Global WEF Nexus Community Podcast
The Global WEF Nexus Community's Podcast, is your go-to resource to navigate the intricate dynamics of water, energy, and food systems across the globe. Join us on a journey to unravel the complexities of these interconnected pillars that sustain life and society as we know it.
Through insightful discussions with experts, policymakers, and thought leaders, we aim to uncover actionable insights and foster meaningful dialogue around the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of water, energy, and food.
Whether you're a seasoned professional, an avid enthusiast, or simply curious about the nexus between these critical domains, this podcast is for you.
Global WEF Nexus Community Podcast
Behind the Mic with Anne Chisa and Rewa Assi: The Origins of The WEF Nexus Podcast
Ever wonder how this podcast came together? Join Anne Chisa and Rewa Assi as we switch roles from hosts to guests, guided by Professor Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi. We share the stories behind our passion for science communication and community engagement, revealing how our diverse paths led us to host The WEF Nexus podcast. We also reflect on the importance of involving young researchers and our vision for future episodes.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the With Nexus podcast. My name is Anchisa and I'm here with my lovely co-host Rewa. We are joined also by Professor Tafadzwa Mabaudi. Something interesting is happening right now and I'll hand it over to Rewa to tell us what you can expect today.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, and we're swapping things. Today. Things are different. Now. You're used to us being the hosts and asking, you know, questions to our guests, but today, anne and I will be the guests of Tafadzo, dr Tafadzo and we will talk more about this podcast, and you know our reflections from the podcast. It feels good to be on the other side of this podcast, but also interesting to see how it is from this side. So it's a great pleasure being here with you, dr Tafadzoua, and I'll give the floor to you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks very much, ayn and Rewa. I'm also quite excited to be back on the podcast. I think I was first on the podcast the first episode as your guest and I'm back now, midway through the first season as your guest, as your host now, actually. So it's quite exciting to be here in that capacity. So I think today we want to flip the podcast a bit and really reflect on the journey so far, finding out from the two of you what your experience has been so far, what you've learned, what you've enjoyed and what you look forward to in the next upcoming episodes. So I'll just give a bit of reflection from my side and then we can kickstart the show.
Speaker 3:So when this idea came up, I've been working on the WEF Nexus for quite some time and engaging with a lot of early career researchers, upcoming people, and they always had questions about the Nexus.
Speaker 3:We host a lot of online schools and in-person summer schools, but those are always very short and very focused because you've got a curricula, you've got learning outcomes that you want to achieve and in most instances you design it away from the participants, so they only get to attend. Yes, we get feedback at the end to improve on the next show, but still the next show. The participants then would not have contributed to it. So I thought let's have something that is responding to our user base's needs in almost real time, where the agenda is informed by them and is more for them. But at the same time I thought let's also flip it a bit so that it's not something that you've got the top guys dominating or guiding the conversations. Let's just have it being something for the upcoming people where they can talk freely without any fear of intimidation, that that sort of thing. And then you came through to to be the host. So my first question to you, the two of you, is how did you end up being the co-host of this show?
Speaker 1:so, um, okay, I'll start. So, yeah, thank you so much for that reflection. It's it's quite beautiful hearing it from your side and also again painting the picture for the guests of how and why we are here. So I think, um, I've, I'm a science communicator and I know you from the university of kozumin it's how we are a student and I was like, I think I reached out to you as well and I was like, prof, you know, you and your team and all of these amazing things that you're doing.
Speaker 1:It's really important and I think you know something more needs to be done about it and you're like, no, and actually we are thinking of launching a podcast and I think you'd be a great fit for this. So I think it was right time, right place. Also, just putting my hand up in a moment of, you know, saying hi, I'd like to help sort of maybe promote the work that you're doing. And it really aligns with my own personal passion in my own work that I do with my podcast, where I amplify Africans in STEM. So this was a bit more nuanced, where we amplifying the work that's being done but also, like you rightfully say, just the young researchers, it's not just the big people, so we got to have conversations and it's been, uh, really amazing. I met riwa, um, I met sarah as well, and I suppose it's history and we are now here.
Speaker 2:So that's my story thank you and that's, uh, that's nice to to hear you know how it's it was brought up and what happened actually in the in the backstage of of this podcast. So so from my side, my story also um started with, you know, looking at this community, if you want to say the web nexus community, it's when, when I saw dr fads were talking about um, this, this community of practice, I was like, all right, from a person that is more into, you know, the WefNexus research, the WefNexus governance and management, and also having being the early Canadian Youth Professionalist Task Force Chair and having the Water Speaks podcast, it's, you know, bridging this community of practices together. I also reached out to Dr Tafazo, like, oh, this is great what you're doing. Let's see how we can collaborate together and bring this live. I knew also Dr Sarah before and this is how I was brought up, and then I got to meet ann and then just having different perspectives, looking at how we can shape this podcast, who to bring into the episodes, what kind of questions to ask, what can we get out of this like?
Speaker 2:What is the, the outcome of it? What are we trying to get out of this podcast? Is this thinking of, of um, the system's thinking in a form of this nexus looking at policy and looking at science, scientific knowledge together, bridging them together to get, um, this kind of dialogue. So, um, it's interesting how, you know, with different perspectives, bring something new into into this course. So, yeah, yeah, this was how it starts and, thinking about it now, I'm thinking that community really does connect us together. So we're all coming from different areas of this world, but we have this common passion, if we need to say, or a common place where we met and then something went, went, something was born. So, uh, this is the the, the fun part of it all right, thanks very much, andrea.
Speaker 3:So I picked up three things from what you said. The first one is you both stepped up and raised your hands, and when you raised your hands you pretty much didn't know what you were raising your hands up for, but you just stepped up and said, look, there could be something. And you know, I want to be a part of it. Whatever it becomes, I want to be a part of it. I've got ideas and I want to put them on the table, and I think that's a powerful message for a lot of early career researchers, because often, you know, I've seen a lot of young scientists with brilliant ideas but they don't have that confidence to step up to raise their hand and just say I have an idea and often then things don't happen, mostly because no one raised their hand. So I think it's a powerful lesson to our listenership out there that you know it's important to step up and raise your hand, and you just never know where things can take you. The second part that I got is you know transformation and the power of inclusiveness and diversity. We talk a lot about inclusion and diversity, but often people don't understand that the actual power of inclusion and diversity is innovation. When you're inclusive and you've got diverse perspectives, you tend to innovate.
Speaker 3:So this show I gave a background. In the beginning I just had a very small idea. That said, I think a podcast would be good. I didn't have the title, I didn't know about platforms, about production, but anything podcast related I still don't. But the two of you came on board and you sort of took that little spark and turned it into a big campfire that you know we are now all here sitting and reflecting on.
Speaker 3:And the third part is the power of community, that opportunities emanate from being part of communities. Because if we all didn't know each other, or if we're not in the same space, which is the community of practice, the odds of us bumping into each other and having those conversations, random as they were, would have not really happened. So I think, just to summarize, it's good to step up, it's good to be creative. You can amplify small things into big things. So be confident in your ideas. And thirdly, be part of communities because you know that's where people meet, that's where people network and you definitely bump into like-minded people who are going to like your ideas and, you know, put time and energy into them. So, moving into the second question, what has so far been the most exciting part of the journey for you?
Speaker 1:so many people who I would have never in my wildest dreams have met, who are some of our guests, and realizing that so many people are doing so many interesting and really innovative things and the fact that we get to chat with them and hear and have dialogue with them is almost a privilege, you know, because some of these people they, uh, people who we wouldn't have had the access to, um, and also just the idea that, um, I think learning outside of um, our own focused thinking, because we, you think you know something in one particular way, but having different perspectives with our guests and them putting in really wonderful insights, has just been amazing.
Speaker 1:And also just chatting to young people who are young early career researchers, who are as excited about the work that they do, and also being inspired by them and seeing like, hey, they're young people like myself who are absolutely brilliant and we get to showcase them.
Speaker 1:I think those have been some of the really amazing things that have come out and, not to be cliche, I think meeting and working with Rewa has been amazing. We've developed a really wonderful working relationship and I would have never met her otherwise. So it's been lovely. It's been lovely getting to know her and her ideas and we really work well to to bounce ideas off each other, because I think most people don't know that we have to. Before we get onto the screen with our guests, we have to, you know, prep them and interview them, then do research on them and plan, and that's the stuff that goes on between Rua and I, so we get to sort of make ourselves like iron sharpens iron, so we might have an idea and then we'll be like no, this one, maybe we can do it like this. So it's been really.
Speaker 2:I think that's also been a really wonderful connection for me and my own science communication space as well thanks in and river thank you great pleasure working with you too, and uh, and of course, there's there's a lot of learning that I would learn from you. It's, um, it has been incredible and, as you were saying, that there's a lot of things that would happen before. Are we recording the, the podcast, and this is where most of the fun part would start, cooking and I would say, from also the night thing, or the most exciting things that would happen in the podcast is the ongoing learning experience, because once we're interviewing someone for this specific topic, sometimes we don't know a lot about this topic topic. Sometimes really don't know a lot about this topic, so it brings you more into you know, researching about and getting to know this topic, wanting to learn more about it in order to to be able to, to converse, so. So this ongoing learning experience is very, very nice and something that I realized is getting some people like they're more maybe, let's say, in the research. They've never been on a podcast before, not really. You know they're used to communicating scientific language and bringing them into this platform and getting them to simplify their dialogue. How to communicate their very sophisticated work into you know simpler forms. They're very sophisticated work into you know, simpler forms. It has been very, very nice and interesting to see how new topics that are.
Speaker 2:You feel like, oh my God, what's this? What does the WEF nexus mean? You know this WEF nexus, we talked about the WEF nexus, but what does it really mean If we're not talking about it from a scientific perspective, but we're also bringing it into the policy, the governance, the day-to-day lives as well. So, yeah, bringing the people together and getting them to speak lightly about it, you just feel like there's more learning in this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I would say the highlight of it would be the um, the ongoing learning experience, the, the fun part that comes also with getting to know these people, because once we're on call, sometimes it'll be the first time for us. Just, you know, talking to each other, but you can um, break the ice in a way. You get to know them more and then go into this podcast and talk more about their project, and then you see their passion in this work where it brings you like all right, please talk more. I can see passion in this. I'm sure that more people would want to learn more about this. So it's also like a platform for welcoming more people into this space.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, Thanks very much, anne and Ria. So to avoid being biased, I have to ask as well what has been the most challenging part of doing this podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a great and important question, and I think it's important to speak about the challenges, because it's not all rosy, and you know we already started touching on it. I think it's the idea of getting people to speak about their projects in a less sophisticated way. That has been the challenge, I think. Initially, in the beginning, it was a bit difficult for us to make people to really understand what that means, and I think also being polite came in. But we also had to have a moment where, separately, we were like listen, actually, um, we need to tell people how to actually do this, um, in the beginning. So it was a moment where we also had to be like at the end of the day, there is a user I mean, yeah, a user or a listener, uh, who needs to understand what they're saying. So, um, that's been one of the biggest challenges. Coordinating time zones has been interesting.
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely, I think this is very much something we need to talk about.
Speaker 1:Please go ahead, yeah coordinating time zones has been wow, that's been very, very interesting. I mean, I'm based in South Africa, she's based in Lebanon or Netherlands, I don't know where we are in the world at some time, and then we have multiple guests, so trying to shuffle everyone in, people are busy traveling and whatnot. So that's been one of the biggest challenges. But yeah, we somehow get it together and we, we somehow get on screen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, interesting and if I like. It's all what ann said, and if I'd like to add something is that having this uh responsibility of of communicating this certain topic to the audience it's not just about, you know, asking questions and going straight there. We need to translate this. Whatever the guest is talking, we need to translate this information. So sometimes it's challenging to simplify this knowledge, but it's also I would say this is the interesting part and also challenging part what comes with it, but I would echo everything that Anne just said, also about the challenges.
Speaker 3:Thanks, interesting. So like today, anne is in South Africa, rewa is in Lebanon, I'm in Canada.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I guess we always talk about you know becoming global, and I guess we always talk about you know becoming global. So, in a way, you have become global because you're learning to work across time zones and coordinate with different actors and you know people who are always moving around. It's like a puzzle that's always shifting and in a lot of things in life when you're managing big multi-disciplinary, multi-partner projects, those complexities will always be there. How do you work with stakeholders who are in different places doing different things, and no one is idle. So how do you make it work?
Speaker 3:The second part of it is really something that is always a challenge to scientists like myself, because from the time you're in high school and doing science subjects, you are taught to be specific. You are taught to to write concisely, use short sentences. You are taught to be authoritative in terms of the language that you use. So you have to use scientific language to demonstrate your subject matter expertise. And that's all fair and fine in the discipline or in the science space, but we don't do science for ourselves and for other scientists.
Speaker 3:Science is a public good. It's always been there to contribute to societal advancement. So how do you then come out as a scientist, you've done all your work, all your stuff, and how do you share it with ordinary people to say, look, this is what this means, this is how we are trying to improve your lives. You know responding to these challenges that you face on a day-to-day basis. So I think, in a way, it's good for you guys that you are having this experience of translation, and also for our guests, who also have to, you know, jump through those, you know loopholes, to learn to express themselves in a very different way from how they would on a day-to-day basis. So I'm happy that we're having learning on both sides of the divide. So, moving on, we sort of midway through our initial planned uh run for the podcast, the pilot season, if I should say. So what are you looking forward to in the next half of, you know, this first season?
Speaker 1:Great question. I'm really excited because I think we are now in the sweet spot. We, you know, I think initially we were sort of on training wheels with sort of figuring out how we're going to do this, how we want it to look like, et cetera. I'm really excited in this first half because we know what we're doing, we know what we want it to look like, and I think that because, like in the beginning, we all weren't sure what this is going to form to, like what is it, you know, and? But now we know, we know the structure. I'm excited for that. I'm excited for for being more comfortable in the driving seat of these types of conversations, and I'm also really looking forward to more guests and maybe even possible collaborations, because I think, now that we've built up sort of a resume or an archive, we can do some collaborations and we can maybe even bring in other people you know who who can be like. This is what we're doing. This is why we want you to be part of the show. So I think I'm looking forward.
Speaker 1:I'm looking forward to some of those things and, yeah, more conversations and more learning. I think, like I think, with some of the episodes that we are planning. I think one of them I'm really excited about is the idea of gender in the wave nexus. This is a thing that I didn't even think was a thing. Or maybe just the idea of like some really important like decolonization what does that actually mean in terms of science? So like these really nuanced topics that really fit into what we're talking about, because I think initially it was just an introduction, but now we're getting really sinking our teeth into some of these really important conversations that sometimes, like myself, I didn't even know um they, they overlap, so I'm really really excited for that thanks very much, uh, and you are yeah, yeah, yeah, I would.
Speaker 2:I would also um say that I'm really looking forward to to, you know, engaging more with with more guests, with us audiences, and and looking at how every episode would actually bring us to shape a different episode, because one learning from one episode would shape us for another topic. So, yeah, this is what's interesting, because there's episodes where we learn about something, like Anne said, like decolonization, like all right, let's think more into this. How could we shape the second episode to connect our discussion, bring up and we're looking forward to how we can be more in the episode and bringing more also early career researchers with us or also, you know, early career professionals into the scope and and look at the different dimensions, because we had episodes where we talked about the WEF nexus as an introduction and then we brought more into this WEF nexus the health issue, and then, as Anne is saying, now we have a recording with the gender. So every time we're shaping, we're adding more puzzles into this WEF nexus, but looking at the system as a whole. So I'm really looking forward to how we can be joining more into this puzzle and looking at the bigger picture while meeting new people, getting to know more and more ideas and also digging deeper into this.
Speaker 2:Also, anne mentioned that we were starting. We had our first five recorded sessions, but this is just, you know, the first five, and I'm looking for the next 50, maybe what we'll uncover from from there. So, yeah, there's a lot of things that you would think about, but then on paper you said, okay, let's just wait. Wait a couple of of of you know episodes to see where I can reach this. So there are ideas and I'm looking forward to see them implemented there in these episodes.
Speaker 3:Thanks. I'm also excited for the next phase, the next episodes, as we really start to broaden the dimensions of the WEF nexus, really start to broaden the dimensions of the WEF nexus and, you know, really linking it into people, issues like gender, you know, subjects around decolonization how do we address those challenges and, you know, come up with more equitable research networks and partnerships. So it's going to be exciting to to hear those episodes when they do drop my last question and I promise this is the last one and I must ask.
Speaker 3:I must ask from from my side. Uh, like I said, you know, in in africa we talk about, there's an old proverb that talks about how a little spark, you know, created fire or burnt a large pile of wood, and me telling me that back in the days when they were growing up, you would have to go across to your neighbor to ask for fire and they'd give you a little piece of wood. Then you come and you use it to light your own fire, because no one had matchsticks lying around and stuff like that. So when I'm reflecting with you, rewa and Anne, I kind of feel like that situation where there was just a little splinter, you know, with a tiny spark that someone handed to you guys, and you went and started a really big fire which seems to be spreading now because you know, just looking at what you've just said about what's coming up ahead. So have you at any point, especially in the beginning, felt like maybe someone threw you in the deep end of things?
Speaker 1:um, was that someone you?
Speaker 2:and and and. If I say something here, sometimes us we throw ourselves somewhere like, yeah, how can we get out?
Speaker 1:now, let's find a way where we can get out, yeah, but um, yeah, go ahead on your thing yeah, no, I think in the beginning it was because, yeah, I mean, I had a very shallow understanding of some of the concepts. I think there was a particular one when we were talking about policy that one. We had Peter, who is a lawyer. So in most cases, I'm used to communicating with other scientists, you know, in most cases, I'm used to communicating with other scientists, you know. So there are times where I'm like, whoa, is this like? When I'm reading some of the documents, I'm like what are these policies Like? I don't even know how we're going to, like, build questions from this.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I know there were moments, but I think I've started to really understand that comfort zones are places where dreams and ambitions really die. It's really important sometimes to step out, and it's been interesting to being forced because, yeah, you'll be like, oh, speak to this particular person. And then we look them up and I'm like, whoa, okay, um, this person does something completely different, but it's really great because it challenges us to to learn more. And um, yeah, I will say yes, but we, we are swimming, we are, so we have swam.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, I would also say that it's. It's just, you know, part of for growth, part of learning, is just once. Once you know that you don't want to jump there, it's where you will be learning the most. So this is where you need to jump and you need to just explore. And there's also episodes where we're talking more about the, the energy and in africa.
Speaker 2:I don't really have a lot of knowledge in this, but you know giving yourself this confidence that all right, I want to know about this. So you start reading about this and then you ask and then, from question to the question, you start. You know linking things together and then you start understanding things from different perspective. And later, as you said, as we started this episode now together, you said that the place where we start is just by raising your hand and asking. So this is also a way of doing it. If we did not raise our hand and ask, we would not know the answer. It's always to know the answer you need to ask. So the same thing here.
Speaker 2:As we brought this podcast, we did not know where it's going, but we asked okay, how we can do this? Where should we start? How should we start? So these questions that we keep thinking. It's where growth would happen, where magic could start, you know, for formulating and just more learning, learning could happen. So, yeah, sometimes we do this to ourselves, we jump somewhere, sometimes someone would do this to us, but it's all it's. It's just all in this confidence that you know, all right, I'll go there and see where I can, what can I do about this? So, uh, and this happens, you know, on a it happens, let me say, not frequently, but maybe occasionally, but it's part of this process of learning and exploring and, yeah, it's all part of this game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just to find sorry, just to add. I think it also makes us braver the more we do, the harder things. It makes us braver to do something else, and again and again, so yes, oh, india.
Speaker 3:I'm really excited to to hear your responses, both of you.
Speaker 3:Uh, I would say, for my part, I I feel really excited and successful.
Speaker 3:Uh, because what you two have said in terms of your learning experience, stepping up the power of collaboration and building confidence in yourselves and your capabilities, that you can do things if you put your mind to it and if you apply yourself I think it resonates with my you know ambition and wish for early career researchers, especially in the global South, because often people don't have platforms to come in and express themselves, to build the confidence and to just know that they can, you know, and to have that opportunity then to be, because it's one thing to think you can, it's another thing to have the opportunity then to translate that into some action and some tangible outputs.
Speaker 3:And I'm really excited that. You know, whilst we set out for the podcast to do these things for other people, you know it has actually done it for yourselves as the co-hosts on the show, which I think makes you the best co-hosts in town because you are pushing an agenda that you are benefiting from. So you've got your own testimonies in terms of how the journey is helping. I think it will also help to grow the podcast even further in terms of what you feel now needs to be added, what other issues need to be dealt with as you become more and more aware, and also really profiling voices and amplifying them from the global South. So I'm really excited. I feel that the future looks bright in your hands. I can disappear again, as I did at the beginning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm really excited. Well, you may be not on screen but you're always, you know, on the backstage and we're, we're thankful for the support as well.
Speaker 3:no, I really appreciate the way you you have taken ownership of the podcast and running with it, and just the way you handle everything in the way you handle guests and it's, it's, it's just so amazing. Uh, for for me, when I listen, you know, to the podcast and the feedback I get from some of the guests who've come onto the show and I'm I'm always having emails these days from people who are saying they also want to come onto the podcast. They think they've got something to say, and so forth, and that's all because of the job that the two of you have done. So, really, congratulations on helming this ship. From my side, from the community, we're excited, we're proud and we're really looking forward to what you have in store for us in the next part, and the future definitely looks bright. So thank you very much for allowing me to interview the two of you. I'm an amateur in this. I'm usually getting asked questions, so I'm not so good at asking questions myself. I hope I didn't disappoint. So back to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, thank you so much for the kind words as well. It's been a pleasure working with you. Like Rewa said, even though you're not on screen, you're behind the scenes. And also you, like Rewa said, even though you're not on screen, you're behind the scenes. And also, um, even chose to take this moment to say thank you to Cindy, who also helps with pushing the the show, cindy Kamane um, it's a team effort as well. So, um, thank you so much. And, uh, thank you for having us. It was lovely. Like Rewa said, I was almost getting comfortable, like, okay, listen you for having us. It was lovely. Like we were said, I was almost getting comfortable, like, okay, it's becoming too nice. Uh, we really appreciate, uh, talking to you and also sharing our experiences. I think it's really good. Sometimes you do something over and over again and you don't realize, um, how far you've gone until you take a moment to look back. So it's been lovely yes, thank you so?
Speaker 2:much for. Thank you so much for your kind words, for your support and for your trust as well. Um, and it's been a great pleasure. You know, all of this um experience while recording and meeting new people and getting you know, brainstorming together and, of course, meeting backstage with you or with cindy, or also with with sarah she's she's not with us here now, but she's also in the backstage, always working with us, so it's been a great pleasure. Thank you so much, and maybe we can take now the time to also thank our audience that are. You know they're tuning in and also, you know, giving back their feedback. It's nice to hear back from them and this is where we also know how we can be improving in the future. So, yeah, thank you so much for this. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so everyone, it's been lovely. We'll see you next time on our other episode where we take back the reins and we do our job. Goodbye.