[Air-L] Call for Action Research Partners: Decent Work Standards in the Platform Economy in the Global South (a FoWiGS project)

Sat Aug 10 03:46:08 PDT 2019

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 at 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 at lists.aisnet.org <aisworld at lists.aisnet.org>
Cc: Jean-Paul Van Belle <jean-paul.vanbelle at uct.ac.za>,
richard.heeks at manchester.ac.uk <richard.heeks at manchester.ac.uk>, Mark
Graham <mark.graham at oii.ox.ac.uk>, Pitso Tsibolane <
pitso.tsibolane at 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 at uct.ac.za with cc to
Pitso.Tsibolane at uct.ac.za, JeanPaul.VanBelle at gmail.com and
mxakato.nonny6 at 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-standards-in-the-platform-economy-in-the-global-south/
. 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 at uct.ac.za

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