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Pressing record: How DW Akademie is teaching podcasting and building a community

23 seconds ago
5 min read

by Kyle James, DW Akademie, Germany.

Feature image credit: DW

In a virtual meeting space, 48 people listen as Kenyan podcaster Abigael Kima talks about podcasting on climate change. She explains how she gets people interested in one of the most important issues facing our planet even though the science and politics around it can seem incomprehensible. The event attendees asking questions about her production process are based in the UK, India, Germany, Mauritius, Canada, and Cameroon, among other countries.

They are taking part in the PodCircle Meet-up, a live event with people who are profiled in the PodCircle newsletter. It features interviews with podcasting innovators as well as news and practical information for new and experienced podcasters around the globe. Its pays special attention to issues relevant to creators in the Global South.

Kima, who launched her show Hali Hewa when she was in her early 20s, was the featured podcaster in May’s PodCircle, part of DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining project. Since 2021, the project has developed tools, workshops, and a community to help people around the world learn to make their own podcasts.

PodCircle guests have ranged from audio editors, storytelling experts, podcasting researchers, production house founders, monetization experts, and others who are at the forefront of the sector. They have hailed from every continent – with the exception of Antarctica (still on the waiting list).

A growing portfolio

DW Akademie, Germany’s center for international media development, journalism training and knowledge transfer, launched PodcasTraining in 2021 as part of a program to support crisis resilience during the Covid pandemic. It has since developed into a multi-faceted project with a portfolio of products that assist groups and individuals, especially young people, learn how to take advantage of the possibilities offered by this relatively new media format.

“Podcasts have a unique way of drawing listeners into diverse worlds, rich with voices, narratives and perspectives, all delivered in a way that feels personal and engaging,” Raven Lim, a Singaporean podcast producer, says in DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining with youth manual, a guide for trainers teaching young people how to start their own shows which was presented at the Media & Learning 2025 conference. Podcasting’s low bar to entry, continuing rise in popularity, and the creative freedom it allows enable people to enter the media space, exploring their own interests and making

Young Cambodian women practice podcast production at a workshop in Phnom Penh.
Credit: Kyle James

A podcasting roadmap – in card form

Amid the thick stone walls of the medieval Palazzo dei Priori in Perugia, Italy, around 30 people stand around a long table discussing this very 21st-century media format. They’re all participants of the International Journalism Festival and are studying magenta-colored cards that have been laid out in two rows. Each describes one of the aspects of podcast production that creators should keep in mind when planning, producing, or distributing a show – terms like Concept, Episode, Cover Art, Storytelling, and 59 more.

The deck, called the MethodKit for Podcasts and developed in collaboration with the Swedish company MethodKit, is a hands-on tool that can be used in training environments, by individual producers, and by production houses. It helps with ideation, organisation, and priority-setting, serving as a roadmap to the creation and growth of a successful show.

Other products in the PodcasTraining portfolio include the Knowledge Library, an online podcasting information resource, format and episode plans that aid in podcast design and planning, a new AI tool called “Plan your podcast, out loud”, and a variety of training modules ranging from a two-hour MethodKit introduction to one-to-three-day production sprints and two-week intensives.

DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining with youth manual guides trainers teaching podcast development and production using a modular approach.
Credit: DW

Global, collaborative approach

The project aims to tap into the global community when creating products, drawing on different areas of expertise and varied perspectives to make these products accessible to and relevant for as many people as possible.

The MethodKit for Podcasts was put together with 20 podcasting experts from around the world and has been translated in more than 50 languages. The PodcasTraining with youth manual came together through the contributions of media and information literacy experts, podcasters, and experienced trainers from more than 10 countries, and has been translated into French.

The interest in podcasting has exploded over the past 10 years and offers an avenue for expression as well as new opportunities for learning on a vast array of subjects. DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining project aims to give podcasters, both experienced and aspiring ones, the tools they need to plan, produce, and publish their own shows, as well as a community to learn from along the way.

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Kyle James is a journalist, editor, and media development consultant whose work spans more than 25 years and more than 20 countries. Trained in journalism at UC Berkeley, he began his career in public radio in California before moving into international media development. Since 2021, he has worked in constructive journalism, designing training curricula and facilitating workshops in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. His work also includes podcasting, media literacy, and climate reporting, and he edits DW Akademie’s PodCircle newsletter and hosts its monthly Meet-ups.

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