Our Stories

Paralegals bring justice to women in South Sudan

In a young democracy like South Sudan, most disputes are still resolved through traditional, customary structures and institutions. Alice Adye witnessed how breakdowns within state institutions, including police as well as statutory and customary courts, undermined and victimized women in rural area more

Vulnerable people get free legal aid in Ethiopia

Abebe Ayalew, who is blind, couldn’t afford a lawyer to represent him when a dispute arose over inheritance of his father’s house in September 2011, so he turned to a UNDP-supported Free Legal Aid Centre for help. “I came to this Legal Aid Centre and Andualem, a lawyer and instructor in Hawassa Univ more

Drafting laws that reflect the needs of ordinary people in Viet Nam

Tran Thi Hy is the head of Cho Lau town’s study promotion association in the Viet Nam province of Binh Thuan. Recently, she attended a public consultation on a proposed measure to raise school fees. "I was given a questionnaire to fill in and invited to speak,” she said. “I believe it is import more

In Bolivia, microloans lift thousands of women from poverty

Linet Claros Yevara, a resident of Mizque, a municipality in Bolivia with an 85 percent rate of extreme poverty rate, has seen her situation improve a lot lately. “My family eats better," she says. "Every day I give them fruit.” These improvements are thanks to the Semilla, or Seed, prog more

Woman lifts her family out of poverty in the West Bank

Starting a business with limited resources in East Jerusalem, West Bank, is a challenge — especially for women. For Inayat Nageeb, a housewife and a mother of three sons and two daughters, life has not been easy. Her husband works as a guard at a mosque, with a monthly income of approximately US $8 more

In Pakistan, women work to strengthen democracy

Zameer Akhtar, 28, is participating in the electoral process for the very first time. Being a woman and living in a joint family in Pakistan, getting consent from her elders for her decision wasn’t simple at first. But she felt compelled to take part in election training due to lack of public confid more

Biomass fuel brings jobs and energy independence to Moldova

The kindergarten in the village of Ermoclia has declared its independence — energy independence, that is. Instead of struggling to keep students warm with expensive imported gas, the kindergarten now heats up with locally produced biomass fuels. It’s good for the children and the environment t more

In Afghanistan, mullahs use Islam to protect women and their rights

The Government of Afghanistan is tapping mullahs and religious elders to make people aware of the rights women are entitled to in accordance with Islamic laws through a programme supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The national programme, which is being implemented by the more

Afghanistan: New environmental councils spur development in provincial communities

Standing at the edge of Joe-e-Projey canal in the northern town of Char-i-Kar, Mohammad Tahir, a car mechanic, rues the fate of children who drink water from the local canal. “This canal has snuffed out many, many young lives. It is a bed of dirt and disease,” he says sadly, with moist eyes. The 70- more

Afghanistan: Bringing the police closer to the people

Farza, Kabul Province—Colonel Noor Aqa Ibrahimkhail, the district Chief of Police for Farza, located 45 kilometres north of Kabul, is a veteran officer who has experienced many brushes with violence and unrest throughout his career. But compared to his previous postings, he says, Farza is a haven of more

Afghan police force recruits women to fight crime and stigma

Kabul, Afghanistan — It was four years ago that Captain Zohra Daulatzia joined the Afghan National Police. But the mother of two girls still gets excited about that momentous day in her life when she achieved one of her life’s greatest ambitions. “I was excited to wear the uniform and felt like I wa more

Women bring solutions to waste management in Burundi

In the northwest province of Cibitoke in Burundi, Peruth Ndayiramye wakes up every morning to fetch food and water for her family, and to take her goat out to graze. “After that I wash myself, I entrust my children the house work to be done, and I’m going to work,” Peruth says. One member of a tea more

Bangladesh: Women emerge from poverty

On her 18th birthday Mussamat Baby Parveen wed the man her parents had chosen for her. By her 19th birthday she was pregnant and had run away from her husband’s home. His drug addiction had spiraled out of control, he was beating her, and she worried he would eventually kill both mother and child, s more

Bangladesh: Empowering women to fight poverty

By Mahtab Haider and Nader Rahman, second-place winners of UNDP's second annual storytelling contest In the past decade alone, Bangladesh has slashed its poverty by half, rapidly decreased family size by two-thirds, ensured that roughly 90 percent of its girl children are enrolled in schools and red more

In Egypt, adapted technology improves women's lives

By Marwa Elnokrashy and Karim Ezzeldin, finalists in UNDP's second annual storytelling contest Fatma Ibrahim, a poor mother of six, has been illiterate all her life. As a child, her hardworking parents made simple handicrafts and sold them to make ends meet. Like many girls growing up in Siwa, the l more

Turkmenistan: Helping people with disabilities move forward

Yuriy Kulik might have remained unemployed, relegated to the fringes of society in Turkmenistan. After losing his sight as a teenager, he could not find a job that would accommodate his disability. But in 2005, Kulik took part in an intensive course that taught him how to adapt without his sight. It more

Sierra Leone: Tackling youth unemployment

The story of Umaru Kargbo, in Sierra Leone’s northern city of Makeni, 113 miles from the capital city of Freetown, is one of resilience and of sheer determination to lift oneself out of poverty. It is also the story of how a country, once riddled by suffering and stagnation caused by years of civil more

Uzbekistan rebuilds kindergartens in the devastated Aral Sea region

The city of Muynak, in northwestern Uzbekistan, used to be home to a flourishing fishing industry. But when the Aral Sea started to dry up, so did the jobs. Today, the population in Muynak is down to 29,000, and has the highest percentage of unemployment in the region. To address the economic, healt more

In Bangladesh, mobile clinics help fight malaria in remote hills

Joykumar Chakma, 28, has never been treated by a doctor. “My father was the village mendicant. If we got seriously ill, the family sacrificed a pig or a hen and he believed the illness would pass. This was the custom in my community,” said Joykumar. “So many children used to die of malaria in those more

Haiti’s fight against AIDS and tuberculosis

Mirlande Louis, a young sex worker in Haiti, is among the groups most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS with a prevalence rate of 8 percent as compared to 1.9 percent for the Haitian population in general. But thanks to the training she has received at the UNDP-supported Foundation for Reproductive Health more

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