Our Stories

Lao villagers work together to build hydro power plant

In a remote village in northern Lao, Keupkku settles down to watch the evening news on his new color television. On the other side of the room, two of his daughters turn on the lights to continue their studies. Just a month ago this would have been impossible. But a newly installed 7.5 kilowatt hydr more

Water project making life easier for Ekipe villagers

Until last year, residents of Ekipe village on North Efate Island in Vanuatu had no access to running water. Villagers like as Marie, a mother of five, were forced to dig holes in the sand and wait for them to fill with fresh water. Doing so was time-consuming and rarely provided enough water for c more

Solar power changes families’ lives in Botswana

Until recently, the Mokgatlhe family in Kgope, a remote village situated 50 kilometres west of Botswana’s capital, had been using firewood to light and heat their home. This practice, used by 80 percent of Botswana’s rural population, has led to the destruction of countless acres of forest.&nb more

Bangladesh: Disaster Risk Reduction as Development

A country of exceptional vulnerability to natural hazards Bangladesh has a long history of natural disasters. Between 1980 and 2008, it experienced 219 natural disasters, causing over US$16 billion in total damage. The predicted effects of climate change will only compound these impacts. UNDP has more

Finding hope in flood-hit Pakistan

“The waters will recede one day and I will certainly go home,” said 35-year-old Najma, a mother of three who survived the most recent floods that hit southern Pakistan affecting nearly five million people and leaving almost two million without homes in an area that had not yet recovered from last ye more

Bringing economic security to women in Nepal

Dipmala Mahato is beginning to feel the benefits that financial prosperity can bring. While she still lives in a one-room home, constructed of mud and roughly the size of a table-tennis board, she now earns a decent income selling her vegetables in the twice-weekly local market. Mahato is one of 32 more

Burundi: A new market revives a community

"Every morning, I feel like my energy is renewed when I remember I have to go to work at the Mutambara market construction site", says Alice Niyondiko who lives in Rumonge Municipality in southern Burundi. Alice returned to the country in the wake of the civil war that ravaged Burundi for more

Supporting recovery and local governance in Somalia

It is early morning and Amina[1] has another busy day ahead. The mother of two must get her children off to school and finish some housekeeping before she can attend to her small business, selling second-hand clothes and household supplies beside her corrugated-iron-roofed house. In spite of her hec more

Income brings hope to Somali families facing famine

With her two children losing weight fast and family income drying up, 26-year-old Haredo Ali, from Somalia’s southern Bakool region, was stuck at the centre of the country’s worst drought in 60 years. Her husband lost his honey-harvesting business when his bees abandoned their hive in search of nect more

Iraqi judicial reform targets gender-based violence

The Iraqi government, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has launched a series of programmes to improve security and justice, and to tackle gender-based violence in the country. Women in Iraq have not had equal access to justice or protection by law enforcement agenci more

DR Congo: New businesses transform Kivu women’s lives

Hundreds of women whose husbands were killed or who experienced sexual violence during more than a decade of conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have started setting up small businesses to help rebuild their lives. Some 25 women’s groups in DRC, made up of 1,025 individuals in more

FYR Macedonia steps up emergency training

Silvana Abraseva is one of the 1,500 teachers in schools across the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia who helped to carry out evacuation drills to prepare students for earthquakes and fires. "Together we've trained more than 17,000 children on how to stay safe if there's an earthquake or fi more

Tackling the deadly legacy of war in Lao PDR

Rice planting season is a nerve-wracking time for 49 year-old farmer Vongphone of Xieng Khouang province, in northern Lao. He was disabled five years ago when he accidentally set off an unexploded cluster bomb. Vongphone, who lost his left hand, is one of hundreds maimed or killed each year by explo more

Helping Mexican villagers face disaster and climate risks

Marivel is a 38-year-old fisherwoman of Mayan descent whose fishing boat was one of 350 vessels in the town of Solferino, Mexico destroyed by Hurricane Wilma. Hurricane Wilma tore across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in 2005, claiming thousands of hectares of tropical rainforest and damaging many comme more

India: flood-damaged communities build back better

“Sometimes in my sleep I can still hear the sound of the river gushing towards my village,” said Sangeeta Devi, recalling the terror she felt one night in 2008 when the mighty Kosi river breached its embankment and inundated vast tracts of land around her home. Sangeeta Devi lives in India's poorest more

Sri Lankan women embrace leadership

K. Lalith Kulanayake recently became the first woman to serve in her local government. Kulanayake lives in a region of Sri Lanka where female political participation is among the lowest in the country. Yet, she is determined to serve her community, particularly the women, who are often under-represe more

Baby born amid Pakistan floods is named after UNDP programme

The parents of a baby boy in Pakistan have named him in honour of a UNDP-supported programme to assist those seeking asylum and those offering shelter to refugees in the country. Emergency facilities, operated by the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas programme (RAHA), provided the ambulance and med more

Haitians on the pitch for recovery

Josiane Vesna is a resident of Bel Air, one of the most violent, poor, and garbage-filled zones in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Following the earthquake that devastated the country one year ago, Josiane, along with nearly 1000 other Haitians, was hired to rebuild six neighbourhoods, including her own. “Af more

Voting, not Violence, in Kenya

Days before a constitutional referendum took place in Kenya last year, employees at the Uwiano Platform in the capital of Nairobi received an alarming SMS. The message came from a resident of Chebarus village who said his familiy had been surrounded by an unknown armed group. The assailants ha more

Sowing seeds of recovery in post-flood Pakistan

“My half-acre of paddy field, two hens and goat were washed away in the flooding,” reports Imam Bibi, a 60-year-old farmer from Hindu Wan village in Punjab, Pakistan. “This farming package comes as a blessing at this dismal time.” Bibi was among the nearly 10,000 recipients of a seed and fertilizer more

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