Africa’s Youth Voices Take Centre Stage

We hear from two-time One World Media Award winners, Radio Workshop, reflect on what the Awards have meant to them and how African youth storytelling continues to grow and reach global audiences. With a network of over 5,000 trained youth radio reporters across 10 African countries, they broadcast on local and national stations and produce podcasts. 

When I Will Not Grow Old Here earned us our first One World Media Award in 2023, we were thrilled to see our stories reach a global stage. This recognition meant so much for African audio storytelling as a whole. For us, it was confirmation of something we already knew: the world is ready for long-form audio narratives from the continent. 

We started the Radio Workshop podcast in 2021 with the intention of sharing stories from young Africans to a global audience. Since then, we’ve produced 36 episodes from a range of different topics and countries, including the fight for LGBTQI+ rights in Uganda, the ripple effect of lead poisoning in Zambia, and a massive wave of youth migration in Nigeria. This is the world’s youngest population. And they have something to say.

In 2024, our first climate story, This Coal Life, earned us our second One World Media Award, opening doors to new audiences and collaborations. The episode was shared on National Public Radio’s Up First, and we resonated deeply with global audiences. We realised the episode just scratched the surface in telling the story of transitioning from coal to renewable energy, which then led to the production of a follow-up episode of This Coal Life. 

The first episode introduced us to the Skhosana family in Kriel, a coal-mining town at the centre of the energy transition, to find out what happens to people who have built their entire lives around coal. In the second episode, we travel to Nomzamo, an informal settlement that is attempting to go off the grid and meet its own energy needs, while also employing young residents as local solar power agents. The episode will be released later this year.

We’re honoured to be part of the ever-growing One World Media community and excited about how it helps raise awareness of African youth perspectives on global issues.