Our Stories

Kenya: Preparing women for leadership

As Kenya prepares for the general election in March 2013, UNDP is equipping women with critical skills to help them run for office. Women remain underrepresented in political leadership positions in Kenya despite Constitutional quotas, with women’s political representation standing at 9.8 percent ve more

Lao PDR: Diversifying crops to cope with climate change

For Ki Her, the head of Kioutaloun village in mountainous northern Lao PDR, and 95 percent of the population who grow rice, the change in the weather over the past five years presents significant challenges. With shorter but more intense rainy seasons, followed by longer dry seasons, farmers are st more

Wounaan women lead recovery from deadly floods

Torrential rains ravaged much of Colombia in 2011, killing hundreds and making thousands homeless. But the women of the indigenous Wounaan people on the Pacific coast of Colombia have overcome adversity: with their werregue handicrafts, they are rebuilding their lives and securing their families’ li more

Lao PDR: Revamped market creates brighter future for local vendors

Soutsady, a 48-year-old mother of six who prefers to be addressed by her first name, has always depended on her meagre income from selling fried bananas at Khangkhai village market in the central Lao PDR province of Xiengkhouang. But the small, poorly-equipped community market did not provide enoug more

DRC: Former combatants gain skills and income through reintegration

For 32-year old Wathum Ukecha, life has taken a turn for the better since he volunteered to be demobilized after four years as a fighter in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wathum is one of 160 people – mainly ex-combatants, vulnerable women and school drop-outs– who were tra more

Reviving rare mangroves in Senegal

A few kilometres outside of Saint-Louis, the capital city of the Saint-Louis Region in northern Senegal, there is a strip of land covered with the northernmost stand of mangroves in all of western Africa. The stand is genetically isolated, making its preservation an urgent matter for both the people more

Improving the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS in the Pacific

J.* learned she was HIV-positive when she was tested during an antenatal care visit. She returned to her village in Fiji and disclosed her status to her mother. Because of stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, her mother rejected her and she was ultimately forced to leave her community and home. She more

Libya's historic elections: Youth activists pave way for future role

When Ayman Ramdan, a student at the University of Tripoli in Libya, left his home early on 28 June, he had a long day ahead of him. With just over a week before the country’s first free multi-party elections in six decades, he was joining 15 other student activists for the Open Day to Encourage Elec more

Building a brighter future for rice farmers in Cambodia

Farmers in the small community of Tuol Sdey, in the Svay Rieng province of southeastern Cambodia, have reason to be happy. For the first time in decades they can rejoice in having two harvests in one season. This is largely due to the construction of a new water dam which stores rain in a near more

India: Social protection for people living with HIV

Thirty-five year old Harihar Babu had a comfortable job as a taxi driver earning Rupees 10,000-12,000 every month. He travelled frequently, driving passengers all over his home state of Chhattisgarh in central India. But all this changed in 2007 when he and his wife tested HIV positive. “I thought t more

Moving towards self-sufficiency in Madagascar

A Madagascar-based civil society organization, Association Anja Miray runs a community forest reserve, using ecotourism to create jobs and fund basic social infrastructure such as schools, health clinics and environmental education centers. "Prior to our initiative, this vast territory was clea more

Solar power provides sustainability to Croatian village

“The milk that we produce, we cannot sell,” says Mileva Desnica, who lives in the small village of Ajderovac in Croatia. “We don’t have electricity for a refrigerator, so we can only store food in the cold room for a day or two at most.” The municipality of Gračac where the village is located was cu more

Burundi: Reclaiming forest reserve while improving livelihoods

During Burundi’s civil war, thousands of people sought refuge in the Kibira forest reserve near the capital Bujumbura. But since the war ended in 2002, damage to the forest has been exacerbated as internally displaced persons and nearby communities cut down trees to clear land for farming, and use t more

Nigeria: Sawdust recycling creates jobs while cleaning up city

For environmentalist Leslie Adogame in Lagos, Nigeria, his daily commute past large sawdust piles from the local timber factories got him thinking - how to clean up the waste and create jobs at the same time? “After brooding over it for a while, I decided that I had to do something to stop the burni more

Recycling boosts incomes in Rwanda's capital

By Nausicaa Habimana Kantengwa For Edith, Eugénie and Vestine, three women in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, life has taken a turn for the better since joining a local association that helps get vulnerable people off the street and earning an income, while cleaning up the city. The three are among 200 me more

India: Conserving the Gulf of Mannar’s biodiversity

The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, off the south eastern coast of India, is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of marine species. Much of the Reserve’s biodiversity depends on the coral reef, which houses numerous species of fish and supports the livelihoods of close to 150,000 fis more

Biodiversity projects improve lives in China

Yu Zerun, a farmer from Daping village in the Sichuan province, Western China, used to harvest rare medicinal plants in protected areas of the Upper Yangtze River Basin, an area internationally recognized for its biodiversity value. The caterpillar fungus Yu Zerun traded at the local market provided more

India: Transforming poor rural women into successful business managers

Ten years ago Pushpa Devi Maurya joined a self-help group to make ends meet in the village of Chak Padri in the state of Uttar Pradesh, northern India. Today this 35-year-old mother of two manages the bulk milk chilling centre set up by the milk producers’ company near her village. The centre collec more

Exhuming the stories of Guatemala’s lost

By Héctor Morales Delgado After 36 years of internal armed conflict in Guatemala, thousands of confidential facts about the actions of the State have been registered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They include serious violations of human rights and attacks directed at the civilian popu more

China: Building back better and greener

By Zhang Wei Before the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in southwestern China on 12 May 2008, 62-year-old Qing Liehua’s main source of income and food for his family was chicken farming. After the earthquake destroyed his home in Qinghe Village, Sichuan Province, however, he lost everything, includi more

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