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Training & Development

Africa Podfest 2021 Viewing Guide

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“We Are Proud To Be Here” was the theme of the inaugural Africa Podfest on February 21, 2021. Co-Directors Josephine Karianjahi & Melissa Mbugua, along with their team, organized a jam-packed 10 hours of podcast stories, workshops and resources. It’s a lot of information. This Africa PodFest Viewing Guide is a concise path to engage with this multi-faceted, growing podcasting scene.

“In Africa, people grow ideas even when there’s no space because of the restraints that we have. People grow and so we’re thinking it’s going to grow and get bigger.”

Josephine Karianjahi, Co-Director of Africa Podfest, dreaming about the future of Africa Podfest during an interview on the Podcast Sessions podcast.

According to the Africa Podfest Day newsletter:

  • 269 people from across the globe logged in & participated on February 12th
  • 773 people have watched the YouTube video of the event to date
  • 1.1 million people talked about the festival on the socials with the #AfricaPodcastDay hashtag

Watch #AfricaPodcastDay on YouTube

“We want to share our stories,” was repeated throughout the event. My role here is to provide a conference breakdown. This way, you can find the session(s) that connect to your podcast interests. The time stamps are shown below. Go directly to these parts to hear their stories and tips, tricks and resources.

Africa PodFest 2021’s event partners were of tremendous service in bringing this conference to life. Baraza Media Lab provided the venue in Nairobi, Kenya. SemaBox, Hindenburg Systems, in_Motion Digital Grant (British Council & Prince Claus Fund), Tinzwe Media, and Bizcommunity also provided generous support.

Africa PodFest Viewing Guide Part 1: African Podcasts

Topic: Unfiltered Real Talk with Ije-Empowering African Woman (3:57 – 55:21)
Countries: Nigeria, Canada
Podcast: Unfiltered Real Talk
Summary: Ije discussed her podcast topics. They are sensitive subjects: hearing impairments, sexual violence, and more.

Topic: How to Produce A Collaborative Documentary Podcast in Several Languages (Euronews) (1:01:09 to 1:45pm)
Countries: Burundi, Senegal, Lesotho, Liberia, Guinea, South Africa, France
Podcast: Cry Like A Boy (launched during this session)
Hosts: Danielle Olvario and Khopotso Bodibe (English), Arwa Barkallah (French)
Summary: 5 tips on how to produce a multilingual podcast across 2 continents. Cry Like A Boy, and toxic masculinity.

Topic: This is Africa: Radio Workshop (2:00:00-3:00:00)
Country/Countries: South Africa
Podcast: This is Africa
Hosts: Lesedi Mogoathlhe, Dhasen Moodley, Andile Msomi
Summary: Radio Workshop develops high-quality audio content with creators from across Africa. They described This is Africa, and LGBTQI+ podcast training.

Topic: Africa Calling (3:08:30 – 3:43:44)
Countries: Kenya, Nigeria, France
Podcast: Africa Calling
Hosts: Laura Angela Bagnetto
Summary: Africa Calling relies heavily on remote recordings from on the ground in African countries. She explained how they work with local correspondents to get local viewpoints, and quality field sound clips.

Topic: Whose Voice is heard in Africa? (4:20:46 – 5:07:45)
Country: Kenya
Podcasts: Until Everyone is Free & Dandora Hiphop City Podcast
Hosts: Stoneface Bombaa & April Zhu & Gushin MC Gush & Kenyan Mwangi
Moderator: Kevin Mwachiro, Writer, Journalist and Host of Nipe Story podcast
Summary: They shared their podcasting challenges and talked about local issues for them and their listeners (like expensive mobile data in most African countries).

Topic: What We’ve Learned About African Podcasting (5:23:04-6:02:00)
Hosts: Josephine Karianjahi & Melissa Mbugua, Co-Directors of Africa Podfest
Summary: They shared their research on the African podcasting scene, starting from 2017.

Screenshot from an African PodFest panel discussion about the podcast, Cry Like A Boy

Africa PodFest Viewing Guide Part 2: How To Make Good Tape In Africa Workshops

Topic: The Language Of Podcasting (6:04:53- 7:02:45)
Hosts: Heli Newton of Hindenburg Systems
Summary: How to use Hindenburg to record and edit podcasts. Hindenburg offered a substantial discount on their product on the event day. They donated Hindenburg Journalist Pro for first signups of Africa Podfest.

Topic: How to Record Good Tape (7:07:45- 7:55:11)
Hosts: Dhashen and Mike Rahfaldt from Radio Workshop
Summary: Practical advice for recording under even the most challenging environments, basic audio lingo, equipment and more.

Africa PodFest Viewing Guide Part 3: Community Events

Topic: Podcasting Trends in Angola (8:06:12 – 9:00:00)
Country: Angola
Podcasts: Voices and Echoes & Clube da Micha
Hosts: Vincente & Tarcizzo
Summary: Listener information for their Portuguese podcasts. They included demographics, topics, and technical issues for their listeners, like needing a VPN when listening via Spotify.

Topic: Open Line (9:09:00-
Country: South Africa
Podcast: Lesser Known Somebodies
Hosts: Simmi Areff
Summary: This session was a live call in show, with special guests and many laughs.

African Podcast Scene Resources

The Africa PodFest website is a great reference source. According to Africa Podfest’s reports, their podcast ecosystem is growing exponentially. Women, especially, are early adopters. The Africa Podcast database shows a wide variety of podcasts. You can browse by map or list view, and filter by location, title or theme. Different nations in Africa have different social, geographic and political issues. All of these affect the ability to share information electronically. This Africa PodFest Viewing Guide should provide some leads on the specific issues.

Support Africa PodFest

How can you support these folks? Share information about the event on Twitter. Subscribe to their newsletter. Buy them a coffee, or volunteer your skills. Of course, don’t forget to check out other global podcasting events happening in 2021.

You might also want to check out our post on Five Things You Should Know About Podcasting in Africa.

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