UEnd Blog

POTW: Vocational Training for Women - Phase Two.

Project snapshot:

• Lives affected: 35,000

• Project cost: $10,000

• Dollars raised $5,102

• Dollars needed: $4,898

• Cause Sector: Economy - Gender Equality

Project Location: Chipursan/Pakistan 

Project Description: 

The Chipursan valley is located in north Pakistan at the border of Afghan Pamir. Three thousand people live in this remote area and suffer from a harsh climate, inaccessibility, limited cultivatable land, and a short growing season. With people dependent on subsistent farming, livelihood opportunities are very limited especially for women.

Currently there are eleven women’s organizations (representing 300 members) working with the women in the region, 30% whom are literate. Creating livelihood opportunities for the 1500 women remains the primary challenge of these organizations. The goal is to develop vocational training and production centers where women can learn how to use local resources to produce and market various handcrafts.

Each family owns several sheep and the production of products made from the wool of these sheep is a potential income generating activity for women. Traditionally women have been using traditional skills and rudimentary tools to make woolen jackets, caps and other products for home use.

The project aims to upgrade the skills of those women who are already producing woolen garments to put them more in alignment with market needs. This will require the use of improved technologies. Groups of 10 women from each village will be trained to create improved wool products with each village group focused on one specific product. Each group will be provided with basic tools and equipment who can then involve other women to establish a village level business.

UEnd:Poverty, in partnership with HiMaT Indigenous Leadership and Development Centretwishes to continue to assist Guatemalan women and their families in their growth and knowhow, enabling them to become self-sufficient, through education and their own, assisted business development efforts.

Your donations to this project initially touch the lives of a few but the ripple this causes affects generations. With projects like this it is easy to see how a little can turn into a world of difference for someone else and bring us steps closer to ending world poverty.

How can you help? Follow this project on the UEnd.org website and if you feel like this is something you’d like to donate to, please do. Or if you have a special occasion coming up like a family member’s or friend’s birthday, send them a UEnd gift card for this project.