Female

India’s Dalits have recently taken drastic strides toward social equality and economic empowerment through our partner’s nationwide movement to establish customised education centres.  In these centres, Dalits can attain employable skills to carry them out of the poverty trap that their lineage has suffered under for so long.

Since Syria was hit with the ‘Arab Spring’ riots, protests and civil unrest, security has been severely depressed. Despite rigorous political efforts and international pressure to end the crisis in Syria, violence across all 14 governorates of the country continues unabated.

For years Thailand has unofficially been labeled the sex tourism capital of Asia, with Pattaya its most notorious hotspot, closely followed by the red-light districts of Bangkok and an assortment of nightclubs in Phuket.

Although the Indian family as a social institution is well known for the emotional and physical support that it provides to its extended members, it sometimes fails to respond to the needs of women, especially for women in difficult circumstances.

Having been through three relentless decades of war, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most dangerous places to be a woman.  Unstable and corrupted systems of governance have led to ongoing human rights abuses, high maternal mortality rates and discrimination in education and employment.  

Gender stereotypes are systemic within the Cambodian job market.  Female unemployment in the formal sector is widespread as restrictive social norms dictate unequal opportunity.  Men are encouraged to undertake vocational training programs in trades such as mechanics, electronics and IT, whilst women are commonly limited to sewing, cooking and hospitality.

In Southern India we have a project underway to improve access to health services, education and community support.  The region has many of the social issues typical of a developing nation including poor health, employment insecurity, domestic violence, uncontrolled crime, lack of opportunity for higher study, personal debt and high suicide rates. 

Menstrual management can be difficult at the best of times.  Women with no disposable income may use multiple pairs of underwear, kitchen sponges or dirty rags in place of tampons and sanitary pads.  Due to the unhygienic nature of these ‘pieces’, they regularly experience rashes, sores, bruising and infections.

Cambodia’s wartime callouses have begun to heal over however much work remains to be done in building the capacity of orthotic services.  Whilst some government support has been reserved to fund prosthetics for victims of land mines, much less is on offer to those with debilitating diseases such as club foot, polio and cerebral palsy.

A deep-seated caste system has caused the Dalits to not only live a life of limited opportunity, but also perceive their lowly status as permanent and prevailing as it is considered deserved for past ills. Typically, they must endure chronic underemployment with no job security and little opportunity to save for times of illness or their children’s education.

Over decades of civil conflict and gang warfare, the alarmingly high prevalence of sexual violence has been critically overlooked and downplayed in Colombia.  Rape, involuntary prostitution, unplanned pregnancy and forced abortion is commonplace.