Blogs

Since moving to Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu ten years ago, 33-year-old Sumita Rai has experienced her share of ups and downs. Starting her new life in the city as a cleaner, the young mother found that her earnings were not sufficient to make ends meet. With nothing but 2000 Rupees to her name, Sumita went on to start a small food cart business to supplement her income.

For Shristi Shrestha, in addition to the challenges of registering her business and accessing finance, a major challenge she has had to overcome as a woman entrepreneur has been that of societal expectations and competing demands on her time. “As a woman, especially in my culture, domestic labour is part of our job, no matter what our work is outside of the home.

For Ou Sokphanna, who lost her leg to a landmine explosion when she was young, opportunities for income generation have always been limited, with widespread discrimination preventing her from entering into wage employment.

33-year-old Rina Akhtar, hailing from Dhaka, Bangladesh, found herself grappling with adversity when her husband deserted her, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone.

As cities in Asia and the Pacific continue to expand, the demand for transport services to accommodate commuters is increasingly challenging. Integration of public transport systems has emerged as a solution to help navigate the complexities of urban mobility.  

The unique challenges posed to the Asia-Pacific region in the face of climate change, poverty and hunger are well known. The region plays a significant role in climate action as both the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on one end and home to the highest number of people most vulnerable to climate shocks on the other.

Maternity protection is a human right enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ponny Lim runs a thriving aquaculture enterprise in Cambodia, growing her business with the support of a United Nations programme that guarantees loans to women entrepreneurs who are beyond microfinance but not yet ready for corporate finance.

Let’s call her Anita. Four years ago, her life took an unexpected turn when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything she knew. As businesses closed and economic uncertainty loomed, Anita, like countless others, found herself forced out of work.

“Everyone is doing it in our daily lives, we just may not realize it,” chuckles Myrah Nerine Butt, a Policy Engagement Advisor at Oxfam International, when asked to define care work.