Into Africa
Fearless music activists. Savvy tech entrepreneurs. Social disrupters. Into Africa shatters the narratives that dominate U.S. perceptions of Africa. Host Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, Africa program director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C., sits down with policymakers, journalists, academics and other trailblazers in African affairs to shine a spotlight on the faces spearheading cultural, political, and economic change on the continent.
Episodes
July 3, 2025 • 41 mins
African content is booming on global streaming platforms. But as the industry shifts to appeal to Afropolitan elites and international audiences, who gets left behind? In this episode, Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University and the author of Afropolitanizing the local: how cultural imperialism is rewriting the narratives of African ent...
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June 26, 2025 • 38 mins
Africa is undergoing a health funding crisis due to overreliance on external aid and a lack of internal investment from African governments. The healthcare sector is 95 percent dependent on external aid for crucial commodities: vaccines, medication, and diagnostic equipment. Africa saw a 41 percent rise in public health emergencies in 2024, highlighting the vulnerability of the health infrastructure. In response to these challenges...
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June 12, 2025 • 28 mins
Catherine Nzuki is joined by Blair Glencorse and Cheri-Leigh Erasmus, co-CEOs of Accountability Lab, to unpack the latest findings from the Global Aid Freeze Tracker. Together, they reflect on the current state of the development sector and explore where the development sector goes from here.
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June 5, 2025 • 29 mins
Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and 2023 Nigerian presidential candidate, joined Into Africa to discuss his belief that the answer to Nigeria’s persistent challenges lies in the character of its leaders. Obi shared that to restore public trust in Nigeria’s government, leaders need to embody competence, capacity, compassion, and integrity.
Obi joins Mvemba to explore how leaders can be role models for their constituents...
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May 29, 2025 • 25 mins
Catherine Nzuki is joined by Cameron Hudson, Senior Fellow with the CSIS Africa Program. He unpacks the immediate causes of the war, the growing number of regional actors involved in the war, how the entry of foreign actors is changing the dynamics of the conflict, and the unique role the U.S. can play in mediating a peace process.
Cameron Hudson's testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa can be found here.
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May 22, 2025 • 42 mins
From rapid urbanization to persistent housing shortages, Africa’s cities are facing immense challenges—and emerging opportunities, including innovative mortgage models, government-backed projects, and rising investor interest in sustainable development. In this episode, Mvemba is joined by Thierno-Habib Hann, CEO of Shelter Afrique Development Bank, to explore how innovative finance, strategic partnerships, and public-private colla...
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May 15, 2025 • 52 mins
Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Daniel Cash, Associate Professor in Law at Ashton University. He specializes in the study of the international credit rating agencies. They discuss the “Big Three” credit rating agencies, why they have been accused of biases against Africa, and the impact that sovereign credit ratings have on outcomes for young people. Dr. Cash explains why the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) is being formed an...
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May 13, 2025 • 1 min
But not much else has changed: Catherine Nzuki is (still) your host, and by 2050, one in four people in the world are still expected to be African.
Thank you all very much for supporting this podcast. We are back this Thursday, May 15, with a new episode on the case for an African credit rating agency.
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May 8, 2025 • 41 mins
From Cold War dynamics to legislative debates, U.S. foreign policy toward Africa has been shaped by complex historical, political, and institutional factors. In his memoir From the Congo to Capitol Hill, Steve Weissman recounts his experiences as a young professor in the Congo and later as a congressional staffer engaged in foreign policy and human rights advocacy.
In this episode, Mvemba is joined by Steve Weissman, longtime for...
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May 1, 2025 • 34 mins
Darrel Lloyd, CSIS Africa Program Intern, joins Catherine Nzuki for an informal discussion on internships. Catherine shares her background (2:10), tips on think tank internship applications (6:10), engaging with the African diaspora (10:59); interviews (14:27), networking (18:57); social media (22:55); building research skills (24:50); and how to stand out during your internship (28:00). Darrel shares his reflections on his spring ...
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April 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Africa stands at the forefront of the global climate crisis, facing extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and biodiversity loss—despite contributing less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As debates intensify over carbon credit agreements, oil exploration in the Congo Basin, and the role of Africa in shaping global climate policy, questions remain about how the continent can advocate for equitable and sustainable s...
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April 17, 2025 • 36 mins
The Afropolitan will be taking a brief hiatus to re-envision its next steps. Stay tuned for an exciting new chapter!
In the meantime, we're sharing our very first episode from October, which focused on how older people in Mali are consuming news on TikTok, and why this symbolizes the larger trends sweeping through the Sahel. In this episode, Catherine Nzuki is joined by Doussouba Konaté, the Country Director of Accountability Lab M...
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April 14, 2025 • 32 mins
What does it take to influence meaningful change in Nigeria’s governance landscape?
In this episode of Into Africa, Udo Ilo, author of It Is Impossible: Influencing Change in Nigeria, joins to explore the complex landscape of social and political change in Nigeria. Drawing on his extensive experience in governance reform, civic engagement, and social innovation, Udo offers valuable insights into the challenges of driving democracy...
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Catherine Nzuki is joined by Naa Laryea, a software engineer living in Accra. She walks us through what apartment hunting is like in Accra, why some landlords ask for a year or two years’ worth of rent up front, and the causes of the housing crisis in Accra.
Nelson C.J., West Africa Correspondent at OkayAfrica, joins the Afropolitan and zooms out to discuss the common drivers of the housing crunch in major West African cities. Nel...
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March 27, 2025 • 38 mins
Since its founding, the African Union (AU) has positioned itself as a unifying force for economic integration, conflict resolution, and continental self-determination. However, recent developments—including interstate tensions and shifting global dynamics—have raised questions about the organization’s effectiveness and direction. When the 2025 AU Summit convened in February 2025, critical discussions on Africa’s political and econo...
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March 20, 2025 • 28 mins
We traditionally think of impact evaluation as an academic or technical skill. The Impact Evaluation (IE) Lab at the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), a think tank in Dar es Salaam, is working to change that.
Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Constantine Manda, the co-founder and inaugural Director of the IE Lab at ESRF, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. The core mi...
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March 13, 2025 • 45 mins
The ONE Campaign, originally founded as Debt AIDS Trade for Africa (DATA) in 2004, is a global advocacy organization dedicated to driving investments and creating economic opportunities in Africa. Over the past 20 years, ONE has continually evolved to address the continent’s most pressing challenges, ensuring its work remains relevant and impactful. ONE advocates for justice and equity in Africa’s global relationships. At its core,...
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March 6, 2025 • 48 mins
Three West African countries - Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso - have finalized their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Another thing they have in common? All three countries are under junta rule after military coups that took place in recent years. They have since formed their own union - the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Why have these three countries exited ECOWAS, and is this a crisis point for...
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February 27, 2025 • 35 mins
Yinka Adegoke, editor of Semafor Africa, joined Into Africa to discuss the rapidly changing media landscape across the continent. While African media has a long history, dating back to the pre-independence era, it has traditionally been focused on national issues rather than Pan-African topics. As a result, many Africans rely on foreign news sources to stay informed about neighboring countries, reinforcing external narratives that ...
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February 20, 2025 • 41 mins
Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Chinasa T. Okolo, a fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and a recent computer science Ph.D. graduate from Cornell University.
Dr. Okolo provides an overview of Africa’s AI industry (1:54); DeepSeek and what it means for AI startups (6:40); common misconceptions about AI development (7:54); how to make AI safer for the global majority (14:22);...
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