Solutions to global issues : Those men and women who inspire us to act

Already five years. Five years that L'Orient-Le Jour is a partner of Impact Journalism Day. It all started with a message, an e-mail sent out like a hook by Sparknews, an organisation that promotes solutions journalism. And what if, at the same date, newspapers of the entire world published a special edition dedicated to finding creative and innovative solutions to social, environmental, or other problems that the world is confronted to?

Like a dozen other newspapers, we bit the hook. We never let it go. And in each new issue, with each year that goes by, as more and more newspapers join the movement, from Japan to Brazil, including Greece, India or Germany...the significance of our commitment to this project becomes clearer and clearer.

In each issue, we discover incredibly creative men and women who, with more or less means, tackle issues and find solutions to them.

Turn the pages of this special issue. Discover the man who wants to create the great cycle of recycling; the women who refuse to be shamed after an acid attack; the men who manage, with help from the octopus, to convince fishermen of the negative consequences of over-fishing; the woman who transforms an abused woman's scar into a beautiful flower; the men who brainstorm to provide cheap drinking water to their fellow citizens; the woman who decides that one's social background, however underprivileged, should not be a barrier to someone who is young and passionate.

Discover these agents of change and many more.

In news coverage too often dominated by sad and violent news, these men and women each represent little sparks of light, sources of hope, but also calls to action. These men and women teach us and prove to us that if problems are indeed numerous, solutions are too. These men and women show us that everyone can do their part, on their own scale, with their means, their resources, their creativity, their rhythm, and contribute to do good to this planet and to those that inhabit it.

 All the article from our Impact Journalism Day special edition are here