The Nairobi Ideas Podcast is on break. But before we go, we’ve created this recap episode to sum up our second season. Check it out to hear Dr. Rose M. Mutiso, our host and Mawazo Institute Co-Founder, and Kari Mugo, our Digital Media and Public Engagement Consultant, chat about their favourite episodes, some of the lessons they’ve learned so far, and all the love they have for our fans. Plus, catch up with everything Mawazo has been doing in Nairobi to connect people like you with cutting-edge research and conversations in Kenya and beyond – from publishing the Nairobi Ideas Digest and Nairobi Ideas Explainer, to hosting the Nairobi Ideas Exchange and Africa Science Week-Kenya 2019.
The Nairobi Ideas Podcast is on break. But before we go, we’ve created this recap episode to sum up our second season. Check it out to hear Dr. Rose M. Mutiso, our host and Mawazo Institute Co-Founder, and Kari Mugo, our Digital Media and Public Engagement Consultant, chat about their favourite episodes, some of the lessons they’ve learned so far, and all the love they have for our fans. Plus, catch up with everything Mawazo has been doing in Nairobi to connect people like you with cutting-edge research and conversations in Kenya and beyond – from publishing the Nairobi Ideas Digest and Nairobi Ideas Explainer, to hosting the Nairobi Ideas Exchange and Africa Science Week-Kenya 2019.
Welcome to the Nairobi ideas podcast, a podcast that gives a public platform to the Kenyans who are changing the world with their big ideas. And there'll be ideas. Podcast is brought to you by the Malawa Institute. I Nairobi based research Institute, focused on female thought leadership and public engagement with research. I'm new co-host for this episode of the podcast, Carrie, and we'll go, as you might've noticed, we took a short break from the podcast, but we've still been a little busy putting together all sorts of interesting content and events that connect people like you. That is science lovers and nerds to the important research and big conversations taking place in Kenya and the region. This includes putting together things like our fresh Nairobi ideas exchange, which brought together leading entrepreneurs, creatives, and change makers from diverse disciplines to talk about some of the opportunities available for scaling Kenya's budding creative economy, which we consider ourselves as mulatto Institute. A part of we've also just wrapped up this year's 2019 Africa science weekend in November, the next Einstein forums, Africa science, because an annual celebration of science and technology that is meant to encourage citizens of different age groups to get involved and become interested in science across the continent. This year, it took place in about 30 African countries with Kenya as one of them. And we put together a week of really fantastic events around the theme of girls and women in science. We've also been busy working on digital content, like the Nairobi ideas digest and the Nairobi ideas explainer, which give our listeners and readers a deep dive into some of the issues we talk about on the podcast and other current affairs related to science on the continent, you can check out both the Nairobi ideas digest, and then aerobic ideas explainer on our website, www.fromawasainstitute.org. Okay, now that I have successfully made a case for our absence, we can get to why we're really, really here. So the year's coming to an end as, as the decade hashtag anxiety, and we couldn't help, but feel a little nostalgic. So we thought why not do a recap episode and talk about some of our favorite moments and discussions from the year that was the Nairobi ideas podcast. And of course we couldn't do a recap episode without our favorite podcast host Dr. Rose and Matisa CEO of the Moscow Institute. Unfortunately she couldn't make it in studio, but let's give her a ring and see what she's up to.
Speaker 2:[inaudible].
Speaker 1:Hello? Hi. Hey Rose. How are you? Good. Great. Where are you right now? I am in London. In the United Kingdom in maybe you're not sure. Well, when, when did we actually find out, you know, that is a question that nobody knows the answer to. Okay. You are currently in the national park city. How does it feel? Tell us about what you're seeing and finding out there. Oh, goodness. You know, during the
Speaker 3:Podcast episode we did with Paula homebrewers, she mentioned that London was named the first ever national park city, and I have been itching to see what this is all about. I've been wondering up and down. I have seen a few pigeons, a lot of trees. I will give you the simple trees have lovely gardens. I think I've seen a Fox like in a trashcan somewhere kind of scavenging for food, but I will say as a Kenyan and an aerobic and I am extremely offended because, you know, we are like the OGs of national parks in a city. Like literally lions are on the loose regularly in Nairobi. That's how deeply invested in being a national park city. So anyway, but London is a beautiful city, but I think we need to petition this people who are kind of naming cities willy-nilly without recognizing there will be,
Speaker 1:Do you think need to just put in a strong, a bid next year? You know, it's probably like bidding for the Olympics or something. I'm not sure how it works. Audience listeners, please take this on for us. If you can, you know, figure out what it takes to put Nairobi as a national park city and let's do that. So Rose, I called you in to the studio cause we're doing a recap episode and you've kind of gotten to sit down with a lot of interesting thinkers and scientists over the last year of the podcast. And I don't want to make you pick favorites, but what would you say was one of your favorite moments or discoveries from the 2019 season?
Speaker 3:It's a good question. I don't want to cause any offense to all of our lovely guests. And obviously the listeners also have loved different episodes and I don't want to override their preferences, but since you've asked me, I would have to say definitely an episode I enjoyed is kind of cheating. It's not one episode, it's a series we did on the plastic ban in Kenya. So studying with James[inaudible], who was the activist who kind of from the ground up, really got the momentum going and got the kind of public opinion where it needed to be for Kenya to pass its plastic on which as we discussed is one of the most kind of stringent in the world. So it was really nice to hear James' perspective. And then the next episode, right after that, we spoke to Dr. Leah, who's a solid waste expert. And who kind of came to the topic with a slightly different angle about, you know, the limitations of such a tool that imitations of plastic bags or missing the history of how we manage plastic in Kenya and the big issues around it. So I think both of those really embodied what we're trying to do here with the Nairobi ideas podcast. And there will be ideas platform. And my walls are in general is trying to get different expert and you know, opinions on a topic and also to tie this into the new experience of everyday Africans.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that we threw in a pitch also at the end guys, this is what we're trying to do. I
Speaker 3:Still have other favorites, please. Can I go through my list? You
Speaker 1:Have a whole list. Okay. We have time. Okay.
Speaker 3:Another thing I really enjoyed is talking to David committee from LA he's. The Dr. David committee is the head of research there. And my favorite bit of that episode is when at the end he said conservation conversation like 10 times,
Speaker 1:Man, that was like brilliant and conservation.
Speaker 3:I've literally been practicing this phrase all morning and as you can see, we mailed it flawlessly. Great job. Great job. Okay. And then finally I would say it was really fun when you convinced me to be the guests. The meet, the host episode was a lot of fun for me and I really enjoyed nerding out. And so thank you for that opportunity.
Speaker 1:One of the interesting things is that we hadn't discussed this, but I think my favorite sort of moments of the season was that tension between the conversations that Dr. Leah was having around plastic waste management and James, his point of view around plastics, because as an activist, I immediately, you know, was like, James Wikipedia is doing incredible things, but she is. And I was like, this is what we need to do. We need to ban all plastics. And then Dr. Leah came in and totally, you know, appended everything that I had thought and felt so strongly about and, you know, called for more research and, and talked about, uh, how we truly haven't like solved the core issue. And, and it really led me to sort of rethink what I had thought about the issue. I really liked that challenge. And I think I saw it also play out on our social media where people were having conversations and commenting around what Leah was saying and what James was saying. And I really enjoyed that conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was pretty great. And I think one thing that's important is, you know, all of these perspectives are valid, you know, just because the overall system is extremely broken. It doesn't mean that us individuals within the system that we can't take action. We can't kind of act with conscience. And so even now what James said has continued to resonate with me, how I behave, the shame I feel when I use plastics hashtag like is fantastic. Yeah, that's fantastic. It's fantastic. But that phrase is stuck in my mind forever. And so even if I really appreciate and learn so much from last episode about the nuance of the issue at an individual level, I still feel very challenged by James is called to actions.
Speaker 1:I agree more. And since, since you like named like a couple of favorites, I'm just going to also throw mine in. Is that okay?
Speaker 3:Okay. So we didn't have that many episodes. So this is basically everything let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:Get in Paula, go home on the podcast. I mean, Dr. Paula is this award-winning conservationist who has this incredible personal story, you know, and then goes on to do all sorts of like really creative things that blend conservation activism and policymaking. I think to get someone of her caliber on our podcast, for me just felt very reaffirming and I'm really excited to see who else would get on the podcast
Speaker 3:Next year. I obviously agree completely. I think it goes without saying that Paula's episode was fantastic. Her conviction, her passion, the clarity with which she sees these complex conservation issues is amazing and how crazy backstory being a wild child and aerobic. It was great to hear that. But the thing that was so interesting about how we got Paul on the podcast, it's just a blind call on Twitter. And then some of our two difference reaching out and the whole thing snowballing to get her attention because, you know, she's a massive star. So this was an amazing gift for us. And also goes to show that when you put yourself out there on social media, some good things can, that is so
Speaker 1:True while we're talking about social media and what's out there and ecosystem that our podcast exists in one of the more interesting things over the last year has been seen where our listeners are based. And so I'm going to throw a pop quiz at you and no cheating. Okay.
Speaker 3:Pop quiz. Okay. Right. I'm ready. I'm always ready.
Speaker 1:Dr. Rose M what's he? So for zero points because we're not award points, you get like five points. Where do you think our top listeners are? Country-wise that is, and I'm looking for top three countries,
Speaker 3:You know, I, you should have paid attention when, um, Myna our very able research assistant was presenting or test analytics like a month ago. I missed some of the call points. Um, you know, I, I, I don't know the answer to that. I would say. And I hope that the top three countries are Kenya, which is our home base and at least one or two other countries in the region figure the top three. And then I would say, possibly us is number two. So Kenya moving a bill on us. Number two, maybe where, how would we have fans? Why do people like us? Uh, India? I'm just like guessing. I'm just saying before we do the answers, I just wanted to say, obviously we love our fans wherever they are and whoever they are, whether they make the top three or not. And as we say in Kenya,[inaudible] where you're not joining me.
Speaker 1:I can't sing and we're not going to do this on the podcast. So I'm going to let Rose lead the session.
Speaker 3:So those of you who are not speaking,[inaudible] water means we love you all our fans, my fans, I love all the fans.
Speaker 1:Give me a diplomatic answer. Okay. I'll give you the answer. You are correct. Our top listens are from Kenya then coming in. Number two is the United States coming in numbers. Yeah. Is where you currently are right now, the United Kingdom. So we read, you must be doing some great work there.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. Okay. So then I'd like to apologize to all the people about hating on your national park. It's just all the best of overseen in the wild,
Speaker 1:Better than New York pigeons. For sure. I just want to give a shout out, you know, to everyone out there. So we also have Germany and there will be Canada, South Africa, Spain, Australia. And this literally surprised me fresh. Yeah. As a neurotoxin. Yeah. So shout out to the listeners in Russia. Please keep listening to us. Everyone else tell more of your friends about us, please. I think that's really all I wanted to bring you in for, but I do want to say one thing before I let you go and episode seven of the podcast, you know, where we got to meet the host, which you mentioned was one of your favorites. We broke it, a power sharing agreement about hosting the podcast. And I just must say, I am pretty impressed right now that you're upholding your end of the bargain. Okay. I'm a woman of my word also. You're clearly much more talented host, so I'm very glad to have you on board. That's great. Well, thanks for joining us Rose and see you in Nairobi. The true national park city. Couldn't agree more. All right, bye. Bye. That's really all we have for this quick recap. And I hope this gives you a little bit of a teaser around what we did with our climate and conservation theme. I hope that you tune into listen to the rest of our episodes and you can also listen to old episodes on the Nairobi ideas podcast page at[inaudible] institute.org backslash podcast. You can also subscribe to the Nairobi ideas podcast on YouTube iTunes, AFRIpads Google play or wherever you get your podcasts to our listeners. Thank you for tuning into our 2019 climate and conservation series, where we sat down with scientists, activists, think as innovators and decision-makers who are helping to engineer sustainable African futures. We'll be back with more on this theme in 2020, till then from all of us here at mulatto Institute by and keep it nerdy.
Speaker 4:[inaudible].