Photo: Carl Campbell/Unsplash (CC0)
In today’s edition: the UN’s International Labour Organization has agreed to adopt the first-ever binding employment standards for gig workers, Ethiopia sees a sharp rise in the number of electric vehicles on its streets, and a city-run Youth Desk is giving young people in Uganda a say about their future.
The global standards will apply to sectors such as ride-hailing and food delivery, giving workers rights on pay, safety and social benefits. Although it still requires ratification by governments, it establishes, for the first time, a set of protections that apply regardless of employment status.
Source: Reuters
Following the country’s world-first ban on importing fossil fuel-powered vehicles just over two years ago, more than 100,000 of Ethiopia’s 1.2 million registered vehicles are electric. The region is aiming for a 500,000 EV share by 2030.
Source: Deutsche Welle
With the majority of workplaces sitting empty every night, nonprofit organisation Bureaux du Coeur has helped more than 1,000 people and provided roughly 160,000 nights of shelter to those experiencing homelessness.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
The Masaka Youth Desk is rebuilding trust between young residents and their city as a place where young people can bring complaints and ideas directly to city officials. Although it’s a small unit within the city administration, it’s increasingly influential, created to strengthen communication between young residents and local government.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
Set to be implemented across Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Tripura, a series of projects are aiming to engage thousands of people in mapping, identifying and managing community-run forests across the country. The project plan states that in around 5,000 hectares spread across the three states, over 25,000 people – with at least half of them women – will be involved.
Source: Mongabay
The Ak Ilbirs ecological corridor will connect different protected areas in order to give snow leopards and other wildlife room to move safely as climate change alters their habitat. Formalised in 2025, the high-altitude corridor spans nearly 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) and was designed with the future climate in mind.
Source: Mongabay
A new approach to river restoration seeks to recreate the multi-channel, biodiverse wetlands that existed before early mills dams created single winding streams and long before the straight, fast rivers of modern times. More initially disruptive and therefore controversial, Oregon tribes support the ‘Stage 0’ project as a way to bring back wildlife.
Source: High Country News
As drought kills livestock, Maasai women across northern Tanzania are turning fodder production from a survival tactic into a climate-adaptation business. Coordinated by the Pastoral Women’s Council, 10 major grass seed banks have been established across eight villages in Monduli and Longido districts.
Source: Al Jazeera
Sexual and gender-based violence remains a reality for many women. Development charity Tearfund aims to prevent this through projects that create safe spaces for women, while also engaging men and religious leaders in challenging ingrained beliefs.
Source: BBC News
Footy Addicts was invented to solve an infuriating problem for amateur players: the late dropout, which can lead to unbalanced teams and ruined games. The app brings together strangers who are desperate to play football, and who can step in after a cancellation to make up the numbers at short notice – and combat loneliness in the UK’s biggest city.
Source: The Guardian
