Barbara Gruber is a Program Director at DW Akademie, the journalism training and media development division of Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster. She leads DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining Project Team, which develops tools and formats to support podcasting as a medium for learning, participation, and media development.
A key output is PodcasTraining with Youth, a practical manual that helps trainers guide young people in creating their own podcast formats. The PodcasTraining portfolio includes a modular series from beginner to advanced levels, covering topics such as community engagement, monetization, podcasting and AI and video, and is complemented by PodCircle—a global community with a monthly newsletter and meet-up series spotlighting international podcast talent.
Since 2021, Barbara’s team has also partnered with MethodKit in Sweden to co-create the MethodKit for Podcasts—a visual tool made up of 63 cards in 43 languages to support podcast planning, reflection, and collaboration. PodcasTraining has been implemented in over 20 countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cambodia, Thailand, and Ukraine.