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Beyond GDP: The Social Progress Podcast
Insight and inspiration on making the right choices for people and planet. We feature bold conversations with global leaders and innovators from government, businesses, community advocacy, foundations, and more who are charting a path for inclusive growth and sustainability. Hosted by Michael Green, CEO at Social Progress Imperative, we explore how the world must move beyond GDP metrics and economic growth to truly improve the social and environmental wellbeing of communities. ©Beyond GDP: The Social Progress Podcast is an essential listening for decision-makers ready to do things differently.
Beyond GDP: The Social Progress Podcast
How Brazil Is Fixing Its Cities From the Inside Out with IPS Brasil
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Brazil is ranked 52nd in the world for social progress but behind that number are 5,570 municipalities each fighting their own hidden crises. In this episode, Michael Green sits down with Melissa Wilm from IPS Brasil to uncover four on-the-ground stories of what happens when data meets real communities.
From two rival Brazilian capitals turning competition into collaboration, to a small Amazon town where malnutrition had nothing to do with healthcare, to a health secretary who changed one thing and transformed his entire community, to a city that discovered its data had been wrong all along this is what evidence-based policymaking actually looks like in practice.
The 2026 IPS Brasil Social Progress Index launches in May. Explore the full data tool at ipsbrazil.org.br
00:00:00 Introduction — Brazil's place in global social progress
00:01:11 Meet Melissa Wilm & IPS Brasil
00:01:36 Brazil's social progress profile: success and unfulfilled potential
00:02:33 How the index works across 5,570 municipalities
00:05:15 Case Study 1: Curitiba vs Belo Horizonte — healthy competition
00:10:15 Case Study 2: Capinzal do Norte — the food crisis hiding in the farmland
00:13:19 Small town, global relevance — the ultra-processed food crisis
00:15:47 Case Study 3: Água Azul do Norte — the clinic that changed everything
00:17:46 Case Study 4: Abaetetuba — when the data was wrong all along
00:20:59 The 2026 IPS Brasil index — what's coming in May
00:21:30 Prediction
00:24:10 Wrap-up & where to find IPS Brasil
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