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The BBC's New Africa Season on World Service, tells the story of the continent from an African perspective.

BBC's wide ranging portfolio of Africa-related programmes, take part in a special event, a series of broadcasts connecting audiences in Africa and the UK.

World Service productions participating in this season give a new glimpse at some old and some new African themes as seen through African eyes.

BBC World Service has a strong presence and reach on the African continent. In Africa and the Middle East the BBC World Service broadcasts to 42.5 million listeners, of which 14 million are in English.

Africa is the second-largest continent both in area and by a number of people living there. It covers 20% of the land area on Earth. With 800 milion people in 54 countries, it holds a seventh of the world's population.

Africa is by far the world's poorest inhabited continent. It is also, on average, poorer than it was 25 years ago.

Independence after initial colonisation by the world's empires came with high hopes on the part of many African states as the "winds of change" began to blow through the continent nearly half a century ago.

But while other parts of the developing world have seen rapid economic growth, Africa is the only continent to have become poorer in the past 25 years. By the year 2000, half the world's poor were in Africa - compared with 10% in 1970.

The World Service New Africa Season focuses on African issues through the voices of Africans. The programmes of this season complement the Africa 2005 programmes and initiatives throughout this year across all BBC services –television, radio and online, aiming to explore and celebrate African life and culture.

The new Africa Season aims to identify and explore important trends that have emerged in the past five years by combining previously unreported stories with the opinions of young Africans, which will shape the continent’s future.

Feel free to browse and listen to all the World Service programmes taking part in this season on this mini-portal.