Today’s story of transformation is also a firsthand account of a rural woman who was able to defeat intergenerational poverty. Nageena, a resident of Jhando Khan Village of Kashmore in Sindh, was married at the age of 15 to a man who already had another wife. Her husband owned a donkey cart, which was the only tangible asset for the joint family. His other family members used to work as sharecroppers. Nageena started her married life with her husband’s joint family in a congested two-room mud house without a toilet.
She worked in the fields with her other family members soon after her marriage. Nageena was responsible for collecting and storing water for the extended family in addition to preparing cow dung cakes as domestic fuel. She also ensured that the donkey was well-fed as it was the main source of the family’s livelihood.......

Let us celebrate the successes of our brave women whose stories seldom reach the world. Today’s story is about Noor Bano of Village Jhando Khan Lashari in the Kashmore district.
Noor Bano was born and raised in an impoverished family with ten brothers and four sisters. Her parents did not own any land and they had to put up with a meagre income as sharecroppers. None of Noor’s siblings could attend the school because her parents could not afford educational expense.
Married at the age of 13 to a man who was 10 years older to her, Noor says: “At the time of marriage, my husband worked as a guard for the local landlord.....

My previous article, ‘Recipe for rural development’ published in these pages on April 20, discussed the transformative potential of the Sindh government’s Union Council Based Poverty Reduction Program (UCBPRP). In this article, I will try to encapsulate the story of a rural woman’s journey from plight to prosperity. This journey of transformation is an eye-opening account of the impact of the collaborative work carried out by the Sindh government and the rural support programmes (RSPs) initiated through the UCBPRP. It is also the story of resilience; perseverance; and the enormous potential of finding liberation from poverty through participatory development.
Nawab Khatoon, a 38-year-old woman who was born and raised in the Abad village of District Shikarpur, is the eldest among 11 siblings – nine sisters and two brothers. She had a pernicious childhood plagued with extreme poverty that was aggravated by her father’s illness. Her frail mother put herself through exploitative wage labour on a local landlord’s farm to earn a living. Nawab never had chance to attend school and was forced to learn how to stitch rillis and parandas to help her parents feed their large family.

In a bid to alleviate poverty in the rural areas of Sindh, certain Rural Support Programmes have been initiated, especially for women, at the government level. You! takes a look.
Poverty is a global affliction affecting numerous countries in the developing world. Pakistan is home to millions of people who live in extreme poverty. The government of Pakistan is on track to decrease poverty in the country - especially in rural areas - but there is still a lot of work to be done in this regard. As a matter of fact, women in rural areas are active agents of economic and social change who are, in many ways and to various degrees, constrained in their roles as farmers, producers, investors, caregivers and consumers. They play crucial roles ensuring eradication of rural poverty, food and nutrition security and improving the well-being of their families. Yet, they continue to face serious challenges as a result of gender-based stereotypes and discrimination that deny them equitable access to opportunities, resources, assets and services......