The Documentary Podcast

Alan Dein talks to people around the world about the challenges of family life in lockdown. He connects with Margaret in Uganda who has adopted many children orphaned by HIV. And he reaches out to Alezz in Peru, a trans non-binary person who is confined to their bedroom as their parents struggle to accept them. He also speaks to Pawel who got trapped in Poland at the start of January and does not know when he will be able to return home to his wife in China.

Honey bees, cow dung and mulch; how a company in Zimbabwe is protecting forests in order to offset the carbon emissions of people around the world. Even though many flights are grounded at the moment, there is still a need to reduce the amount of carbon we pump into the atmosphere. But what happens when you can’t reduce it any further? You can offset it. Charlotte Ashton discovers a company based in Zimbabwe that runs one of the largest projects of its kind in the world and finds out where your money goes if you choose to offset your carbon emissions.

Carbon Green Africa’s project focuses on protecting Zimbabwe’s existing forests, rather than planting new trees and her journey takes her to some surprising places. In a programme recorded last November, Charlotte finds that preventing deforestation not only helps her assuage her flight shame, but helps give people in a remote part of Zimbabwe new jobs, more food and an oven powered by cow dung!

Presenter: Charlotte Ashton

(Image: Forests in Guruve district, Zimbabwe. Credit: BBC/Phoebe Keane)

Has the coronavirus epidemic weakened or strengthened the grip of China’s Communist Party? In the early stages of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan, authorities there downplayed its significance. A doctor who sounded the alarm was forced to contradict himself. He later contracted Covid-19 and died from it. Medical facilities were initially unprepared. Mark Mardell assesses how President Xi and his government will emerge from the crisis.

We’re told that our twenties are a time when we’re meant to be finding ourselves, having fun, living our best lives and making the most of our freedom before settling down. But are the twenties really like this for millennials around the world?

The first episode includes concerns about the impact of a full lockdown in Ghana, the impact of the closure of public buildings on one man in Mississippi, there’s an insight from Hangzhou in China as the restrictions end and a woman in the UK explains how she felt as the symptoms of Covid 19 became clear.

Shaye in the US, Ana in Spain and Elliot in the UK remember the parents they have lost to Covid-19 and the impact it is having on their lives. African Americans in New York, Massachusetts and Georgia consider why black communities in the United States are suffering so much during this health emergency. While social distancing meant Liat and Amir in Israel and Emine and Jon in the UK had to rip up their original wedding plans and come up with new ways to get married.

As coronavirus spreads people are worrying about their money as well as their health. What can you do to protect your finances and what are governments doing to help? You’ve been sharing your stories and advice with Manuela Saragosa and Paul Lewis who are joined by: Professor Ricardo Reis, from the London School of Economics Professor Ila Patnaik, a former economic advisor to the Indian government Oluwatosin Olaseinde, founder of Money Africa in Nigeria Bola Sokunbi, the founder of Clever Girl finance in the US Jürgen Stock, the Secretary General of Interpol.

Across every continent, lives have been put on hold, and people are looking to the day when they can pick up and restart after lockdown. In Mexico, Lucia has spent the past seven years searching for her kidnapped son – one of thousands of disappeared children in the country. For now she has been forced to put that on hold. Captain Jens aboard a vast container ship has not been on land for three months – and does not know when he will next see his family, but he is finding solace in the logs of his ancestors. In Nigeria, student Babatunde Ismail Bale is sheltering in a mosque after his college closed its doors – but is still finding ways to study. And in the Philippine’s capital Manila, armed soldiers on the streets are bringing back fearful memories of martial law in the 1970s.

A much anticipated referendum in Chile on a new constitution has been postponed till the autumn amid safety concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. President Sebastian Piñera had agreed to the vote and a range of reforms following months of civil unrest. Since last autumn, the country has been experiencing a wave of protests with people on the streets angry at the level of inequality in the country. Amongst them thousands of university students, teachers and school children – who have been prepared to face tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets – in a bid to change the education system in Chile. They say a privileged few have access to all the best jobs and the rest are given a substandard schooling with leaky roofs in winter, boiling hot classrooms in summer and inadequate teaching. For Assignment, Jane Chambers spent time with the protestors calling for a fairer education for all.

Presented and produced by Jane Chambers

(Image: A demonstrator kicks a tear gas canister at a police car during a protest about the education system in Chile. Credit: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado)

Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of solid waste worldwide. Most of it ends up in dumps or landfills, or is thrown into the oceans, or is burned. Only a small fraction is ever recycled. But are there other, more creative uses for all that rubbish? To try and find some answers, BBC Mundo reporter Lucia Blasco visits Paraguay to meet the inspiring young musicians of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, whose instruments are made out of rubbish from the city's main landfill; and she travels to the city of Linköping in southern Sweden, where almost all the houses are heated by energy produced by incinerating waste.

This documentary is airing as part of Life Changes, a series of programmes and features across the BBC’s global TV, radio, social and online networks exploring the theme of change - how we change ourselves, our lives, and how we respond to changes in the world around us. Reporting from across the world - from Ethiopia, Korea, Rwanda and Paraguay to Egypt, the US and Russia – the documentaries and digital stories will cover a diverse range of topics, from sexuality to sustainability, from peace to war, and from neurodiversity to migration.