Stitching Up Poverty #1 Economic Empowerment

This is a podcast about a struggle – the struggle of young women facing some of the biggest challenges in the world. These women live in rural Pakistan under the toughest circumstances imaginable. The women are from 22 villages in Umerkot a district in Sindh Province. It’s hot, temperatures get up to 40 degrees, and it’s inhospitable too. Families live in one room homes without running water or electricity, there’s not enough food to go around and over 90% of the women are illiterate as they haven’t been to school. The male dominated culture restricts the physical movements of the women too – even a visit to the market is a major achievement. It is difficult to imagine a place where the odds are more stacked against women and girls. And yet this is a hopeful story of a how a simple project is bringing about change. In the podcast we’ll hear the stories of the women themselves. They were collected during the project and they are read by Beenish Tufail Cheema. This first podcast focuses on economic empowerment.