Micro-Enterprise

Poverty and HIV/AIDs in Zambia is causing an epidemic of abandoned, neglected or orphaned children as family means are stretched beyond breaking point. Parents and extended relatives simply cannot afford to feed, clothe and educate the younger generation so many turn to orphanages as a last resort.

As humanitarian crises have lifted in Sri Lanka, national development has shifted its focus toward building a strong economic core in the private sector and diversifying rural livelihoods.  Demographic transition that has accompanied the drive toward middle-income country status now poses some challenges regarding aged dependency.

The worldview of the Indian people towards the Dalit (lowest caste) means that they are denied the basic human right to education.  As global awareness has increased, international pressure has brought about some level of equality by reserving some places in educational institutions and government employment.

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.

In some Cambodian communities, the importance of education is not fully realised.  Children follow their parents into the status quos of rice farming, building or begging that have been the only vocational options for generations gone by.

In the Philippines the incidence of poverty is 50% for those who do not complete primary school, and less than 2% for those with a college degree.  Within urban poor settlements situations at home are rarely conducive to study due to noisy and crowded spaces, obligation for family responsibilities, lack of affordable tuition, and extensive unhealthy eating habits.

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.

As humanitarian crises have lifted in Sri Lanka, national development has shifted its focus toward building a strong economic core in the private sector and diversifying rural livelihoods.  Positive demographic transition has accompanied the drive toward middle-income country status but now poses some challenges regarding aged dependency.

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.

Upon leaving school, many clever and capable young minds are deprived of their career ambitions due to a lack of education and employment opportunities.  Despite working 6 full days a week in menial labour, they earn barely enough to maintain a subsistence lifestyle.

Despite Sri Lanka’s remarkable social progress in literacy, life expectancy and infant mortality, success in generating economic growth has somewhat lagged behind. Underemployment and underachievement has arisen in rural areas where opportunities for higher education and career advancement in modern industries are few

Despite strong financial growth associated with a rich store of natural resources, the benefits of trade and investment from the international sphere has not been distributed evenly within the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Turning to self-sufficient innovation, a centralised service centre has been set up to upskill marginalised Congolese as they take out small loans to commence micro-enterprise ventures. 

Uganda has seen and suffered under almost twenty years of war between The Lord’s Resistance Army and government forces.  During this time, heinous atrocities were committed including massacres, torture, rape and abductions of young ones to become child soldiers and child brides.