Our Stories

Romania: Incubating businesses, supporting entrepreneurship

In 2006, Csaba Kiss was thinking of launching a box manufacturing company in a new business incubator in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania. Business incubators, which host start-ups and early-stage firms, provide office space, start-up grants and consultancy services. The government was promoting them as a v more

Employment programme gives hope to new graduates in Jordan

Like many other young students of his age in Jordan, Yousef El Mughrabi, 23, was full of dreams and plans for his future. Living in Ma’an, a southern Jordanian governorate where one in four people live in poverty and one in five is unemployed, Yousef’s dream was a simple one: securing a respectable more

Cambodia: Demining transforms former battleground into field of hope

Battambang – Farmer Prak Chrin slowly paces as she drops green bean seeds into shallow holes in the ground. Nearby, her son, a hoe in his hands, is digging these holes in the family’s new farmland in a far-flung part of north-western Cambodia. Tucked in a hillside forest, the freshly-plowed field wa more

Women in Guinea-Bissau take lead in demining

“In my job, men have no objections to women making the decisions ,” says Sona Nadian, 37, from Bissau. “That should be the case in any field of work, but when it comes to mine-clearing, it isn’t necessarily obvious,” she adds with pride and amusement. Sona and her female co-workers – Julieta, Nesia, more

In Kazakhstan, increased rights for the disabled improve living standards

By Assel Tleof, finalist in UNDP's second annual storytelling contest Since the age of five, when Ali Amanbayev was diagnosed with a serious spinal injury, life has been a constant struggle. “As a schoolboy, I began using crutches and had to do my homework lying on my back,” he recalls. “As the year more

In Rwanda, small loans spur business expansion

Before the sky even begins changing colors, Francois Nzamvugankize is awake and has begun his work of baking and selling bread. Up until four months ago, Francois, 25, struggled to provide for his wife and two young children — but now they are on the road to financial security and success more

Mongolia: Better-managed natural resources expand livelihoods

Naranbek Ristan slings his binoculars and notebook around his neck and mounts his horse with graceful ease. He is setting off on a monthly patrol of 6,000 hectares of community land to check on wildlife. The country he will cover is harsh, magnificent and daunting. But for Ristan, most import more

In Burundi, refugees and ex-combatants turn to business

At a busy solar-powered hair salon, 42-year-old Jean-Marie dishes out the latest hair styles to a steady stream of customers, as well as charges mobile phones. Nearby, a collectively owned clothes shop rattles with the sound of eight sewing machines. Co-owner Adrian sits out front smiling. Both Ad more

Restoring hope in the future for Prespa Lake, FYR Macedonia

“We used to do a lot of things without thinking about the effects on the environment,” says Naume Toskovski, an apple farmer in the Prespa Lakes region of Macedonia. “We didn’t know that dumping apples would pollute the water. Perhaps it’s a different story with pesticides and fertilizers— the tempt more

Zambia: Villagers turn their backs on overfishing

Sebi Nafukwe, who never had any agricultural experience before, is busy harvesting rice for the first time in Mbete village, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Zambia. She is one of 700 women who have turned their backs on fishing from the lake after overfishing made it difficult to turn a profit. more

Training Beninese youth in agribusiness

Cybelle Agossou, the youngest of a family of six children, decided to enroll in a practical training course to become self-employed and help her parents. Today, at age 20, she manages a small soap-making business and employs four people. Cybelle took an 18-month training course at the Songhai Center more

New nets help fishermen in Gaza become self-reliant

By Dania Darwish The Swedish Village, a remote village of fishermen in the far south of the Gaza Strip in the occupied Palestinian territory, is home to some 95 households living under extreme poverty. Visitors to the Village – built by the Swedish Government in the 1960s – can immediately see the p more

Benin: New opportunities for young graduates

Faced with the difficulty of finding new employment in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, Philippe and Ulrich, two brothers from a poor background decided to launch their own fruit juice distribution business after finishing their university studies. Nowadays, both brothers command a salary, and recruit more

Agriculture opens new doors for young Jamaicans

Kingston – Some 650 young and jobless women and men in four impoverished areas of Jamaica have received training in cultivation and food production skills to boost their job opportunities in local farming and agro-industries. Through a three-year programme started in January 2010 by the Government a more

FYR Macedonia: employment programme boosts entrepreneurs

Over 30 percent of people in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are unemployed, with almost a third of them out of a job for years, and more than 25 percent between the ages of 15 and 29. Until recently, 30 years-old Ivan Usaovski could only find part-time or seasonal jobs in Skopje, the cou more

Bringing financial services to the Pacific's poorest

Seventy-year-old Raj Dulari no longer has to travel long distances each month to collect her social welfare payment from the Nausori Post Office in Fiji. Nor does she have to wait in line, or worry that she might lose her allowance of US$32 if she does not collect it on time. Dulari, a widow who liv more

Nepal: Boosting entrepreneurship among poor rural women

Chitrakali Budhamagar began her career in 2003 collecting yarn made out of 'allo' (Himalayan nettle) and selling it in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. With the money she made selling yarn, she bought readymade garments to sell in her home village of Pyuthan, in the western part of the country. Born more

Unlocking energy efficiency in Kazakhstan

A student at Public School Number 9 in Astana, Kazakhstan, 14-year-old Arman said that a few years ago, the gymnasium in his 63-year-old school was so cold in winter that he and his classmates could see their breath. "We hated going to gym class," he said. The chill hurt students’ health a more

After Philippines typhoon, clean-up brings recovery

Julius Enriquez sifts through a mountain of rubble, picking out usable wood and other materials in the grounds of what used to be Cateel Central Elementary School, in Mindanao, The Philippines. “These wood scraps can be used to rebuild the damaged school where my child used to go,” he says. The scho more

Tackling poverty through adaptation in Bangladesh

From sky to sea, Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change. Changing rainfall patterns, melting glaciers in the Himalayas, increased floods and storms, rising sea levels, all have an impact on Bangladesh, and in particular, on the poorest communities. Abdul Mazid, who lives in the flood-pro more

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