VOA Our Voices 126: Barriers to Empowerment

This week on #VOAOurVoices our hosts explore two significant barriers that affect the economic and social empowerment of women across the globe; family planning and unpaid care work. Featuring an exclusive Voice of America interview with global philanthropist Melinda Gates, the team, along with VOA health correspondent Linord Moudou, discuss these barriers, their controversies and how empowerment solutions can affect change to millions of women across the continent.

VOA Our Voices 125: The Fear of African Foreigners

This week on #VOAOurVoices across Africa and the globe, millions of people are on the move searching for a better life and economic stability. But in these foreign lands, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are subject to resentment, xenophobia, racism and “Afrophobia.” Our hosts explore perceived cultural, economic and social impact of foreigners and ask the question, should countries open their borders and welcome people on the move?

VOA Our Voices 124: Motherhood and Maternal Bonds

This week on #VOAOurVoices our co-hosts Hadiza, Ayen, Auriane and Hayde celebrate Mother’s Day, honoring their mothers, sharing personal experiences and pressures of motherhood and explore the challenges mothers’ face on the continent and in the diaspora. We also take a closer look at the motherhood experiences of women, including Ayen Bior’s own mother, and see a day in the life of Auriane Istangishaka, who is a mother of three young boys.

VOA Our Voices 123: The Art of Protest

This week on VOA Our Voices, a viral photo of Alaa Salah standing on a car chanting sparked the international spotlight to the on-going protests in Sudan, which ultimately saw decades long President Omar al-Bashir ousted. But as Africa has seen, over the years, a surge in mass demonstrations, military interventions, and changing of the guard, we explore whether if these actions are effective.

VOA Our Voices 122: A Free Press

This week on #VOAOurVoices, as we commemorate World Press Freedom Day, we are joined by Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett to discuss what press freedom means to journalists throughout Africa, the role of VOA in promoting free press and the importance of storytelling. We will also highlight #WomentoWatch trailblazing in the field of journalism, fighting for justice and promoting fair news.

VOA Our Voices 121: The Burden of Climate Change

This week on #VOAOurVoices – Climate change is causing more superstorms, more floods, more droughts, more crop failure, and forcing migration. But is the continent prepared climate change and the burden of its effects. Join Hayde, Hadiza, Auriane and Ayen as they explore the devastating Cyclone Idai, disaster preparedness of African governments and the lasting effects of changing weather patterns.

VOA Our Voices 120: Behind the Lights, Camera and Action

This week on #VOAOurVoices - Lights, Camera, Action! Join Hadiza, Auriane and Hayde on set, and Ayen at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center as the team discusses African women behind the camera. African women are writing narratives, directing films, telling their stories which are igniting conversations around the world. Ayen sits down with VOA correspondent Arzouma Kompaore to discuss the importance of African woman directors in the realm of film.

VOA Our Voices 119: Forgiveness and Reconciliation

This week on #VOAOurVoices as Rwanda marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide our co-hosts, Ayen Bior, Hayde Adams FitzPatrick, Hadiza Kayri and Auriane Istangishaka, reflect on forgiveness and reconciliation in Africa nations. At the same time, in 1994, South Africa marked the end of apartheid. Both nations, in their own ways, moved forth pushing for forgiveness and reconciliation. But we ask the question, has either been achieved?

VOA Our Voices 118: Complexity of Complexion

This week on #VOAOurVoices… skin bleaching, complexion, colorism and all its complexities. VOA health correspondent Linord Moudou joins our team to discuss the prevalence of skin bleaching or lighting on the continent. We’ll also examine the health effects, and how it connects to colorism and complexion standards. With millions using bleaching products to lighten their skin tone, we ask - is the issue just skin-deep? Or, does it go to the very heart of race, identity and discrimination?

VOA Our Voices 117: Tackling Ebola

This week on #VOAOurVoices…As the Democratic Republic of Congo fights to contain the second-largest recorded Ebola outbreak, our hosts Hayde Adams-FitzPatrick, Hadiza Kyari, Auriane Itangishaka and VOA health correspondent, Lindord Moudou, discuss the Ebola epidemic and the instability enabling the outbreak. Also tune in to see this week’s ‘Women to Watch’ featuring two women working to care for and end the deadly epidemic.

VOA Our Voices 116: State of Emergency, the Culture of Rape

This week on #VOAOurVoices… As countries like Sierra Leone embark on an ambitious plan to end rape and sexual assault, our hosts discuss the culture of sexual violence on the African continent. Fostered by silence and indifference, rape and sexual assault victims often face challenges seeking legal and social recourse. From the burden of proof to stigma and shame, some choose to remain silent. But can support, special police, courts and increased punishment change the culture?

VOA Our Voices 115: The Other ‘F’ Word

This week on #VOAOurVoices we discuss what some have coined as the other ‘F’ word, Feminism. Defined as equality of the sexes, feminism seeks to create equality in political, economic, personal and social spaces between men and women. But what is feminism in the African context, is there such a concept? Our team will also examine traditional and non-traditional roles of women, and the women who are breaking the mold in male dominated workspaces.

VOA Our Voices 114: Unnoticed on the Frontline

From the pre-colonial era, independence movements, to modern militaries, women haven’t been on the sidelines, they’ve been on the frontlines. This episode of #VOAOurVoices takes a look at the role of women in militaries across Africa and those who are pushing for more representation in the highest ranks of the armed forces. And in our “Women to Watch,” we will highlight some of Africa’s highest ranked military personal.

VOA Our Voices 113: Beyond Disability

An estimated 80 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are persons with disabilities. And this week on #VOAOurVoices we discuss governmental response to pass measures that protect, ban discrimination, make accessibility a priority and provide equal opportunity for persons with disability.

VOA Our Voices 112: Plugged and Powered, Electrifying Africa

This week on Our Voices our hosts are talking energy, and how to get the continent plugged in and powered up with alternative sources. For millions across Africa, life stops when daylight fades, and for millions of others, unreliable access is the order of the day. We look at African nations and non-governmental organizations that have invested in alternative energy, and how other nations can make energy accessible to all.

VOA Our Voices 111: From Radicalization to Recovery

This week on Our Voices our hosts explore the effects of terrorism on the continent, from radicalization to recovery. The team will focus on continental and international efforts to combat violent extremism and support efforts for recovery of victims and perpetrators.

VOA Our Voices 110: Cultural Rites and Rights

This week our hosts discuss Rites of Passage, the milestones throughout a person’s life marked by traditions, ceremonies or rituals. In many African communities, the girl-child is often introduced into women hood through varying traditions, but some have come under scrutiny with many questioning if these practices are relevant in today’s society. Join the team as they examine culture, rites and the rights of young girls, and ask where does tradition and culture cross the line?

VOA Our Voices 109: Is STEM for Everyone?

This week on Our Voices we discuss STEM, aka Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. As African countries push ambitious STEM agendas to transform and ensure the participation of women and girls, our team debates if these agendas will meet the expectations to change African economies, propel the women and girls targeted, and creating a thriving STEM industry that can accommodate the new comers.

VOA Our Voices 108: The Black Experience, America and Beyond

This week, in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our-hosts look into the story of Africans in America: from slavery to segregation, to the civil rights movement, and, today's Africans who've come to this country with hopes of building a better life. Our team delves into what it means to be black in America, we follow South African girls visiting the American south, and the co-hosts share their “Women to Watch” who are all challenging the status quo of race and discrimination.