Episode 126: Charles Kenny

Charles Kenny is an optimist. He's the author of several book about global development, including Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding--And How We Can Improve the World Even More, which was widely hailed across the spectrum and personally endorsed by Bill Gates.

Charles is a fellow with Center for Global Development where his work focuses on a wide array of topics, including the intersection of gender and development and we kick off with a discussion of some new research he's worked on about strategies to reduce the prevalence of female genital mutilation--otherwise known as FGM. (If you are not aware, FGM is the deliberate cutting of female genitalia, often as part of a traditional ceremony in a girl's adolescence. And Charles has researched policies in countries that helped to sharply reduce the number of girls subjected to this practice.)

Charles was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother. He traces the roots of his optimism to his charmed …