Our Stories

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

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

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

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

In Peru, new recycling organizations improve waste management

In the Peruvian district of Arequipa, Roque Flores Calle leaves his home in the suburbs from Monday to Friday to make a living for his family. Every morning he collects recyclable waste (plastics, bottles, cartons, cans) that local families provide. During weekends, he separates the materials for la more

Iran gains ground in battle against malaria

Torah, a construction worker in search of a new job and better prospects, was travelling west into Iran from Afghanistan. His second day on the move, he was hit with fever and chills, then excruciating pain – the first signs of malaria. He asked locals for help and was referred to Sadegh, a voluntee more

Modern conservation helps farmers prosper in Uganda’s drylands

In the Lyantonde district of Uganda, farmer David Muhoozi Kiseetula is seeing big changes in his harvest – and his life – after his farmers’ cooperative received a grant for education and instruction on new farming methods. “I used to harvest less than 100 kilos of maize from my garden. Today, I ha more

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

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