Europolis: The Global Europe Podcast by ECDPM

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 soft infrastructure and encouraging innovation within public rails. It also points to the potential for EU-India collaboration in creating interoperable frameworks and aligning objectives for digital ecosystems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 changes in digital policy. Concerns about potential foreign control over critical data are pushing EU policymakers to act. Kai Zenner discusses his role in the EuroStack initiative: a grassroots movement uniting diverse individuals who feel Europe has become a "digital colony" dependent in critical areas. He describes the biggest hurdle is a lack of political leadership willing to make the necessary hard, strategic investment choices, rather than fragmented small investments.Gautam Kamath concludes by discussing Europe's strategic interdependencies, noting a divide between those advocating for purely European solutions and those recognizing Europe's need for openness and partnerships. Europe's historical strengths lie in being an open trading bloc and fostering consensus and needs to forge mutual partnerships with countries like Brazil (green technologies), Africa (AI), and India (skills and tech stack): moving beyond the "Brussels effect" and focusing on what Europe can learn from its global partners in a multipolar world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 monopolies or duopolies. This autocratic power, which sets rules for users, can seep into society, potentially making society itself autocratic. The rules set by these digital monopolies can even become more important to businesses, like publishers, than state laws, leading to a loss of self-governance for collectives.He argues that the problem isn't a lack of innovation; it's the capture of architectural control points (e.g., how revenue flows, system defaults) by a tiny number of actors, leading to high power concentration. Breaking these monopolies requires intervention at the infrastructural level to liberate these control points, not just more innovation. Instead of trying to replicate Silicon Valley's model, which could lead to similar problems with European companies, the solution lies in breaking down digital problems into components and rebuilding them as governance infrastructure. The India Stack is presented as an interesting example of this approach: by allowing users on both sides of two-sided markets like ride-hailing to jointly control the network, it enables innovation and works better for both providers and consumers, unlike systems controlled by singular monopolies like Uber or Amazon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 promoting youth engagement elsewhere. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 how the changes land in reality, ex-EU ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon, Philippe van Damme, describes what limitations and potential of the EU’s new approach have been revealed in practice and how the EU has learned, or not learned, from previous approaches.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 match with the partner country’s priorities. As Botswana’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and permanent representative to the EU, H.E. Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba reveals how Botswana has negotiated its mutual interests with the EU, how this affects its partnership and the asymmetry of this relationship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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? Moses Isooba is the executive director of the Uganda National NGO Platform (UNNGOP), an organisation uniting national and international NGOs in the country, and stresses the importance of engaging with civil society to enhance the participation, legitimacy and influence of its projects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 designed in Brussels are actually playing out on the ground, their effect on the EU’s relationship with its partners, and vital lessons for the EU if it wants to achieve its development ambitions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 could take decades.In this episode of Minding the gap: Conversations on gender, we listen to real-life stories of girls' empowerment from Tanzania. Joining Hanne Knaepen is Lydia Charles Moyo, founder and executive director of the Her Initiative. Lydia talks about the injustice she faced among her peers in school, which led her to set up an award-winning non-profit organisation that aims to achieve financial independence among girls and women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 gender perspective. Despite the potential for a circular economy to provide equitable opportunities, current strategies and policies often overlook critical gender dimensions.In the latest episode of ‘Minding the Gap: Conversations on Gender,’ we delve into the potential for gender justice in transitioning to a circular economy. Joining Nadia Ashraf is Katharina Gihring of the African Circular Economy Network to explore the roles women are already playing in the circular economy and what needs to be done to ensure a fair transition for all genders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 community is not shared by many violent extremist groups themselves, who have used gendered strategies to recruit members for decades.For the third episode of ECDPM's podcast series 'Minding the gap: conversations on gender', Sophie Desmidt is joined by Aleksandra Dier, who coordinates the work on gender at the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), to discuss the latest trends and developments in what is needed to ensure that women and girls’ perspectives and roles are matched with the necessary support.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Parliament and European Commission leadership on women’s rights and gender equality? What are some of the risks and opportunities in terms of women's political participation in the next European political cycle? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 for more information.

In the fourth episode of ECDPM’s podcast series ‘Minding the gap: conversations on gender’, Sara Gianesello talks to Houda Zekri, Moroccan gender expert, and Stephanie Willman Bordat, a founding partner at MRA - Mobilising for Rights Associates, based in Rabat. They delve into the Moroccan justice system to shed light on the challenges and obstacles that women face when seeking justice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Almost two-thirds of African women are employed in agrifood systems as food producers, agro-dealers, processors, distributors and traders. They are also often responsible for sourcing and cooking food for their families. Yet, multiple sources of inequality constrain women’s participation, well-being and empowerment. How can we ensure women have more access to resources such as land or finance? Can food security goals and gender equality be achieved simultaneously? And what steps are already being taken to ensure women are actively engaged in food systems? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gender (in)equality is often treated as a women's and girls’ issue, but boys and men are also part of the equation. Power imbalances create patriarchal structures and both women and men uphold these structures (often involuntarily). What does it mean to engage boys and men in the fight for gender equality? Why is it difficult to get them to support gender equality? And why do we need to talk about masculinities in the plural? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, the field of international cooperation has seen the growing presence of a new professional figure: the gender expert. Gender experts support and advise policymakers and practitioners to make sure their work has a gender perspective and supports gender equality. But why is gender expertise important? Who gets to decide who these experts are? And can gender expertise stray away from feminism or become exclusionary when it doesn’t recognise multiple forms of oppression? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In recent years, policymakers in Europe and Africa have been giving more attention to the climate crisis. However, dealing with the climate crisis is not an isolated action. Its impact on all aspects of human life means countries cannot take isolation action, having instead to prioritise coordination with other countries and regions. This 2-part podcast series zooms in on EU-Africa climate diplomacy and how the EU and Africa can overcome diplomatic tensions in the realm of climate and energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.