Dear colleagues, For those of you interested in platform work/platform economies in the global south, please consider submitting to the call below. Cheers, Mark ------------------------------------------ Mark Graham Professor of Internet Geography Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford @geoplace <http://twitter.com/geoplace> | markgraham.space New publications: Graham, M. (ed). 2019. Digital Economies at Global Margins <https://www.idrc.ca/en/book/digital-economies-global-margins>. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Graham, M., and Anwar, M. A. 2019. The Global Gig Economy: Towards a Planetary Labour Market? <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220388.2018.1554208> First Monday. 24(4). doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i4.9913. <http://twitter.com/geoplace> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Jean-Paul Van Belle <jean-paul.vanbelle@uct.ac.za> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 at 14:31 Subject: Call for Action Research Partners: Decent Work Standards in the Platform Economy in the Global South (a FoWiGS project) To: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org <aisworld@lists.aisnet.org> Cc: Jean-Paul Van Belle <jean-paul.vanbelle@uct.ac.za>, richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk <richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk>, Mark Graham <mark.graham@oii.ox.ac.uk>, Pitso Tsibolane < pitso.tsibolane@uct.ac.za> This is a call for proposals for one-year funded partnerships with the Fairwork <https://fair.work/>project, which acts to ensure decent work standards for workers on digital platforms. Proposals must be submitted by 19 September via email to Jean-Paul.VanBelle@uct.ac.za with cc to Pitso.Tsibolane@uct.ac.za, JeanPaul.VanBelle@gmail.com and mxakato.nonny6@gmail.com In brief, we are seeking two partner organisations for a one-year action research project that will expand Fairwork’s reach in the global South to new countries beyond its current focus on India and South Africa. The projects will involve an initial stakeholder workshop, data-gathering to rate about 10 local digital labour-broking platforms against five Fairwork principles of decent work <https://fair.work/principles/>, creation and support for local action plans, and dissemination of results. Funding of CAD$15,200 (Canadian $) is available per partner organisation. Please see below for further information, and feel free to share this page with any relevant partners. The funding has been provided by, and the project is part of the “Future of Work in the Global South” (FoWiGS <https://fowigs.net/>) initiative. *Detailed Description* *The Project* “Fair Work in the Platform Economy: A Global South Perspective” is an action research project funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre <https://www.idrc.ca/> via the Centro Latam Digital <http://centrolatam.digital/> as part of the “Future of Work in the Global South <https://fowigs.net/>” initiative. The project is co-ordinated by Jean-Paul Van Belle and Pitso Tsibolane at the Centre for IT and National Development in Africa <http://www.citanda.uct.ac.za/Pages/Welcome> at the University of Cape Town, in collaboration with Mark Graham at the Oxford Internet Institute <https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/> and Richard Heeks at the Centre for Development Informatics <https://www.cdi.manchester.ac.uk/>, University of Manchester. It forms an extension to existing action research of the Fairwork <https://fair.work/> project. Fairwork’s main focus is rating digital work platforms – mainly but not exclusively in the ride-hailing, delivery and domestic work sectors – according to five decent work principles <https://fair.work/principles/>: pay, conditions, contracts, management, and governance. Evidence is gathered from the platforms themselves and from worker interviews, with each platform being scored between 0 and 10 (see examples here <https://fair.work/ratings/>). Our aim is to press platforms to improve pay and working conditions; mainly through the use of these ratings by consumers, by platforms themselves, and by others but also through other means. *Partners We Are Seeking* We are seeking partners in two countries of the Global South to help expand Fairwork beyond its existing activity in India and South Africa. Following partner selection (months 1-2 of the project), the partners will be asked, in collaboration with members of the Fairwork project team, to undertake the following activities: 1. *Set-Up*: initial in-country stakeholder workshop to discuss design and implementation of the planned project with platforms, worker associations, government representatives, NGOs, etc. Local ethical approval for data gathering must also be obtained. (Months 2-4) 2. *Data Gathering*: rating of platforms against Fairwork principles via anonymised worker interviews and interaction with local platform managers to obtain internal evidence and to encourage higher standards. We anticipate between 6-12 local platforms will be rated, with each rating involving interviews with 6-10 workers. (Months 4-9) 3. *Dissemination*: dissemination of results to local stakeholders with co-development of strategic action plans for platforms, workers and government to improve platform work standards. Dissemination of results to Fairwork community through attendance at a special workshop, and to international research forums including attendance at an international conference and development of a peer-reviewed research publication. (Months 10-12) *For Budget Details; Format of Proposal and FAQ* Refer to https://fair.work/call-for-action-research-partnerships-decent-work-standard... . More context information on https://fair.work. Do please circulate to those who might be relevant partners. With thanks, The Fairwork Team: *Jean-Paul Van Belle <https://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/informationsystems/StaffProfile/Jean-PaulVanBelle>, Pitso Tsibolane <https://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems/StaffProfile/PitsoTsibolane>, Mark Graham <https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/mark-graham/> & Richard Heeks <https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/richard.heeks.html>* * <https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/richard.heeks.html>* *Jean* <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems/StaffProfile/Jean-PaulVanBelle> *-* <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems/StaffProfile/Jean-PaulVanBelle>*Paul Van Belle* <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems/StaffProfile/Jean-PaulVanBelle> <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems/StaffProfile/Jean-PaulVanBelle> Professor, *Department of Information Systems* <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems> <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/InformationSystems> Director, *Centre for IT and National Development in Africa* <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/Organisations/CITANDA/> <http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/Organisations/CITANDA/> *University of Cape Town* 3.41 Leslie Commerce; University of Cape Town Private Bag X3; Rondebosch 7701 South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 21 6504256 Email: Jean-Paul.VanBelle@uct.ac.za Disclaimer - University of Cape Town This email is subject to UCT policies and email disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. 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