10 Lessons from a collaborative podcast production
How can locally rooted content be produced and distributed to reach local communities? The podcast series “Connected Voices” explores how community networks across Kenya are leveraging digital tools to tell their own stories, preserve culture and amplify local voices that shape their communities. The project was launched by Tanda Community Networkand the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) in Kenya in cooperation with DW Akademie.
What is the podcast “Connected Voices” about?
The podcast series “Connected voices” explores how community networks across Kenya are using digital tools to tell their own stories. In six episodes, the series examines topics like community networks and community media, digital inclusion and connectivity, open-source tools and the role of grassroots storytelling in strengthening local content ecosystems.
The project also draws on two transformative initiatives by DW Akademie: the MethodKit for Podcasts, which equipped the teams with essential skills for effective storytelling, and Colmena, an open-source media platform designed to support content creation. Both were instrumental in equipping the project partners with the skills and tools needed for podcast production.
10 lessons for collaborative podcast production
Before production
1) Start with a shared vision and understand your “why” to make sure all partners are working toward the same goal.
Having worked in the media field for a long time and gathered experience across global, regional, national and community media, IAWRT Kenya and Tanda Community Network aligned on many key points. They share a common interest in empowering communities through media and digital tools, which worked as a key motor for collaboration. Hence, the mission and vision for this project naturally converged toward the common goal, while the project structure still allowed for a separation/distribution of roles according to each organization’s niche area and expertise.
A memorandum of understanding was agreed before work began, giving everyone a shared reference point.
A co-creation workshop early on helped all teams understand the research, the work at hand, and the target audience, as well as important aspects of hosting a podcast, and dissemination happening in indigenous communities and community networks. Members of both organizations also took part in a capacity-building process: Starting off with a training on the Colmena toolbox and using the MethodKit for Podcasts exploring the basics of podcasting allowed team members to develop a common understanding with clear goals.
2) Identify and map special skills that each organization brings to the table.
For the collaborative Connected Voices project, IAWRT Kenya leveraged its production expertise, leading the pre-production, production and post-production processes. They brought communication expertise grounded in mainstream media practice and long experience in audio production. They were also in charge of choosing the host for the series, and their media practitioners carried out the scripting, technical production and editing of the episodes.
Tanda Community Network brought in technical knowledge, provided the working space, access to the Colmena toolbox and administrative support, including training as well as a network of organizations and supporters based on its longstanding experience in community-centered connectivity initiatives. These voices brought out the diversity of local content development and hosting across both rural Kenya and urban informal settlements.
DW Akademie helped build the team's capacity to produce a podcast using accessible and comprehensive methods based on the MethodKit for Podcasts and the Colmena software.
Melkizedek Mirasi, an independent consultant, tasked with quality management translated the research findings from the previous project into a conversation, which shaped the series’ flow and sequencing. They also helped put together scripts and made sure the flow of the podcasting series worked overall.
3) Get a clear understanding and estimation of the resources required.
For Connected Voices resources and costs were carefully evaluated and adjusted where necessary, keeping track of details such as the availability of production equipment, stable internet, a selection of shooting locations, access to Colmena software that enabled seamless recording and editing of the podcasts and the availability of human resources.
4) Set clear decision-making procedures and dispute-resolution methods during the planning stage.
Tanda Community Network and IAWRT agreed to encourage all team members to openly share opinions and divergent views and dissected the situation cordially. Where points could not be resolved through discussion, majority votes would be taken.
In other cases, the decisions were handed to the partner with the strongest expertise in a particular field: This meant production decisions were primarily left to IAWRT, and so Tanda Community Network and Melkizedek mostly suggested or recommended ideas or provided contexts that could affect the outcomes. Similarly, technical decisions, such as whether to introduce third-party software applications for recording or editing, distribution channels for the episodes, and the cover art selections, were primarily entrusted to Tanda Community Network.
During production
5) Establish reliable communication and regular meetings that help keep the project on track.
Contributing partners of the Connected Voices podcast emphasized the importance of clearly communicating each organization’s role in the project while, at the same time, creating a collaborative environment where each organization’s inputs, including recommendations, suggestions and lessons from previous projects could be shared, considered and utilized.
At the start, a project roadmap was drafted. The project management team from both Tanda Community Network and IAWRT then met on a weekly basis and tracked the development.
Within the executive project team, members were assigned specific tasks and met virtually every week to track progress and share experience. This was also where brainstorming took place and proposals were sent forward.
Email threads and WhatsApp groups supported day-to-day communication and progress tracking.
6) Identify tools and meeting structures that spark creativity and productivity.
Regular brainstorming meetings helped foster creativity. But it was also the use of a very hands-on tool, the MethodKit for Podcasts, that helped spark creative discussions, particularly in the field of research and planning. Overall, the team chose to put lightweight coordination structures in place (such as the MoU, a fixed weekly meeting, shared communication channels) so misalignments could be caught within days, not weeks.
7) Make sure to get authentic voices from the communities involved.
When selecting the guests, the team considered players who were directly engaging with the communities in their work, focusing on authentic grassroots voices. They also curated an interview guide to ensure conversations focus on immediate community priorities and needs.
Language also played an important role in this process, as interviewers used a mixture of English, Kiswahili and Sheng to capture the realities of the communities that the guests represented. Throughout the episodes, popular phrases and folklore stories were used to further ground the podcast episodes in the realities of the guests’ communities.
8) Beware of guest logistics depending on the location of your recording.
One of the lessons learned was to consider audience logistics at an early stage, because guests cannot always travel to a central recording studio. For Connected Voices, the realities of the guest’s locations, availability and the short timeline made traveling impractical and the recording approach had to be re-designed. In the end, the team planned for a hybrid setup using the Colmena software, (some guests recording at Tanda Community Network, others remotely) rather than defaulting to a studio model and adapting under time pressure.
After production
9) Review the results—and celebrate success
Taking time to evaluate achievements is just as important as delivering the project itself. The Connected Voices podcast series demonstrated that high-quality audio content can be produced using locally available tools, resources and equipment while still resonating with diverse communities.
The project also had a broader impact than initially anticipated. Spreading information about the project and drawing on a cross-promotion approach using podcast platforms and social media helped inspire the formation and registration of community networks across Kenya, strengthening the country's growing community network movement. As connectivity expands, more local creators can access the internet to produce and share content that reflects their own communities, creating a positive ripple effect toward greater digital inclusion.
Perhaps most importantly, this is the first documented podcast series dedicated to amplifying the voices of grassroots complementary connectivity initiatives in Kenya. It has opened the door to new conversations and provided a platform for stories and perspectives that have often gone unheard.
10) Trust each organization's expertise and contributions
Successful collaboration requires confidence in the strength and experience that each partner brings to the table and carrying those insights into future joint initiatives. Not every aspect of the project needs to be perfect; the real value often comes from learning together, sharing knowledge and exchanging best practices. By trusting one another's expertise and outputs, partners can work more efficiently and create stronger, more authentic results.
Where can I listen to the podcast?
Connected Voices is available on Afripods, YouTube and Spotify.
The podcast series builds on the research project "Community-Driven Content Ecosystems: Path to Sustainable Production and Management of Locally Relevant Content by Community Networks in Kenya," by Tanda Community Network in Kenya, and is a cooperation with the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT), DW Akademie and Melkizedek Mirasi, an independent consultant.
