World in Progress

Unemployment in Cape Town's neighborhood Hanover Park is high, gun shots and murders happen frequently. Gangs dominate the streets. Pastor Craven Engel wants to make this neighborhood a safer place and came up with a program called Ceasefire. Former gang members are also involved in the project. And it's worked - murders have gone down.

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Children from La Reunion were brought to children's homes under the guise of getting them a good education — which most never received. Can they find closure by traveling to the island? Young girls in Zimbabwe who fell pregnant during the pandemic used to get kicked out of school, but are now being encouraged to return. And how a delivery app changes the game in Brazil's favelas.

Rising energy and food prices have pushed many people to the brink – and it's set to get worse as fertilizers get more expensive or aren't available at all. We also hear how an app developed on the African continent set out to help small-scale farmers and why many Lebanese are turning to cryptocurrency.

In this edition: How the Kigali declaration is hoped to speed up the fight against neglected tropical diseases that affect 20 percent of the world's population

and: While they promise jobs, international projects in Mexico often divide communities.

Nairobi's biggest dumpsite holds over three times its capacity and is tearing at the seams. Residents sort through trash in the hopes to find something usable — be it recyclable goods or simply something to eat. And then there's crime. We also hear how female students have been speaking out against sexual harassment and abuse in Morocco and are finally being heard.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only lead to a global health crisis, but also to economic hardships. Some people from Latin America and the Caribbean are getting so desperate they embark on a dangerous journey north to make it all the way to the US — in the middle of the pandemic! We also hear how one neighborhood in Australia managed to pull off a vaccination success story.

World in Progress is a 30-minute radio show that connects the dots in a globalized era.

The Mekong River begins in Tibet and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before exiting in Vietnam's delta region. But ever since China built several mega dams along the river, the rhythm of the flowing giant has been getting out of sync. So what does this mean for the environment and the people living alongside the world's twelfth longest the river?

When pregnant women drink alcohol, the impact on their babies' health can be severe. In South Africa, more than ten percent of kids suffer from Fetal Alcohol symptome - the highest figure worldwide.

The warming climate melts the snow peak on Mount Kilimanjaro and increasingly impacts the lives of local people and their environment.