On Wednesday 26 October  the African Have Your Say team will broadcast the programme for the last time. The editor, Stephane Mayoux explains why, and talks about the other changes to the BBC's African programmes.

 BBC Africa’s schedule is changing and this is exciting! Our programmes needed to adapt to meet the changing demands of our African audiences and to make sure we make the best use of our resources.

We like many areas of the BBC World Service faced the challenge of the reduced financial settlement in the last government spending review. Our savings are not as substantial as other areas but nonetheless we have to meet them. So to keep making the impact we have made in Africa over the years, we decided we will make fewer, bigger, better programmes.

 
As you will have seen in July, we made changes to the week-end programmes, with the end of This Week in Africa and Weekend Network. But we have retained the Resident Presidents - the political satire that now makes waves on Network Africa every Friday morning.  

One of the big changes we will be making at the end of the month is how we will interact, on and off air, with audiences across the continent and in the diaspora. Africa Have Your Say, after a very successful period as our main interactive programme is stopping as a radio programme. Interactivity and our work on social media will be integrated into all our output, with the emphasis in two areas.

First, from 31 October,  Focus on Africa at 1700 GMT will be one-hour long, with increased input from what's happening on social media sites and increased audience participation. It will also include more sports and a daily arts item.

We realise there are more and more stories that our African audiences want to share and comment upon on social media sites. So our journalists will invest time to find out what those stories are and to identify new, passionate, knowledgeable contributors to our programmes.

In January 2012 we are also launching a new programme, the Africa Debate. Every month, we will produce a debate on African current issues, in the midst of our audiences, in Africa. We will be doing a preview of this programme from Kinshasa in November to coincide with the elections in the DR Congo.

Our documentary strand, African Perspective, is changing from a weekly programme to six original, hard-hitting, in-depth documentaries a year that have the time and resources to get under the skin of key African stories. African Perspective will be a global programme – audiences outside the continent will be able to listen too!

 We know more and more of our audience are accessing our journalism online or via mobile phones.So we have dramatically increased our work online with more and more text, audio and video stories. When smart phones really take off in Africa – and this is about to happen – the whole continent will be able to enjoy all our journalism on radio, online and on mobile.

Thanks for your loyalty. Keep listening, keep reading, keep watching – and tell us what you think.

Tunisians will go to the polls on Sunday to vote in their first elections since the ousting of former President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali in January. 

Tunisia is where the Arab Spring began and the vote for a constitutional assembly is being watched closely by other nations like Egypt and Libya.

Events in Tunisia also inspired protest movements across sub-Saharan Africa, including those in Uganda, Malawi and Senegal.

How did the toppling of one president change things for the rest of the continent?

Did events in Tunisia change the way Africans see the act of protesting?  Were you inspired by events in Tunisia? 

What, if anything, can other countries learn from Tunisia's example?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 19 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number.  It will not be published.

The hard-line group, which controls much of southern Somalia, has denied carrying out any abductions, and has warned of attacks in Kenya unless the troops withdraw.

Is Kenya right to pursue al-Shabab in Somalia? Should Kenya have tackled the attacks by Al Shabaab differently? Do other African governments support or oppose Kenya's actions?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Tuesday 18 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

As the Global Forum for Sanitation takes place in the Indian city of Mumbai, Africa Have Your Say is asking if you would be willing to pay to use toilet facilities.

Diarrhoea caused by not washing hands after going to the toilet is the biggest killer of children under five in Africa. But how can you wash your hands if there are no facilities in the first place?

How is access to public toilets where you are? What do you think should be done to improve the situation? 

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 12 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

On Sunday security forces moved in on a protest march organised by Coptic Christians angry at an attack on a church. 

Eyewitnesses say troops opened fire on the crowds and TV footage shows military vehicles running people down.  More unrest followed on Monday.

So what does this say about the military government's handling of civilian protests?

After the euphoria of the revolution, has anything really changed in Egypt?

BBC listener Fally Fidal Mwelii in Kenya says "It's a Different cast but the same script". Do you agree?

Who is really in charge, and what are the prospects for peaceful change with the country's parliamentary elections due to be held in November?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Tuesday 11 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

Peaceful protests have been taking place in Nigeria today calling for more to be done to protect women from sexual violence.

  

In particular, the marchers on the streets on Wednesday were demanding that action be taken over the recent case of the gang-rape of a woman which was posted on the internet.

The video has shocked Nigerians both because of the brutal nature of the rape and the initial failure of the authorities to investigate it.

What followed was a sustained campaign on social networks to force the police  into action and to uncover clues from the video that might identify the culprits.

How common is sexual violence against women in your country? How are these issues dealt with? Does your society even discuss rape, or is it a taboo subject?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 5 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, has cancelled a trip to South Africa for the 80th birthday celebrations of fellow Nobel Peace laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The South African government has denied it was under pressure from China to block the visit, though a visa for the trip was never issued.

But the archbishop has criticised the government for "kowtowing to Chinese pressure". 

The Dalai Lama was welcomed into South Africa during Nelson Mandela's presidency, but more recently has been denied entry as relations between China and South Africa strengthened.

A joint statement by the Office for Tibet in South Africa and the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre described the treatment of the two Nobel Laureates as "profoundly disrespectful". 
 
Do you think the Chinese are interfering too much in Africa's affairs? What is more important, the Dalai Lama's visit or Chinese investment? Is the relationship between Africa and China changing?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Tuesday 4 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

Ivory Coast is due to swear in its Truth, Reconciliation and Dialogue Commission, aimed at forging unity after the post election violence which left about 3,000 people dead and 500,000 displaced.

The 11-member body includes religious leaders, regional representatives and Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba to speak for Ivorians living abroad.

The commission is modelled on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission but it is not clear if it will be issuing amnesties and pardons.

But do TRCs bring lasting peace? 

Does the process of talking about what happened help to heal the wounds or does it stir up emotions that are better left to die down naturally? 

Has your country had a TRC? If so, what did it achieve?

Perhaps you think such a process would help a situation in your country?

Which past conflicts in Africa might have benefitted from a truth commission?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 28 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.
 

Kenyans are concerned over the continued weakening of the shilling against the dollar.

The prices of basics commodities such as sugar, maize, flour, petrol and kerosene have more than doubled in the last few months.  Many people are struggling to put food on the table.

How is your own country's currency holding up? Is the Eurozone financial crisis affecting African economies?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Tuesday 27 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

Every year, an estimated 10 million girls are married off before the age of 18 across the world. A lot of them in Western and Central Africa. Why is the practice so widespread?

Launching a "Girls not Brides" initiative in New York, Demsond Tutu argued that men have "aided and abetted" the continuation of child marriage. Do you agree?

Men tend to be political, traditional and religious leaders. They have the power to make things change. But they don't use it. Is this because men themselves benefit from child marriage?

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 21 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.

Researchers say just nine of 137 developing countries will achieve ambitious targets to improve the health of women and children.

 

MDG4 aims to reduce the death rate for children aged under five by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

MDG5 states an ambition to cut deaths among pregnant women and new mothers by three-quarters during the same timescale.

The experts predict that no country in sub-Saharan Africa will meet the goals to dramatically reduce deaths by 2015.

The targets were set by world leaders in 2000.  Were they realistic? Is it better to aim high and fail, or would more be achieved if the goals set were more easily attainable?  Have you seen any improvement in healthcare for mothers and children in the last decade? 

If you would like to debate this topic LIVE on air on Tuesday 20 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published.