Kashmir: Female coppersmiths excel at male-dominated trade

ACCESS Development Services trains women to drive electric auto rickshaws, providing them with marketable skills that help them earn a living independently. The all-women Pink City Rickshaw Company employs the women to provide tours throughout the city and has since trained over 200 women.

Local organizations such as Mujeres Rurales Argentinas and the provincial Ministry of Agriculture's Gender Cabinet are empowering rural women through artisanal tea production. By offering training programs structured around women's caregiving schedules, creating spaces for gender-inclusive collaboration, and advocating for policy changes, these groups have helped increase women's leadership roles in tea production, as more than half of artisan producers are now women.

Targeted plumbing training programs are providing women with life-changing skills, independence, and career opportunities. Led by initiatives such as the German government aid agency GIZ and the Wise Women Plumbers Cooperative, hundreds of women have become licensed plumbers, overcoming societal stigma to gain economic empowerment, improve local water management, and shift perceptions around women's roles.

To combat unemployment, the Girls2Women Initiative runs 6- to 12-week training programs for girls and women in underserved communities in Nigeria. During this time they learn skills they can use to find a job or start their own business in industries like graphic design, decor, and tailoring.

The country of Jordan has one of the scarcest water supplies of any country on earth - one that can barely sustain its population, especially with Syrian refugees pouring in and further straining limited resources. Poor piping infrastructure and leaks greatly contribute to the shortage. An organization called Water Wise Women is training women in plumbing skills, empowering them to repair leakages in their homes and communities to help save precious water.

Women Rising for Africa is training women to become boda boda taxi drivers, teaching them the necessary skills to enter the male-dominated industry and gain financial independence. The organization enrolls the women in defensive riding, road safety, self-defence, financial literacy and first-aid classes to equip them when entering the business. Since 2022, the group has trained 90 women riders.

The Women Radio Centre (WRC) works to empower the next generation of female investigative journalists, training them on reporting tactics to prevent gender disparities and promote reporting on women’s rights, as women are often underrepresented in investigative journalism. WRC also aims to equip young, female journalists with adequate training and connect them with job, networking and story opportunities. In WRC’s second year, 40 journalists have been trained and completed the program.

The Skilled Women Initiative trains women trains displaced women living in camps on various skills they can use to make money and find jobs, empowering them to one day leave the camps. The initiative has trained about 700 people in skills like textile upcycling, crochet, sewing, and soap making. It also educates those in the program on how to develop a business plan to sell their goods and services and connects them with job referrals outside of the camps.

Microfinance was widely lauded for decades as a surefire and promising way to break the cycle of poverty and uplift the economies of the developing world, especially when targeted for women. But hard data has shown that, on its own, micro-loans don't serve to create sustainable change without a comprehensive approach, and that there are many other factors - such as education and healthcare - to consider when leveraging these tools.

After Nepal's 2015 earthquake, many village women were left in financial devastation and struggled to support their families. The earthquake destroyed up to 90% of small enterprises and markets, so the United Nations Development Programme trained women how to weave. As a mode of recovery, the weaving industry has helped rebuild the economic and social structures through the Panchakanya group.