Inside The Cambodia Project

Host Christian Pearson is joined by David Benaim, a veritable Excel expert who believes that Cambodia weathered Covid better than any other country in the world. David describes his life as an expat living in Cambodia, and later he tells the compelling story of how he used statistics and excel sheets to fight misinformation and chaos during the global pandemic. He concludes with some key insights from his UNICEF report, which describes how different countries performed across a number of key indicators in the aftermath of the coronavirus.

Host Christian Pearson asks research fellows Seth Allred and Kyli Fox-Soug to talk about their experiences living and working in Cambodia for two weeks. Seth and Kyli share their initial reactions to the country, discuss various challenges related to international research, and reflect on their biggest takeaways from their time in Southeast Asia.

Host Christian Pearson and producer Ben Beck discuss their impending research trip while recording in an unconventional studio: the San Francisco International Airport. Ben goes into detail about research design and specific interventions to be implemented in Cambodia, while Christian shares some surprising findings about fixed vs. growth mindset. Next, they talk about the experiences they are most excited for, including touring the Angkor Wat Temple and exploring the floating villages on the Tonle Sap. Finally, Christian closes the episode by announcing a summer hiatus, but promises to return for Season 2 in the Fall.

Host Christian Pearson discusses the scope and significance of domestic violence with Matápuna Levenson, a victim advocate and project manager for the Asian Pacific Insititute on Gender-Based Violence. Puna describes the differences between a direct-service and a systematic community approach to violence prevention. Later, she underscores the importance of balancing good intentions with locally-supported interventions, in order to build trust and increase impact in a community. Finally, Christian and Puna take a closer look at the implications of working with small-business owners to address gender-based violence in Cambodia.

Host Christian Pearson and CSR proponent Ben Lewis take a deeper look at a hot topic in the business world: Corporate Social Responsibility. Ben shares key findings from his archival research on how rankings affect the way firms approach CSR. Later, they discuss the controversy surrounding the blurring lines between corporations and government, and examine the issue of "greenwashing" as a potential problem for small businesses in Cambodia.

Host Christian Pearson is joined by international traveller and cultural expert Bruce Money, who shares his experiences and research while abroad. Later, Bruce defines Hofstede's cultural dimensions and considers their significance within the context of humanitarian research. Christian closes out the episode with some intriguing conclusions from Banerjee & Duflo's book, Poor Economics. For more information about Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, visit https://www.hofstede-insights.com/.

Host Christian Pearson invites co-producer and marketing professor Dr. Ben Beck onto the podcast to share his thoughts on the Better Marketing for a Better World initiative. Later, Ben reviews 3 notable academic papers on prosocial marketing and connects their respective research designs to the Cambodia Project.

Host Christian Pearson is joined by Asia expert and business scholar Seth Allred for an engaging discussion about the #MeToo movement and its reception throughout Asia. Together, they tackle several of the greatest obstacles to gender equality, and explore potential solutions as they apply to humanitarian research in Cambodia. They wrap things up talking about how to tactfully implement cultural changes in foreign countries, as informed by Melinda Gates' recent book, The Moment of Lift.