Change Narratives

Dumebi Okwuosah
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Change Narratives is where Africa’s development journey meets real stories, bold ideas, and fresh perspectives. Hosted by Dumebi and other collaborators, the podcast spotlights innovators, changemakers, and everyday people whose work is redefining what’s possible for the continent. From music and culture to governance, gender, technology, and social impact — we go beyond the headlines to uncover the voices and experiences shaping Africa’s future. Bhange Narratives is more than conversation — it’s a platform for refining systems, reclaiming voices, and reshaping Africa. 🎧 Tune in for inspiring stories, practical insights, and powerful lessons that connect Africa’s history, culture, and creativity with the possibilities of tomorrow.

  1. Oct 29

    Who Gets to Shape How We Learn? | Asher Kure, Part 3

    Who gets to shape how we learn? In the final part of our conversation with researcher, educator and author Asher Kure, we look beyond the learner to the people, systems and technologies around them. This season of Change Narratives has been about the social units that shape people. And education does not exist on its own. Parents shape what children first believe about their intelligence. Schools shape how they experience learning. Governments determine whether those schools are safe, funded and equipped. And now, technology is changing what it even means to know, remember and think. Asher begins with a familiar learning myth: the parent who says, “My child is not good at maths because I wasn’t good at maths either.” He pushes back on the idea that intelligence is that fixed. Then we move to a much harder question. What happens when children have not simply fallen behind in school, but have been forcibly removed from it? We talk about children returning to education after kidnapping and insecurity, the importance of psychological support, rebuilding a sense of safety, and why getting a child back into a classroom cannot be the only measure of recovery. From there, the conversation turns to artificial intelligence. Is AI making us worse learners? Or does the rise of AI mean we need to rethink what education is actually preparing people to do? Asher makes the case that competing with AI may be the wrong goal. If technology can retrieve information, identify patterns and increasingly perform forms of critical thinking, then perhaps education needs to place greater value on the things humans can still bring differently, including creative thinking. We also ask what this work has cost him. Asher talks about leaving his teaching job in 2014, surviving on extra lessons, travelling from school to school to conduct research, writing through power cuts and questioning whether his ideas were right at all. There was no degree waiting at the end of it. He simply wanted to solve a problem. And perhaps the most fitting answer comes at the very end, when we ask who taught him the most about learning. His answer? The students he taught. This is the final part of our conversation with Asher Kure on education, learning and the social units that help shape what people believe they are capable of becoming.

    Who Gets to Shape How We Learn? | Asher Kure, Part 3

  2. Oct 2

    You Can Learn Again | Asher Kure, Part 2

    If school helped shape what you believe about your intelligence, can you change that story as an adult? In Part 2 of our conversation with Asher Kure, we move from the classroom to the learner, the teacher and the education system around them. Asher explains how the brain continues to learn, why practice matters for mastery and why different people may need different routes into learning. We talk about reading, listening, observation, memorisation, asking questions and research, and why the right learning strategy depends on both the person and what they are trying to achieve. Then we widen the conversation. Because education as a social unit is bigger than the learner. It includes teachers, schools, training institutions, curriculum, resources and governments. So how much responsibility can we place on learners when schools are underfunded, teachers are unsupported or the right learning materials are not available? Asher talks about government responsibility, teacher education in Nigeria, colleges of education and why learners should be taught how their brains work instead of simply being expected to figure it out. This is a conversation about learning, but also about the systems that shape it. And for anyone who spent years believing they simply were not good at school, the message is simple: You can learn again.

    You Can Learn Again | Asher Kure, Part 2

  3. Oct 2

    What If You Were Never Bad at Learning? | Asher Kure, Part 1

    This season of Change Narratives looks at the social units that shape people: families, communities, institutions, environments and experiences. Education is one of the biggest. For many of us, school is where we first start deciding whether we are smart, slow, academic, creative or simply “not good at learning.” But what happens when those conclusions are wrong? In Part 1 of our conversation with researcher, educator and author Asher Kure, we explore the experiences that made him question some of our most familiar assumptions about intelligence and learning. Asher tells the story of a student who struggled badly in class, but outside school could play a sophisticated PlayStation game so well that his older brother struggled to beat him. The child could clearly learn. So what was really going on? From that question, we get into learning habits, behaviour, memory, the methods high-performing learners use and the classroom experiment that helped students learn from their peers. We also talk about Mind Palaces, memory triggers and why Asher believes learning itself should sit at the centre of education. This conversation is not only about how people learn. It is about how an institution like school can shape what people believe about themselves long after they leave the classroom. What if you were never bad at learning?

    What If You Were Never Bad at Learning? | Asher Kure, Part 1

  4. Oct 1 ·  Bonus

    Happy Independence Day, Nigeria!🇳🇬💚

    Nigeria is 66 today. And somehow, October is here too.🎊🎊🎊 So we thought we would check in. How are you actually feeling about Nigeria right now? There is a lot that is frustrating. There is a lot that is tiring. But there are also people doing good work, things that are moving, and reasons to still hope for better. Eddie said maybe this should be a reflective year, and that probably sums up this conversation best. Today gives a real chance to think about where we are, what is getting better, what still needs work, and what we want to see change. So as we start a new month and mark 66 years of Nigeria: What are you hopeful about? Happy Independence Day 🇳🇬 Happy new month!❤️

    Happy Independence Day, Nigeria!🇳🇬💚

  5. Sep 4 ·  Bonus

    Welcome to September! Let’s Lock In for the Rest of the Year!😌

    September is here, and everyone is talking about locking in for the final stretch of the year. But what if locking in didn’t have to mean doing everything alone? In this short bonus episode, we reflect on one of the biggest ideas from our recent conversation with Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi: the role friendship and professional networks can play in helping us build, create opportunities and make an impact. We also look back at what we learned about working with donors without losing sight of your mission, and give a little preview of what’s coming next on Change Narratives as we turn to another social unit that shapes a changemaker: education. If you haven’t listened to Parts 1, 2 and 3 of our conversation with Precious, this is a good time to catch up. And as we head into the last few months of the year, here’s the question we’re thinking about: What are you locking in to build — and who are you building it with? Follow and subscribe to Change Narratives so you don’t miss the next conversation.

    Welcome to September! Let’s Lock In for the Rest of the Year!😌

  6. Aug 7

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity Part 3: Scaling Impact Without Losing Your Mission

    Every organisation talks about scaling. Few talk honestly about what it takes. In Part 3, Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi shares how DO Take Action has expanded its work across multiple donors while staying true to its mission. We discuss flexibility, innovation, procurement, trade, policy, and why solving real problems is what earns long-term support. The conversation ends with Precious's vision for the future of DO Take Action and the practical steps needed to create opportunities for women at scale.

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity Part 3: Scaling Impact Without Losing Your Mission

  7. Aug 7

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity Part 2: Care Justice & Building Better Systems

    What if women aren't being held back by ambition, but by systems that weren't designed with them in mind? In Part 2 of our conversation with Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of DO Take Action, we explore what justice really looks like in practice. From care justice and gender pay to programme design and digital learning, Precious shares how DO Take Action has built its work around the realities women face every day, not assumptions about what they need. We also discuss why listening comes before designing solutions, how research shaped every stage of their programmes, and why a hybrid learning model helped more women access training and continue learning beyond the classroom. Whether you work in development, policy, or social impact—or you're simply interested in building better systems—this episode offers practical lessons on creating solutions that put people first.

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity Part 2: Care Justice & Building Better Systems

  8. Jul 25

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity (Part 1) - Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi

    Are we getting women’s economic empowerment wrong? It’s a question that stopped me in my tracks during this conversation. When we say we’re empowering women, what do we really mean? Is it grants? Skills training? Startup kits? Or have we been overlooking the opportunities that create lasting economic change? In Part 1 of this conversation, I sit down with my friend Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi, Executive Director of DO Take Action, to unpack why she believes procurement is one of the most overlooked pathways to women’s economic empowerment. Drawing on her work with UN Women and partners across Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire, Precious shares how research challenged her own assumptions and led her to rethink what empowerment should look like. We talk about why women contribute so much to our economies yet remain largely excluded from procurement opportunities, the myths that continue to hold women back, and why changing systems requires more than training women—it also means working with policymakers and the institutions that shape opportunity. She also shares one of my favourite stories from the episode: how a facilitator from one of their earliest training programmes eventually became a Director General and is now helping champion women’s participation in procurement at the national level. It’s a reminder that when people believe in a vision, change has a way of coming full circle. This isn’t just a conversation about procurement. It’s a conversation about questioning assumptions, challenging systems, and creating opportunities that last. Watch Part 1 and let me know what resonated with you. Follow Change Narratives for more conversations with people changing systems across Africa. 🌍 www.changenarratives.org 🔗 https://linktr.ee/changenarratives25 #ChangeNarratives #WomensEconomicEmpowerment #Procurement #PublicPolicy #SocialImpact #Leadership #Africa #DOTakeAction

    Friendship, Professional Networks, and Turning Purpose into Opportunity (Part 1) - Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi
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About

Change Narratives is where Africa’s development journey meets real stories, bold ideas, and fresh perspectives. Hosted by Dumebi and other collaborators, the podcast spotlights innovators, changemakers, and everyday people whose work is redefining what’s possible for the continent. From music and culture to governance, gender, technology, and social impact — we go beyond the headlines to uncover the voices and experiences shaping Africa’s future. Bhange Narratives is more than conversation — it’s a platform for refining systems, reclaiming voices, and reshaping Africa. 🎧 Tune in for inspiring stories, practical insights, and powerful lessons that connect Africa’s history, culture, and creativity with the possibilities of tomorrow.

Information

  • Creator
    Dumebi Okwuosah
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dumebi Okwuosah 2025
  • Show Website
    Change Narratives