The programme

Once a month, a panel — at least half of them women — faces an audience that has rarely been invited to speak. Politicians, scholars, citizens: all take questions no one else dares to ask, in Somali, on air.

The Bilan Talk Show is Somalia's first television current affairs programme to be hosted by a woman — and the first with a panel that is at least half women. Launched on International Women's Day, 8 March 2024, after a successful pilot on period education, it is produced and led entirely by the Bilan team.

Modelled on the BBC's Question Time, the monthly show tours venues around the country and invites the audience to put their own questions to the panel. It breaks open subjects Somali television has long avoided — from the shortage of female teachers to the obstacles facing women in politics and the environment.

The programme is hosted by Naima Said Salah, a senior reporter at Bilan, and broadcast through Dalsan, one of Somalia's largest media organisations. Its pilot debate on menstruation — a subject rarely spoken of even between mothers and daughters — brought a long-silenced conversation into the open.

The format

  1. One theme, each month

    A monthly debate, each episode built around a single contentious subject — from period education to women in politics.

  2. A panel, half women

    Every panel is at least 50% women — a first for Somali television, designed to disrupt a male-dominated media.

  3. The audience speaks

    Modelled on Question Time, the show tours venues across the country and invites the audience to put their own questions.

  4. Hosted in Somali

    Presented in Somali by senior reporter Naima Said Salah, and broadcast through Dalsan and online.

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