Asia
We work around Asia to increase access to basic services, help after humanitarian emergencies and empower girls and women, ultimately helping people lift themselves out of poverty. In these blogs country teams discuss their work and progress towards these and other goals.
Last week I spent 2 days in Burma, the last foreign country I will have visited as the UK's champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas. And what a fascinating 2 days it was meeting Burmese civil society …
My last day in India was spent back in New Delhi and I could write a whole blog just on my first meeting of the day with 10 young people! They're part of the 'With.in' initiative, funded by DFID, which …
Yesterday was day 2 of my visit to India on the theme of violence against women, and I spent the day meeting people in some of the poorest areas of Madhya Pradesh. It was an incredibly informative and inspiring day, …
Since 2010 I’ve served as the UK’s first ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) overseas, and developing this role has kept me quite busy. From the UN to the UAE, I’ve compared notes with ministers, officials …
Though it may not seem obvious, access to clean energy and women’s empowerment especially in the developing world are intrinsically linked. Collecting firewood, for example, can make a woman or girl vulnerable to attack while she’s outside her village searching. …
Imagine your life if you were married at 15, against your will, to an abusive husband. It’s the same for almost all the women you know. Your education came to an abrupt end once you were married, and you’re not …
Right now, Afghanistan is on the cusp of a series of profound changes. The international troops are drawing down and the process to elect a new President is underway. All of these changes are leading to an economic transition. When …
Pakistan is currently the sixth most populous country in the world – and its population is set to rise to 271 million by 2050. A burgeoning population brings its own set of problems. A high fertility and low contraception rate …
I first met Pabitra Damai at the village development office in Banke, West Nepal, where she had walked for 4 hours to open a bank account so that she could withdraw her monthly social security allowance of Rs. 500 ($ …
I recently joined DFID Afghanistan as the Private Sector Development Programme Manager, and my first "trip out" was to a programme I manage called Zardozi. It was already warm at 7:30am as I set off to meet 3 women - …
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