Europolis: The Global Europe Podcast by ECDPM

The Lobito Corridor has been sold as the flagship of Western efforts to compete with China in Africa: a multi-billion-dollar railway carrying critical minerals from the heart of the continent to the Atlantic. The reality is smaller, stranger and far more revealing. This episode is as much about propaganda and perception as it is about rail and minerals. In this episode of Europolis: the global Eur...

The steel sector alone accounts for roughly 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions. If the world is serious about hitting climate targets, emissions from this heavy industry must fall by at least 50% by 2050. But the path forward is as much about geopolitics and trade as it is about technology. In this episode of Europolis: The Global Europe Podcast , host Poora Karkare sits down with international...

Five weeks after the United States and Israel began their unilateral bombardment of Iran – with Israel also resuming aerial attacks on Lebanon – the conflict is already reshaping Europe’s external environment. Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for around 20% of global oil flows, is driving up energy prices and tightening fertilizer markets worldwide. In this episode of Europoli...

Europolis: the global Europe podcast (Episode 10) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Europolis, Chloe Teevan and Gautam Kamat are joined by Hiroki Habuka, one of Japan's leading AI policy experts, to discuss Japan’s unique, agile approach to AI regulation and how it offers a modular alternative to the EU’s prescriptive model. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Europolis, digital rights advocate and social entrepreneur Gbenga Sesan joins ECDPM's Sabine Muscat to explore the intersection of digital sovereignty, innovation, and human dignity. He argues that for Africa to truly thrive, it must transition from relying on aid to attracting investment, and that innovation cannot happen without respecting the rights of citizens. Hosted on Aca...

ECDPM director San Bilal  speaks to Simon O'Connell, CEO of SNV, the Dutch development agency, as the organisation celebrates its 60th anniversary. The discussion explores how development actors can navigate a "race to the bottom" in aid financing and how reframing the narrative around solidarity isn't just old-fashioned idealism but a pragmatic necessity for a stable world. Hosted on Acast....

In this episode of Europolis: the Global Europe podcast, Sophie Desmidt interviews Gustavo de Carvalho, senior researcher at SAIIA, on whether Europe and Africa can move beyond old donor-recipient dynamics to become the "adults in the room": stabilising forces that champion multilateralism as others step back. The conversation dives into how the partnership is shifting from aid to invest...

Chloe Teevan talks to Melody Musoni to explore how African innovators, researchers, and policymakers are shaping an AI ecosystem that responds to local realities. It highlights a shift from being consumers of technology to producers of homegrown solutions that are already transforming sectors like agriculture, health, and education. The discussion tackles the two sides of the AI debate in Africa:...

The EU's green and digital ambitions depend on a stable supply of critical raw materials like lithium, cobalt and graphite. With growing concerns over value chain security and dependence on single countries like China, the EU has launched the Critical Raw Materials Act to build more resilient supply chains. But how can Europe build new partnerships, particularly in Africa, to achieve this? In this...

Chloe Teevan and Gautam Kamath interview Rahul Matthan , one of India's leading technology lawyers, to explore India's innovative approach to tech regulation as a "third way" between the US's hands-off approach and Europe's prescriptive regulation. The episode highlights how this approach can unlock data abundance and address European concerns about sovereignty and competitiveness by influencing s...

Chloe Teevan and Gautam Kamath interview Kai Zenner, Head of Office for MEP Axel Voss (European People's Party) and Senior Fellow at the Technical University of Munich. Kai was instrumental in the finalization of the AI Act and is a well-known commentator on European tech policy. A paradigm shift in transatlantic relations is forcing Europe to realize that it's "now or never" for significant chang...

Chloe Teevan and Gautam Kamath interview  Robin Berjon , French-Australian technologist, Deputy Director of the IPFS Foundation, and a major thinker on technology sovereignty and the tech stack. Robin Berjon explains that power in technology stems from operating infrastructures and that the  current governance model for these infrastructural systems is largely autocratic, controlled by m...

Although young people are already the driving force behind Africa’s economic transformations, they find themselves locked out from decision-making. In this podcast,  Sara Gianesello  speaks to Francesca Midzi from the EU delegation in Zimbabwe about the first-ever Youth Sounding Board, which gives young people the opportunity to shape EU action in their country, and lessons learned for p...

Switching from an off-budget EDF to a unique EU instrument (NDICI-Global Europe) has some technical implications for the EU and for partner countries, which in turn may bring some political consequences to the relationships between them. The NDICI-Global Europe brings in simplicity, flexibility, agility, and reactivity - all crucial to making the EU a more geopolitical player.  To understand...

The definition of mutual interests is a good occasion to ask how development objectives are integrated in the Global gateway strategy and the NDICI-Global Europe. Moreover, the programming phase of the NDICI-Global Europe allowed the EU not only to define its cooperation activities, but primarily to set its interests and priorities for each partner country, and then seek where and how these could...

Broadening the partnerships has been one of the significant shifts of the EU development cooperation’s recent evolution. On paper, the EU aims at engaging in a more meaningful manner with civil society, and at supporting them in a more effective way. But in reality, how has the relationship between the EU and civil society in partner countries changed with the EU’s new approach to development?&nbs...

In this podcast series, Amandine Sabourin interviews key partners in EU development policy to understand how the EU’s increasingly transactional approach is experienced by partner countries. From EU ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon Philippe van Damme to ambassador Masire-Mwamba of Botswana to the Kingdom of Belgium and Uganda civil society leader Moses Isooba, the series explores how rulings...

Critical raw materials are vital for the EU's green transition and offer African countries a path to green industrialisation. Both however face policy dilemmas: Africa must efficiently use resources within, and share them between, countries, while the EU seeks to derisk from China and maintain industrial leadership. In this podcast, Poorva and Géraud discuss how these different moving parts fit to...

In Tanzania, gender equality remain a policy priority, but progress is slow. Enter the award-winning Her Initiative , a game-changer that is helping to close the gender gap. This initiative promotes financial resilience and digital inclusion for girls and young women, empowering them to escape poverty and seize more opportunities . Without such innovative efforts, achieving full gender parity coul...

The circular economy movement aims to create a restorative and sustainable economic system, but can it promote social justice as well? Women play pivotal roles in the transition to a circular economy, engaging in a variety of activities that drive sustainable practices and resource efficiency. However, significant challenges remain in ensuring that this transition is just and inclusive from a gend...

Women and girls play crucial roles in the prevention and countering of violent extremism. While these distinct roles are increasingly recognized, considerable gaps remain between the enthusiastic commitments set out to empower women and girls, and the inadequate support provided for women, women leaders and women’s groups in this fight. The difficulty of mainstreaming gender for the security commu...

Migration is one of the key political issues in Europe today, but little attention is given to the impact that gender has on migration patterns. New research is revealing that gender has an influence on an individual’s decision to move, the way they choose to do it and how their movement is perceived by the old and new communities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2024 is a key year of elections. From June 6, around 400 million people will be eligible to choose new representatives in the European Parliament. But with polls predicting gains by right-wing parliamentary groups and with a global backsliding on gender equality, how can the vote of women impact the results of the European elections? What impact can we expect from a more right-leaning European Par...

In the fifth episode of ECDPM’s podcast series 'Minding the gap: conversations on gender', Hanne Knaepen talks to Giulia Maci, gender specialist and manager of the Euro-Mediterrean region at Cities Alliance (UNOPS). They talk about gender-sensitive climate action in cities and learn how women empowerment, climate action, and urban development are interlinked. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...