The Africans was a series of five fifteen-minute programmes broadcast on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 during 2007, introduced by Nigerian journalist Ken Wiwa

Ken Wiwa

Ken Wiwa , also known as Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., is a Nigerian journalist and author. His book In the Shadow of a Saint is a memoir of his father, executed activist and political prisoner Ken Saro-Wiwa....

, whose father Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Saro-Wiwa

Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa was a Nigerian author, television producer, environmental activist, and winner of the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Environmental Prize...

 was executed by the Nigerian military

Military of Nigeria

The Nigerian Armed Forces are the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The military has active duty personnel in three armed services, totaling approximately 85,000 troops and 82,000 paramilitary personnel. Its origins lie in the elements of the Royal West African Frontier Force that...

 government in 1995. The series attempted to give a more positive or different view of Africa than the commonly held pessimistic one, by interviewing "ordinary people doing extraordinary things" in different parts of the continent. The series was produced by Caroline Pare.
The programme interviewed Africans living in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and focused on the everyday lives of people working for social change, democratisation and progress in their own local communities.
The series bore a resemblance to Radio 4's Crossing Continents

Crossing Continents

Crossing Continents is a half-hour BBC Radio 4 documentary programme, focusing on foreign affairs issues through on-location journalism and interviews from various parts of the world...

and followed a similar format.