Amy Costello is a former Africa correspondent for PRI’s The World. She now hosts Tiny Spark, a podcast that investigates the business of doing good.
Amy Costello is a former Africa correspondent for PRI’s The World. She now hosts Tiny Spark, a podcast that investigates the business of doing good. Tiny Spark takes a critical look at seemingly good ideas and asks tough questions of well-intentioned people and programs, whether medical volunteers in post-quake Haiti or the social entrepreneur behind TOMS Shoes. Amy has worked as an NPR producer and adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, her alma mater. Her FRONTLINE/World television investigation “Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible” was nominated for an Emmy Award.
It’s their version of #MeToo — unfortunately, sexual harassment and abuse are all too common in the humanitarian aid sector.
When infectious disease expert Dr. Gary Slutkin returned to the US after years of working abroad on HIV, cholera and TB, he was struck by how much the spread of gun violence here reminded him of the spread of disease.
In many developing countries, thousands of volunteers serve as community health workers. But who is looking after their interests? Amy Costello reports from the West African nation of Senegal.
Nelson Mandela fought the forces of apartheid for years, and was thrown in jail for his efforts. On Thursday, he died peacefully in his home.
It's hard to see the devastation in the Philippines without wanting to do something to help. Reporter Amy Costello covers the business of doing good and has this advice for helping.
When people find out that I reported from Africa for many years and am now producing a series called Tracking Charity, they frequently ask me this: "Which charities do you think are doing really good work on the ground overseas?"
Governments and charitable organizations have distributed millions of insecticide-treated bed nets across Africa, to repel and kill mosquitoes that spread malaria. But mosquitoes are growing resistant to the insecticide. Health experts say a resurgence of the deadly disease may be coming -- one that could have been avoided.
Doctors who worked in Haiti after the 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake are asking a difficult question: Did some medical volunteers harm patients? Amy Costello reports on the medical community's attempts to learn from mistakes made in Haiti.
The US leads the world in the number of children adopted from abroad. Critics say this unending demand for infants from poor nations – together with the huge sums American families are willing to pay – transformed an altruistic act into an industry plagued by corruption, kidnapping, and fraud.
TOMS shoe company is the subject of an investigation by reporter Amy Costello. Costello was The World's Africa correspondent for many years.