Our Stories

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

Peru: Improving cook stoves and access to energy

by James Leslie Cooking on a wood fire has always required a great deal of effort for 48-year-old Pilar Valladolid. She is supported in this duty by her 8-year-old daughter, Pamela. Together they have to walk more than an hour to collect the firewood they will use to cook with during the coming days more

Building a sustainable democracy in Libya

A year ago, Khadija Baba would not have considered engaging in any independent civil society or political activities in her home town of Tripoli. Not only was such activity forbidden under the former regime in Libya, but it would have likely landed the university student in prison. Now, with support more

Removing physical barriers to Cyprus reunification

Antigoni Kallouri and Necmi Maraşuna were among those Cypriot farmers, on both sides of the island, who for many years could not access their lands. The presence of landmines in the buffer zone between the northern and southern part of Cyprus made cultivating local farmlands too dangerous. “A few ye more

Haitian women rebuild their lives one brick at a time

The main driving force for earthquake-damaged house rebuilding in Haiti is not the government, the private sector, NGOs or international organizations. Families and communities have been playing a vital role, taking the task to build back a more resilient country into their own hands—especially wome more

Burundi: Reintegration efforts provide incomes and help to rebuild lives

For Marie-Chantal Misago in southwest Burundi, the road she is helping to rebuild to a nearby health centre and school is a sign of how things have improved since the war ended in 2005. “The crisis ran so deep, I would never have imagined myself working with all these different groups of people,” sa more

A new opportunity for the disabled in Timor-Leste elections

By Louise Stoddard Car mechanic Joel Fernandes paid no attention to the two steps that he climbed as he entered the polling station for local elections in 2005. His mind was on one thing - casting his vote. As he posted his ballot into the box Joel did not know that this would be the last vote he wo more

Croatia: Witness support offices help to deliver justice

By Sunčica Pleština Vukovar, Croatia – “As an employee of a retail chain, to my greatest regret, I was the witness of an armed robbery. It was an extremely traumatic experience that forced me to change my job,” writes M. K., who requested anonymity in her letter to the President of the Vukovar Court more

Kyrgyzstan: Protecting the privacy and dignity of people living with HIV and AIDS

By Larisa Bashmakova and Jyldyz Kuvatova Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – When he learned that he had acquired HIV from injecting drugs, 35-year-old Mirlan (not his real name) sought help from the Regional AIDS Prevention Centre in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan. One day in 2005, television reporters showed up with a r more

Timor-Leste: Bringing out the rural woman vote

By John Fenech, third place of UNDP's storytelling contest Senora Mendonça Côrte-Real, a grandmother from the capital city of Dili in Timor-Leste, is now the country’s oldest registered voter after having finally been given the chance to exercise a democratic vote for the first time at the ripe old more

Bangladeshi micro-credit model helps empower Zambian women

Just two years ago, Elizabeth Sakala-Banda, a mother of seven in Zambia’s eastern Petauke district, was unemployed and had no way of knowing that an Asian micro-credit scheme could turn her life around, and help put her children through school. During 2010, Elizabeth and some 829 other women j more

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