Podcasting is increasingly becoming a vital tool for shifting narratives and storytelling for human rights defenders, with over 464 million listeners globally.
In the month of July,The Defenders Coalition conducted a 3 day podcasting storytelling training for 16 Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) from different counties across Kenya. The training sought to enhance participants’ understanding of storytelling principles and narrative structures, enabling them to develop compelling advocacy stories that amplify the voices and experiences of their communities. It also aimed to build a network of grassroots human rights storytellers while equipping participants with practical, hands-on skills in podcast planning, production, editing, and dissemination to support sustained and impactful human rights communication.
Since 2022, the Defenders Coalition has hosted the Justice Watchers Podcast, a platform that spotlights the stories of change-makers reshaping the human rights landscape in Kenya. Initially launched as an audio-only podcast, it expanded to audio-visual in 2024, broadening its reach and impact. In months, we have built an audience that has spent over 11 hours engaging with justice issues evidence that Kenyan audiences are actively seeking out stories about human rights defenders, and that the Defenders Coalition is becoming a trusted voice in that conversation. Despite this momentum, civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa face a significant media production capacity gap. Key challenges include Fewer than 12% of civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa have in-house communications staff with digital media production skills (Africa Civil Society Media Survey, 2023).
Dominant narratives on pressing social issues— climate change, gender-based violence, and health access continue to be shaped by external media rather than affected communities. Mainstream broadcast media allocates minimal airtime to grassroots’ advocacy, forcing organizations to rely on expensive PR firms or remain invisible in public discourse. Traditional media gatekeeping and resource constraints mean that frontline perspectives, especially those of HRDs, are systematically underrepresented. Podcasting has opened up the media to everyone. With low production costs, more people owning smartphones, and a growing number of streaming platforms, audio content has become the most accessible form of mass media for individuals including human rights defenders (HRDs).
The program moved participants from foundational concepts to hands-on production, with each session building towards the creation of a Podcast plan fully recorded podcast episode and a story pitch. The three-day podcast training adopted an interactive, studio-based learning approach that combines advocacy-focused storytelling with practical podcast production skills. Participants progressed through a step-by-step learning process, beginning with understanding podcasting as a tool for human rights advocacy before exploring storytelling structures, narrative framing, and scriptwriting, hands-on production, postproduction, and long-term sustainability.
Recognizing the unique risks faced by human rights defenders, the training also incorporated digital security, ethical recording practices, and strategies for protecting sensitive content and identities. By the end of the program, participants had produced pilot podcast episodes, audio pitches, and established mock publishing platforms.