People Fixing the World

By BBC World Service

What's People Fixing the World about?

Brilliant solutions to the world’s problems. We meet people with ideas to make the world a better place and investigate whether they work.

4.8

155155 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

People Fixing the World episodes:

04.16.2024
Redefining luxury fashion
The fashion industry is the third largest manufacturing industry in the world consuming huge amounts of the world’s resources and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. But some innovators are trying to make the industry more sustainable. We discover how old...
04.09.2024
How literacy can change a life
Learning to read empowers people, reduces poverty and increases their job chances. Yet more than 700 miliion adults are illiterate, the majority of them women. We look at innovations to help adults learn how to read from flatpack classrooms in...
04.02.2024
The power of music
We all know about the power of music to change our mood or to make us move. But an increasing body of evidence is showing that music has an amazing ability to help us heal. In this programme we are...
03.26.2024
Greener ways to feed the world
Transforming the global food system is vital in the fight against climate change. Currently, food production accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the food system also fails to properly nourish billions of people...
03.19.2024
Magic mushrooms and mental health
Could psychedelic drugs help in the treatment of mental health conditions? We look at pioneering research into psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms. We visit a clinic in Oregon, the only state in America where the use of...
03.12.2024
Speaking up at work
Whistleblowers - they're the good guys right? The ones who speak truth to power and have films made about the heroic stands they took? Sometimes. Often the people who speak up in the workplace are ignored or shut down. Worse...
03.05.2024
Clever ways to get kids learning
Schools across Senegal have discovered a clever way for children to surf the web even when there isn't any signal. They're using a special WIFI hotspot which works without an actual internet connection, so students and teachers can access all...
02.27.2024
Bringing dead languages back to life
Australia used to be one of the most linguistically diverse places, with over 200 languages. Today, many of Australia’s indigenous languages are considered “highly endangered”. Inspired by his native language, Hebrew, Ghil’ad Zuckermann is a linguistics professor who is on...
02.20.2024
Making life easier for older people
Barcelona in Spain is famous for its beautiful streets, lined with tall apartment buildings. But the architecture is a problem for many people who have lived for years in upstairs apartments but who now find the stairs unmanageable. In 2008,...
02.13.2024
Overcoming stigma
On this edition of People Fixing The World we meet people who’ve helped overcome long-standing cultural biases to create better outcomes for everyone. In India we hear about the social media campaigns which have helped city dwellers in Bengaluru see...
02.06.2024
Rewilding Earth
From beavers in the UK to bison in Romania and jaguars in Argentina, ecologists around the world are reintroducing animals that once flourished in particular areas. The theory is, if done correctly, they can boost biodiversity and restore ecosystems with...
01.30.2024
Keeping the Amazon standing
The Amazon is the largest forest in the world, spread across nine countries in South America and home to 47 million people. It’s crucial for the planet’s biodiversity and in the fight against climate change. But vast numbers of trees...
12.26.2023
Fake birds and other stories
This week we have a host of great ideas inspired by solutions we've told you about in 2023. We find out how scientists are using fake birds to help populations of seabirds to recover. By putting out model birds in...
12.19.2023
Making landfill less awful
Landfill sites are an icon of our wasteful society and the harm we cause to Planet Earth. But around the world, people are trying to make these filthy places a little bit better. We visit the human-built island in Singapore...
12.12.2023
The country tackling loneliness
Loneliness affects millions of people around the world and can have a significant impact on our mental and physical health. In the Netherlands, they are taking the problem seriously, with a national coalition of organisations all trying to bring people...
12.05.2023
Building a clinic to save a forest
How do you stop people chopping down precious rainforest? In the Indonesian part of Borneo, researchers for a conservation charity discovered that local people were chopping down the rainforest around them for an incredibly understandable reason – they needed to...
11.28.2023
The plastic eaters
Every year the world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic – the same weight as all the humans on earth. Only a small proportion of this is recycled, and this isn’t proper recycling but “downcycling” – the new plastic is...
11.21.2023
Fighting period poverty
Millions of women around the world lack access to safe and hygienic menstrual products. But there are people trying to change that. We meet the British student who learned to sew in lockdown and started making reusable sanitary pads for...
11.14.2023
Sharing the river
In the farming community of Los Negros in rural Bolivia, the river is their life and livelihood. So when that river started to dry up, it made life very hard. They blamed the villages upstream for not looking after their...
11.07.2023
Training heroin users to save their friends
Heroin users in Scotland are being trained to spot when someone is about to overdose and to step in and help. The training – which includes lessons on how to use the antidote naloxone - is often led by people...
10.31.2023
Disaster zone innovators
In the midst of a crisis, sometimes the solution you need isn’t obvious. Today we meet the inventors who found fascinating fixes amid the chaos and destruction of disasters. We visit the hospital that was painstakingly constructed inside a...
10.24.2023
Sea cucumbers fixing the world
Meet the oceans’ unsung hero - the humble sea cucumber. An animal in the same family as starfish that looks like a lumpy sausage and lives on the ocean floor could help with some of the impact of global warming,...
10.17.2023
Stopping suicide
More than 400 people in Ireland took their own lives in 2022. In Limerick, helicopters are often heard flying above the city in search of missing people in the River Shannon. But in response to this tragic situation, a group...
10.10.2023
AI for good
Artificial intelligence can sometimes provoke fear and anxiety. Will it take away our jobs? Will it take over the world? So it’s important to recognise some of the good things AI is being used for. We look at how...
10.03.2023
Coconuts fixing the world
We eat millions of tonnes of coconuts every year - with the dense white flesh of the fruit making a tasty snack and the juice a refreshing drink. But the inedible husk and shell go to waste – and it’s...
09.26.2023
Surviving earthquakes
Earthquakes strike suddenly, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But around the world, people are trying to do what they can to make them less deadly. We hear from Haiti, where a seismometer developed for hobbyists is now being...
09.19.2023
Shockwaves for the heart
Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killer in the world, causing 18 million deaths globally every year. Cardiologists and heart surgeons try to manage heart disease with stents, surgery and drugs, but the organ itself does not...
09.12.2023
Genetic problem-solving
From crops that grow faster to rice that could stop children going blind - the world is full of genetically modified products waiting to come onto the market. Genetic modification techniques in plants have huge problem-solving potential, but are often...
09.05.2023
Female farmers fighting sexism
In Bangladesh, there’s an app helping female farmers to get a fairer price for their crop. At the market, women farmers often face sexism, and struggle to sell their produce for what it’s worth. But by making the seller anonymous,...
08.01.2023
Surprising solar
The fast growth of solar power is a success story in the fight against climate change. However, in some countries progress is being stymied by opposition to large solar farms in the countryside. But enterprising people are trying to keep...
07.25.2023
The bubble barrier cleaning up rivers
How can we stop plastic flowing into our oceans? Dutch inventors have one solution, pulling plastic from the water using a ‘net’ made from bubbles. Also on the programme - how sound could be used to help restore...
07.18.2023
Eating invasive species
All across the world, invasive species are on the march. These are plants and animals that take over new areas, throwing nature out of balance. If left unchecked, they can destroy local ecosystems, drive native species to extinction - and...
07.11.2023
The game that fixes cities
In cities across Japan and the Philippines, an app called Tekkon is making data collection cool. It's a Pokemon GO-style game which pays people with cryptocurrency if they track down broken infrastructure – such as missing manhole covers and tangled...
07.04.2023
The power of a backstory
How do you care for someone properly in a hospital or care home if you don’t know who they are? With US hospitals and care homes seeing fast turnovers of staff, many clinicians don’t get the chance to learn their...
06.27.2023
Fighting the heat
As climate change leads to global temperature rises, cities around the world are being faced with extreme levels of heat. This can bring whole cities to a halt, disrupt key infrastructure, and for the most vulnerable in society heat can...
06.20.2023
Turning mud into ‘clean’ concrete
A young scientist has developed a white powder which gives waste soil concrete-like properties. Gnanli Landrou grew up in Togo, helping his neighbours dry out soil to make bricks, and his big dream is to help people like them build...
06.13.2023
Palm oil that’s better for wildlife
Is it possible for palm oil plantations, wildlife and the rainforest to happily coexist? Products containing palm oil, including soaps and cosmetics, are used by billions of people worldwide. While the industry is credited with reducing poverty in countries like...
06.06.2023
Catching the ‘bike bus’
How can you get kids to school safely in a way that’s good for the environment and gives them some exercise too? We find out how kids from Spain to Scotland are joining together in long convoys known as...
05.30.2023
What to do with an empty mall?
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....
05.23.2023
Helping elephants and humans get along
As humanity expands further and further into the wild areas of the world, they are increasingly coming into conflict with the creatures that live there. One of those animals is the elephant. When tensions flare with these huge creatures, lives...
05.16.2023
Dementia friendly neighbourhoods
How do you help older people, and particularly those with dementia, to remain independent for longer? In Singapore, where dementia affects roughly 1 in 10 people over 60, the government are betting that the re-designing neighbourhoods with an aging...
05.09.2023
Making peace with nature
Many of the world’s most violent conflicts happen in the midst of some of its most valuable natural wildernesses. But protecting these areas’ biodiversity cannot happen until the fighting stops. We look at how nature itself can be used to...
05.02.2023
Menopause mentors
The menopause is something half the world’s population goes through. But despite this, it’s still not much talked about - and in some places, remains taboo. Which means many women hit this stage of life not understanding what’s happening to...
04.25.2023
Fighting corruption in schools
Paraguay, like much of the world, has a problem with corruption. But a project in the country is trying to change that, by starting with the next generation. Founded by David Riveros - who started his fight against corruption as...
04.18.2023
The hidden powers of bacteria
Many people associate bacteria with dirt and disease. But a lot of bacteria are good for us. And scientists around the world are using them to help us do all sorts of useful things like recycle, clean up waste...
04.11.2023
Work: Access for all
La Casa de Carlota isn’t like most workplaces. The design studio, based in Barcelona, Spain, employs creatives who have intellectual disabilities, autism and schizophrenia. Working together with non-disabled colleagues, they produce striking graphics for campaigns and packaging, as well as...
04.04.2023
Kangaroo care for premature babies
Premature babies often need a lot of expensive specialised care - but that isn’t always available. So, doctors in Colombia are teaching mothers to look after their babies in a similar way that kangaroos look after their own young. ...
03.28.2023
Sports fan solutions
Football in Germany had a big problem with violent, racist, far-right supporters. But a social innovation, organised and run by fans, has been credited with helping to change the dynamic in the stands. “Fan projects” attract young fans with the...
03.21.2023
The people fixing childcare
A good childcare system is essential in most modern economies. Yet in many countries, childcare is only available to the wealthy, and the burden of care falls disproportionately on women - effectively barring them from the workforce. People often point...
03.14.2023
Stopping harassment on public transport
Harassment and violence on public transport is a global issue. We look at initiatives aiming to make commuting safer. In Indonesia, we take a ride on the Pink Bus which serves only female passengers. The city has one the most...

What's People Fixing the World about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

People Fixing the World episodes:

Redefining luxury fashion

How literacy can change a life

The power of music

Greener ways to feed the world

Magic mushrooms and mental health

Speaking up at work

Clever ways to get kids learning

Bringing dead languages back to life

Making life easier for older people

Overcoming stigma

Rewilding Earth

Keeping the Amazon standing

Fake birds and other stories

Making landfill less awful

The country tackling loneliness

Building a clinic to save a forest

The plastic eaters

Fighting period poverty

Sharing the river

Training heroin users to save their friends

Disaster zone innovators

Sea cucumbers fixing the world

Stopping suicide

AI for good

Coconuts fixing the world

Surviving earthquakes

Shockwaves for the heart

Genetic problem-solving

Female farmers fighting sexism

Surprising solar

The bubble barrier cleaning up rivers

Eating invasive species

The game that fixes cities

The power of a backstory

Fighting the heat

Turning mud into ‘clean’ concrete

Palm oil that’s better for wildlife

Catching the ‘bike bus’

What to do with an empty mall?

Helping elephants and humans get along

Dementia friendly neighbourhoods

Making peace with nature

Menopause mentors

Fighting corruption in schools

The hidden powers of bacteria

Work: Access for all

Kangaroo care for premature babies

Sports fan solutions

The people fixing childcare

Stopping harassment on public transport