In this episode, Victoria Kioi, editor in residence at the welsh agenda, talks to actor Gabin Kongolo about the creative sector in Wales, learning Welsh later in life, his Congolese heritage, and navigating the creative industry.

Gabin Kongolo is a poet and actor. His work includes film-poem Ndako and he was recently featured in Bariau (2024).

In the seventh episode of our series Wales: A Work in Progress, the IWA's Policy and External Affairs Manager Joe Rossiter talks to Steph Coulter from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.

Wales: A Work in Progress is the companion piece of our project on the constitutional future of Wales supported by the Legal Education Foundation. In this series, we explore options for Wales' future in conversation with experts and people interested in shaping the way forward for our country.

In keeping with the IWA's independence, we don't take position - rather, we want to give voice to different options and examine the evidence to understand what the best path might be for Wales, and why.

This is a recording of Building from the Bottom: Delivering wellbeing and resilience through community ownership held by the Institute of Welsh Affairs in partnership with Bangor University.

Despite our best efforts, we apologise that part of the recording is unintelligible due to equipment issues on the day.

A transcript of the episode is available here.

You can now listen to the launch of our latest report, Sharing Power, Spreading Wealth.

Read the full report here: https://www.iwa.wales/our-work/work/sharing-power-spreading-wealth/

Welcome to the welsh agenda podcast. In this episode, our resident editor Matthaus Bridge reflects on his journey as a bilingual English and Welsh speaking journalist as he enters the professional world after learning the language in school.

A few words from Matthaus: 'Like many people my age, I learnt Welsh in school, and am now the first and, to date, only, fluent Welsh speaker in my family. In my life, I navigate different professional and personal identities, and it sometimes feels like it can be hard to reconcile both. In this podcast, I spoke to researchers, government officials and artists.'

In this podcast, Matthaus speaks to Dr Sion Jones, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, stand up comedian Leila Navabi, Professor Martin Johnes, and Welsh language commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones.

This podcast includes Matthaus's conversation with Dr Sion Jones in its original Welsh version.

Welcome to the welsh agenda podcast. In this episode, our resident editor Matthaus Bridge reflects on his journey as a bilingual English and Welsh speaking journalist as he enters the professional world after learning the language in school.

A few words from Matthaus: 'Like many people my age, I learnt Welsh in school, and am now the first and, to date, only, fluent Welsh speaker in my family. In my life, I navigate different professional and personal identities, and it sometimes feels like it can be hard to reconcile both. In this podcast, I spoke to researchers, government officials and artists.'

In this podcast, Matthaus speaks to Dr Sion Jones, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, stand up comedian Leila Navabi, Professor Martin Johnes, and Welsh language commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones.

The IWA are delighted to bring you a discussion between Chris Stark, CEO of the UK Climate Change Committee (UKCCC) and Wales’ Future Generations’ Commissioner, Derek Walker. In this conversation we will touch on where Wales stands on its net zero journey, how we compare to other nations, and how we can accelerate our transition and adaptation to the climate emergency.

In the sixth episode of our series Wales: A Work in Progress, the IWA's Policy and External Affairs Manager Joe Rossiter talks to Professor Mark Barry about the future of Wales' transport networks.

Wales: A Work in Progress is the companion piece of our project on the constitutional future of Wales supported by the Legal Education Foundation. In this series, we explore options for Wales' future in conversation with experts and people interested in shaping the way forward for our country.

In keeping with the IWA's independence, we don't take position - rather, we want to give voice to different options and examine the evidence to understand what the best path might be for Wales, and why.

Episode notes
You can read Mark's report A Metro for Wales' Capital City Region here

This week, we release the recording of our recent event Social Security Spotlight with Mairi Spowage. 

Mairi is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. In this event, she and Auriol Miller discussed Scottish Government's policy on social security. Scotland has a significantly larger package of powers devolved in this area compared to Wales. The Scottish Child Payment, a new devolved benefit, is particularly pertinent in this discussion, displaying different ways of managing welfare spend.

This session was an enlightening discussion of the complexities of funding devolved policy, and of the lessons Wales can learn from Scotland in this area.

Wales: A Work in Progress is the companion piece of our project on the constitutional future of Wales supported by the Legal Education Foundation. In this series, we explore options for Wales' future in conversation with experts and people interested in shaping the way forward for our country.

In keeping with the IWA's independence, we don't take position - rather, we want to give voice to different options and examine the evidence to understand what the best path might be for Wales, and why.

This week, instead of an episode, enjoy a recorded version of our recent event with Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

Akash came to speak to the IWA's Director Auriol Miller to discuss his recent paper, submitted to the Independent Commission for Wales' Constitutional Future. In it, Akash proposed a comparison of the UK nations' settlements. In this event, Akash discussed: 

• What the gaps are in Wales’ current settlement
• What we can learn from other parts of the UK
• Where does the evidence suggest Wales needs more powers to improve delivering for the nation?
• Where do we go from here?

Wales: A Work in Progress is the companion piece of our project on the constitutional future of Wales supported by the Legal Education Foundation. In this series, we explore options for Wales' future in conversation with experts and people interested in shaping the way forward for our country.

In keeping with the IWA's independence, we don't take position - rather, we want to give voice to different options and examine the evidence to understand what the best path might be for Wales, and why.

Akash's paper is available in full in the annex of the Commission's interim report.

In the fifth episode of our series Wales: A Work in Progress, the IWA's Policy and External Affairs Manager Joe Rossiter talks to Yvonne Murphy, the mind behind the Talking Shop, an innovative space created for people wishing to learn more about their institutions in order to become more active in their communities.

Wales: A Work in Progress is the companion piece of our project on the constitutional future of Wales supported by the Legal Education Foundation. In this series, we explore options for Wales' future in conversation with experts and people interested in shaping the way forward for our country.

In keeping with the IWA's independence, we don't take position - rather, we want to give voice to different options and examine the evidence to understand what the best path might be for Wales, and why.

Episode notes:
- You can find out more about The Talking Shop and Omidaze here
- Yvonne Murphy's article about the Talking Shop for the welsh agenda is available on our website