PRX Announces Africa Podcast Lab, A Podcast Development Training Program for Journalists and Storytellers
2022 participants will include creators focusing on gender equity and public health, from Africa Uncensored, Nigeria Health Watch, Love Matters Naija, Love Matters Kenya, the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, and Debunk Media. The PRX training team will lead 10 weeks of workshops while mentors will include podcaster Selly Thiam of “AfroQueer” and media trainer Joseph Warungu
Public media organization PRX today announced Africa Podcast Lab, an intensive podcast development training program for health journalists, producers, and storytellers. Selected participants — six teams of audio creators of all experience levels — represent three countries across the region: Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Beginning this month, the six teams will develop podcasts centered around topics of gender equity and public health.
In collaboration with podcast and media experts based across Africa — including Selly Thiam, Executive Producer of the podcast “AfroQueer” and media trainer Joseph Warungu of Top Story Africa — the PRX podcast training team will guide teams of audio creators through a 10-week training program rooted in an audience-first, human-centered approach to developing a show.
Creators will participate in virtual workshops, webinars, and one-on-one sessions on idea development, narrative and sound, audience growth and engagement, and monetization. Participants will also receive a $3,000 stipend, a stipend for equipment and software purchases, regular feedback on all aspects of production, and the option for their podcast to be hosted on the PRX Dovetail publishing platform. In addition, teams will receive mentorship and business development consultation with regional podcast experts in order to bolster their show launches.
Africa Podcast Lab participants will include:
- Cynthia Gichiri and Linda Ngari–Africa Uncensored — Nairobi, Kenya. Cynthia Gichiri serves as a producer and reporter for Africa Uncensored, an independent media organization powered by investigative journalists in Kenya. Pursuing stories regarding health, gender, and conflict, as well as climate change, Gichiri has also served as a broadcast journalist and as Head of News for MBCI Media. Linda Ngari currently serves as a fact checker at Africa Uncensored. She began her journalism career at Daystar University in Nairobi as news editor for The Involvement student newspaper and for Shine FM student radio.
- Joan van Dyk and Mohale Moloi — Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism — Johannesburg, South Africa. Award-winning reporter Joan van Dyk serves as senior health journalist at the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, reporting on inequalities in South Africa’s health systems. Also a health journalist at Bhekisisa, an organization bringing audiences solutions-based health analysis and features, Moloi has also served as a producer at “CapeTalk” from Primedia Broadcasting, where he created a morning current affairs program. In 2019, Moloi was awarded a journalism fellowship by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.
- Sheila Munyiva, Kanyi Wyban, and Duncan Kanili — Debunk Media — Nairobi, Kenya. Debunk Media is a media organization founded on the promise that every society deserves good stories in order to make sense of the lofty, the mundane, and everything in between. There, Sheila Munyiva serves as lead producer and creative director. She is also an actress who starred in the film “Rafiki,” the first Kenyan film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, multimedia journalist and Debunk Media staff writer’s Kanyi Wyban’s work at the intersection of social, culture, and environmental issues has been published by Africa in Fact, The Elephant, and Revista Periferias. Duncan Kanili is an audio-visual producer and editor at Debunk Media.
- Dara Ajala-Damisa and Chibuike Alagboso — Nigeria Health Watch — Abuja, Nigeria. Dara Ajala-Damisa serves as program manager and as a member of the editorial team at Nigeria Health Watch, a nonprofit using informed advocacy and communication to influence health policy and to seek better health and access to healthcare across the country. Chibuike Alagboso leads the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative at Nigeria Health Watch, where he also writes thought leadership pieces. His work has been syndicated by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and All Africa. Alagboso has also received recognition as a Mandela Washington Fellow of the U.S. Department of State and as a LEDE Fellow of the Solutions Journalism Network.
- Eddy Ashioya and Niyibeshaho Marie Mercie — Love Matters Kenya–Nairobi, Kenya. A multidisciplinary creative, Eddy Ashioya’s writing has been published by “The Nation,” “Business Daily Africa,” and “The Standard,” on topics ranging including mental health and COVID-19. President of the Nairobi Youth Advisory Council, Niyibeshaho Marie Merci is also a sexual and reproductive health advocate for adolescents. Love Matters Kenya’s mission is to provide accessible information and news on sexuality and sexual health for young people, providing trusted information on health and rights.
- Ufuoma Eguriase and Ema-Olori Ayonmagbemi— Love Matters Naija — Abuja, Nigeria. Ufuoma Eguirase is an experienced broadcast journalist. Her work has been heard via the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, where she has produced radio plays as well as open town halls focused on governance and development. She currently serves as a communications officer at Yiaga Africa, a nonprofit hub of change makers committed to the promotion of civic engagement and human rights. An advocate for women’s rights, Ema-Olori Ayonmagbemi has helped to build digital communities amplifying science and rights-based information regarding sexual reproductive health while providing safe spaces for questions, peer discussion, and constructive discourse. Love Matters Naija began as an informative Facebook community in 2018, for young people in Nigeria and has grown rapidly.
“We’re always energized by working with creators both across the U.S. and around the world to develop podcasts that resonate and to help support creative communities,” said Stephanie Kuo, Director of Training at PRX. “We’re excited to work with storytellers and producers across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, focusing on important issues around gender equity and public health. Thank you to partners and mentors who will join this journey with us along the way.”
PRX’s podcast training team is composed of skilled audio and creative professionals whose innovative, rigorous curriculums empower producers to make meaningful media and to navigate their creative development with confidence and empathy. Initiatives include the Ready To Learn Podcast Accelerator for kids podcast producers, the Google Podcasts creator program for podcasters around the world, and the Project Catapult podcast accelerator for U.S. public media. Training partners have included PBS KIDS, Google, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and alumni of PRX training programs include the podcasts “AfroQueer,” “Through the Cracks,” “The Modern West,” “Port of Entry,” “Las Raras,” “City of Women,” and more.
PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling. Visit PRX.org for more.
About PRX
PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling. PRX serves independent producers and organizations by helping them connect to their most engaged, supportive audiences. One of the world’s leading podcast publishers, PRX works in partnership with TED, PBS, the Smithsonian, Futuro Media, GBH, Religion of Sports, and more. PRX is also home to Radiotopia, known as one of the most creative and successful podcast networks. In addition, PRX distributes trusted and treasured public radio programming to hundreds of stations nationwide, including “The World,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “This American Life,” “Snap Judgment,” “Reveal,” “The Takeaway,” and “Latino USA.” PRX programs have been recognized by the Peabody Awards, duPont-Columbia Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes.
