Stay ConnectedDiscover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.
A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.
Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.
Copyright: © (C) BBC 2022
In the US, police officers spend about a fifth of their time responding to mental health crises. This is something they are often not trained for, and figures also show that people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter.
We go to Arizona where some 911 calls are now being responded to by mental health professionals who are trained to de-escalate a situation and help someone experiencing a crisis to get the support they need. This is part of a trend across the United States where a new nationwide mental health helpline called 988 has also recently been launched.
We also visit Denmark, where people going to their doctor with mental health issues are being prescribed ‘culture vitamins’ in an effort to tackle anxiety, stress and depression.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/US reporter: Craig Langran Denmark reporter: Adrienne Murray Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound Mix: Andrew Mills
(People in Aalborg, Denmark on street art tour, Adrienne Murray)
In a special programme, Myra Anubi is in Nairobi, Kenya at the final of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation which rewards the best new innovators on the continent. Their exciting solutions deal with access to healthcare, plastic recycling, waste disposal and pest detection. She meets the finalists and finds out which one of them has walked away with the £50,000 prize.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer: Richard Kenny Editor: Jon Bithrey Sound Mix: Annie Gardiner
(Image: Finalists in the 2024 Africa Prize, Royal Academy of Engineering)
Tourism brings money and opportunities to communities around the world, but it brings risks too. Sometimes an influx of tourists changes a place, damages the environment or leads to the exploitation of local people.
But the social enterprise Local Alike has a different model. They have worked with dozens of villages in Thailand to get them ready before “opening up” to tourists. During this process, which can take months or even years, they help locals identify the meals, activities and sights that will interest visitors, and they bring in outside investment to improve the village. Then they help establish a fair stream of revenue for the community.
We travel with Somsak Boonkam, the founder of Local Alike, as he faces his toughest challenge yet: to work with his own home town as it prepares for tourists.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: William Kremer Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Andrew Mills
Just over a quarter of people on the planet live in water stressed countries. And our increasing demands for water as well as climate change is putting even more pressure on this finite resource.
We take a look at how Indian farmers are growing crops with a device that stores rain underground. Plus how a test farm in the US uses a special clay liquid to grow vegetables in the desert. Finally we visit a project in Cyprus that could help coastal cities clean and reuse their wastewater in a more eco-friendly way.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Claire Bates US reporter: Anthony Wallace Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound Mix: Andrew Mills
(Image: Biplab Paul demonstrating his bhungroo device in Gujarat, India, Biplab Paul)
US shopping malls, once a mainstay of American life, are in decline. Forty malls have closed since 2020, while more than 230 department stores have closed in the same time period, according to Green Street, a real estate analytics firm.
But where there is change, there is also opportunity.
After Burlington High School in Vermont had to close its doors because dangerous chemicals were found, the school hopped into a site vacated by Macy’s department store five years earlier.
The children now ride the escalator to class. Elsewhere, malls have been converted into offices, casinos or large healthcare facilities. We explore the surprising second life being offered to these temples of consumerism.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: William Kremer Series producer: Tom Colls Sound Mix: Anne Gardiner Editor: Penny Murphy
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Pupils at a school in a department store.
What we wear helps us express ourselves and communicate to others in the most immediate way. But the tools we frequently use to do that, such as clothing and haircare are not available to everyone equally.
One in six of us has a disability of some sort - according to the World Health Organisation - but most clothing and beauty brands don’t take account of that. From making shops accessible to catering for differences in design and size, few companies address these particular needs.
This week on People Fixing The World we’re talking to people trying to change that. Hair and Care is a London-based hairstyling workshop which helps people with visual impairments take better care of their hair.
Plus, we bring together two entrepreneurs who’ve brought adaptive clothing to Africa and Asia allowing people with disabilities to fully express themselves in the way they dress. We also meet the UK-based adaptive clothing company that could affect the way we all dress – by working with technology companies to develop a scanner that will help in tailoring for all body shapes.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporters: Emma Tracey, Claire Bowes Producer: Claire Bowes Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Hal Haines
(Image: Wearapy model photoshoot)
Mexico's capital often floods during the rainy season, but paradoxically, it's also running out of water. A large and growing population, along with crumbling infrastructure and the effects of climate change - are increasingly putting a strain on the city. We meet the army of scientists, activists and urban planners trying to solve this problem - and rethink Mexico City’s relationship with water - including the scientist using plants to clean sewage water and the architect who has designed a park that absorbs excess rainwater.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter/producer: Craig Langran Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Hal Haines
(Image: Alejandro Alva in Cuautepac wetland area, Mexico City, BBC)
Poorer countries are likely to bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change, with rising temperatures and more unsettled weather leading to greater stresses on natural resources and often inadequate infrastructure. But whilst there’s a lot of focus on global attempts to limit temperature rises by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, there are many smaller scale projects aimed at both tackling and living with climate change.
On this edition of People Fixing The World, reporter Jane Chambers travels to the small Central American nation of El Salvador. She meets communities working to preserve highly endangered mangrove forests, crucial in protecting coastlines against flooding and valuable carbon sinks. She also visits a “shade coffee” plantation – where coffee is grown beneath a canopy of plants and trees – to hear how the method can help preserve rainforest and protect against soil erosion and water loss. And she visits a project on the Pacific coast that has made huge strides in protecting the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Jane Chambers Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Annie Gardiner
(Image: Aldo Sanchez and Boanergues Sanchez holding a hawksbill sea turtle, photo by Magali Portillo)
If you could invent a new kind of school what would it look like? What skills would you teach children, and how would the school be run?
On this edition of People Fixing The World we visit the Mechai Pattana School in Thailand which was founded by the campaigner Mechai Viravaidya in 2008, on principals of charity and leadership. Children are responsible for every aspect of running the school, from buying food for the kitchens to disciplining fellow students and even recruiting new staff.
The children also run their own businesses, and perform several hours of community service every week. Many of the students come from underprivileged backgrounds, but their school fees are “paid” by planting 800 trees a year, together with their families.
The idea is for the school to produce “change-makers” – could it be a model for others to follow?
Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: William Kremer Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Annie Gardiner
Across the world millions of women and girls face discrimination and worse because of their gender. On this edition of People Fixing The World we look at projects designed to change attitudes. In India we visit workshops aimed at recruiting younger men as allies in the fight against sexism and gender inequality. And we speak to the founder of Chalk Back, a street art initiative that encourages women to write sexist remarks they’ve been the target of onto pavements in chalk to highlight the problem of street harassment.
Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Chhavi Sachdev Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound mix: Hal Haines
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