_N2021African.pdf) LISTENER SURVEY: To help us make Small Islands, Big Picture even better, we’ve put together a short audience survey and would love your input. You can find the survey at this link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeRqVWFznzHtWBvYxXEleYY4elXt4DhkOTQ38dGtZKMi8BlBA/viewform?usp=header) and your feedback will help us shape future episodes, topics, and guests. If you have a moment, please fill it out: it only takes a couple of minutes would mean a lot to us. Thanks for listening and supporting the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   3 Jun 2026

   Defending the SIDS special case: what happened at the SIDS Future Forum 2026?

   Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have long been recognised by the United Nations as a “special case” for sustainable development. This reflects the fact that small islands across the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean and Atlantic regions face unique and intensifying challenges, including climate change, debt pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and limited fiscal space. But in a rapidly shifting global system, that recognition is under increasing strain. How do small island states ensure their needs are still understood, prioritised and acted on? In this episode, we explore the key questions at the heart of that debate, drawing on insights from the SIDS Future Forum 2026, a space which brought over 50 experts together - SIDS diplomats, officials from international organisations, representatives of donor governments and researchers - to reflect on the future of the global SIDS agenda and the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), the UN’s ten-year programme of action. In an extended version of our “Big Picture” segment, we hear reflections from senior SIDS representatives to the UN, including Tania Romualdo (Cabo Verde), Walton Webson (Antigua and Barbuda), Ali Naseer Mohamed (Maldives) and Nicholas Cox (Barbados), on what it will take to keep the “special case” relevant and credible in a world of sustained geopolitical upheaval. In “No Stupid Questions”, Matt and Emily explore some of the new ideas that emerged from the Future Forum, including why fresh evidence, insights and arguments are needed to defend the UN-recognised “special case” for sustainable development that SIDS have held since the first UN programme of action in the 1990s. LISTENER SURVEY: To help us make Small Islands, Big Picture even better, we’ve put together a short audience survey and would love your input. You can find the survey at this link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeRqVWFznzHtWBvYxXEleYY4elXt4DhkOTQ38dGtZKMi8BlBA/viewform?usp=header) and your feedback will help us shape future episodes, topics, and guests. If you have a moment, please fill it out: it only takes a couple of minutes would mean a lot to us. Thanks for listening and supporting the show! Featuring: Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield Tania Romualdo | Permanent Representative of Cabo Verde to the UN Walton Webson | Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the UN Ali Naseer Mohamed | Permanent Representative of Maldives to the UN Nicholas Cox | Deputy Permanent Representative of Barbados to the UN Resources: Programme page | Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) (https://shows.acast.com/en/about/our-work/resilient-islands/) RESI Book | Sustaining Development in Small Islands (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sustaining-development-in-small-islands/97BB4D82A06B15F09C18911C8701D527) RESI Report | How SIDS view their development partners (https://odi.org/en/publications/how-small-island-developing-states-view-their-development-partners/) Trailer for new RESI film | Climate Blueprint: Barbados (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/diayakA1l4k) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Opening session recording: navigating the now (https://youtu.be/E_H-xgo7dhc) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | State of SIDS Report Chapters 1 and 2 recording (https://youtu.be/m-4HdcyjxTs) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | State of SIDS Report Chapters 2 and 3 recording (https://youtu.be/xS_pFYtf5VA) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Event homepage and resources (https://odi.org/en/events/sids-future-forum-2026-shaping-the-future-of-small-island-developing-states/) SIDS Future Forum 2026 | Wilton Park Event Report (https://media.odi.org/documents/WP3759_SIDS_Future_Forum_2026_Report.pdf) SIDS Future Forum 2024 | Shaping the Future of SIDS (https://odi.org/en/publications/sids-future-forum-2024-meeting-report/) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 38 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

52

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

60

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.