Stories from our Solutions Journalism Accelerator grantees

For many years, development reporting has often highlighted familiar issues such as hunger, poverty, and insufficient access to clean water.

Although addressing these problems remains important, research suggests that an exclusive focus on negative aspects can cause audiences to disengage.

In this article, we highlight some of our favourite stories from five of the nine projects supported by grants from our Solutions Journalism Accelerator . The remaining four projects will be featured in an upcoming article.

Le chemin des écolières -Solutions to reduce the educational gap in the Global South - Slate.fr (France)

How can we help young girls around the world get a quality education? Slate.fr produced a series of articles and podcasts that aim to provide an overview of the solutions that exist to reduce the educational gap between girls and boys in the Global South. They focused on issues which are representative of the systemic obstacles to girls' education: poverty, gender violence, early marriages, menstruation, early pregnancies etc.

They would like to highlight their story about the fight against early marriage in Bangladesh.

This story shows the complexity and many obstacles that prevent girls from going to school in the world today. Here, it's not just a question of child marriage, but also of the climate crisis and its influence on every aspect of the Bangladesh society, directly affecting the lives of thousands of young girls. To understand the different characteristics of a problem is to be able to adapt its solution. This is exactly what the WADA organisation in Bangladesh is doing, not only by raising awareness on a massive scale against forced marriage of girls, but also by proposing a sustainable financial solution to make up for the loss of income caused by early marriage. A solution that also makes sense: it's feminist, run by women for women. In our opinion, this report shows not only the inter-connected and contemporary phenomena that lead to girls dropping out of school, but also a feminist approach that is local, comprehensive and effective at all levels, without forgetting its limits.

-Robin Tutenges, Slate.fr

You can find all stories from their project here and listen to their podcasts.

Blue New Deal - Saving humanity by saving the ocean - Der Freitag (Germany)

The oceans will either become the greatest threat to humanity in the coming decades - or we will make them our most powerful ally in the fight against global warming. With their "Blue New Deal" series, der Freitag gives the ocean the attention it deserves. They met mangrove foresters in Kenya, fishermen in Honduras, and trade unionists in Bangladesh and they talked to researchers from all over the world. All are working to save the oceans - for a better future.

They would like to highlight their story on algae framing in the Philippines.

We are particularly proud of this story because it is a shining example of critical solutions journalism: Svenja investigates a solution (high-tech algae farming in the Philippines) and the marketing around it (the company claimed on their website "We can save the earth" - which they removed after our story was published). The text explored the limitations and dangers of this solution. The story went viral, being published not only in Der Freitag but also in the Guardian in the UK and Das Lamm in Switzerland. Do read it!

-Svenja Beller & Fabian Weiss, Der Freitag

You can find all stories from their project here and listen to their podcasts.

Rerooted - The Future of Crops - Context (UK)

In their series, Context explores how climate change and shifting consumer habits are forcing us to rethink the way we grow staple crops. They look at innovations that could help protect farmers, nations’ food security and the global supply of some of the world’s most important crops, including rice, maize, wheat, bananas and mangoes - what’s working, what’s not, and the solutions that could lead to a more secure future for crops in the face of growing pressures including climate change, conflicts, pests and diseases, weakening supply chains, a struggling humanitarian aid system, and excessive commodity speculation.

Their favourite story is about coffee. 

We love how this episode took one of the world’s most beloved and consumed crops – the coffee bean – and unveiled a relatively unknown story about it. Many of us coffee lovers were unaware of the existential problems facing our favourite beans, or that they could be replaced by more resilient varieties, with fundamentally different flavours. Being able to visit key coffee producing countries – Brazil and Malaysia – brought this story to life, allowing us to see the problems and solutions first-hand.

-Jacob Templin, Context

You can find all stories and videos from their project here.

Lieferkettengesetz - A law to improve life and the environment in the Global South - Stern & Zeitenspiegel (Germany)

The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act has been in force in Germany since January 1, 2023. It aims to provide greater protection for human rights and the environment in the global economy. Affected companies must check suppliers for compliance with human rights and environmental standards. This creates new due diligence and reporting obligations for companies. Stern, together with Zeitenspiegel researched supply chains, at the end of which are products that all consumers in Germany know.

They would like to highlight their story about palm oil in Malaysia.

Rainforests are being cut down out of greed for palm oil, an ingredient in spreads and skin creams. In Malaysia, farmers are now cultivating sustainably - and helping the orangutans to survive. The oil and its producers have a bad reputation. In Indonesia and Malaysia, which cover more than 80% of global demand, rainforests have been cleared on a gigantic scale in recent decades. In Borneo, the third largest island in the world, around half of the deforestation was caused by plantation operators. Now, however, the Malaysian state of Sabah has declared an oil turnaround: by 2025 palm oil is to be produced 100% green; a third of the region will be placed under strict protection. Authorities, environmental organisations, companies, large plantations and small farmers are working together in a concerted effort to achieve this. Their most important label is the RSPO seal. It stands for "Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil" and is the answer to the German and European push for clean supply chains.  The solutions-oriented approach worked best for this story. And it brought surprising insights.

-Uschi Entenmann, Zeitenspiegel

Developing mental wealth - Positive News (UK)

In their series, Positive News uncovers community-led projects that are creating cost-effective ways to improve people’s well-being in economically developing countries, where government support for mental health is minimal. They look at the varied and unique ways that communities are providing mental health services and responding to the systemic problems that threaten their well-being; from conflict to gender equality and climate change.

They would like to highlight their story on therapeutic ‘friendship benches’ in Zimbabwe. 

Our story about a Zimbabwean project employing grandmothers to deliver therapy on public benches perhaps best sums up our ‘Developing Mental Wealth’ series. Over 12 articles, we highlighted community-led projects offering cost-effective ways to improve wellbeing in economically developing countries, where government support for mental health is minimal. Zimbabwe’s ‘friendship benches’ epitomised this approach – and resonated with our readers.

-Pauline Milligan, Positive News

You can find all stories from their project here and listen to their podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

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Read more about the other four projects of the cohort.

Interested in finding out what the grantees of the first selection of grantees wrote? Read more about it here:

• 5 impactful stories from our Solutions Journalism Accelerator grantees
• Solutions Journalism Accelerator grantees: 5 positive change stories

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The Solutions Journalism Accelerator is a programme delivering grant funding, mentoring, coaching, resources and knowledge transfer to support solutions-focused development journalism in European news organisations.