Sea sponges offer lifeline to women in Zanzibar

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.

Mutindo Women aims to increase representation in the construction and real estate industries by connecting women to networking and job opportunities. Mutindo Women has built over 15 houses across the country since forming in 2019, and has even collaborated on projects with men in the field.

Mobile homeowners are buying the land their homes are on to form resident-owned cooperatives so they can upgrade infrastructure faster. This allows them to combat and adapt to climate change by installing things like solar panels and drainage systems.

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.

In Paris, building-based agriculture, like rooftop gardens, allows for the production of nutritious food close to where they will be eaten. The practice helps eliminate carbon emissions, improve food security, and improve climate resilience.

An abandoned, flooded mine in Bishrampur, India, is now an eco-tourism site where visitors can take a boat ride to a floating restaurant and locals breed fish. The new facilities offer employment for some of the residents who were left out of work when the mine closed.

Women-only taxi companies like An Nisa in Nairobi empower women to become rideshare drivers. These opportunities combat gender bias and create a safer space for women.

A church in Uganda teaches single mothers and widows to grow mushrooms to increase their household incomes. They keep the mushrooms to use at home, sell them outright, and use them to create other food products like biscuits and soup powder to sell.

A workforce development initiative, PowerCorpsPHL, pays participants to learn skills and gain hands-on experience for jobs that offer long-term career opportunity in the field of environmental sustainability. Participants generally have criminal records or have been in the foster care system. In addition to job training and education, PowerCorpsPHL also provides services such as mental health counseling, securing childcare, navigating SNAP and AmeriCorps tuition benefits and helping with paperwork. The program helps 92 percent of participants secure either a job or post-secondary education.

In the slums of India, living on the street as a "pavement dweller" is a daily struggle for survival - and being a woman on the street is even more terrifying. Organizations like Mahila Milan and the Myna Mahila Foundation are working to help lift women up out of homelessness through the empowerment of employment and breaking crippling cultural taboos.