Dear Readers,
We are preparing some changes in the layout ofour blog. If in the following days, you see strange things out of place... please do not pay attention to it!
Thank you for understanding!
Regards,
PPES team
10 November 2009
06 September 2009
Women: Our Greatest Unexploited Resource
“In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or veins of gold; it is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a major presence in the formal economy.”
The New York Times devoted a recent issue of its magazine to women’s rights, calling them “the cause of our time”. The lead article, titled “The Women’s Crusade” and written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn, explores some of the ways in which helping women benefits everyone, regardless of gender. The authors note that “There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism.” Furthermore numerous studies show that “women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing, and consequently children are healthier.”
The article continues to say that “aid appears to work best when it is focused on health, education and microfinance”. At PPES we agree completely! Obviously, women’s education is at the heart of our mission, but through projects like Rags to Pads we also help promote women’s health. Even that project has an educational benefit, as Kristof and WuDunn note, menstruation is a major cause of absenteeism among girls in the developing world so by providing low-cost sanitary napkins Rags to Pads helps the girls make the most of their education.
And as if women’s rights needed any more of a boost, their promotion even makes sense economically. To find out why Bill Gates agrees, check out the article, “The Women’s Crusade”, here, and read the rest of the issue, here.
The New York Times devoted a recent issue of its magazine to women’s rights, calling them “the cause of our time”. The lead article, titled “The Women’s Crusade” and written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn, explores some of the ways in which helping women benefits everyone, regardless of gender. The authors note that “There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism.” Furthermore numerous studies show that “women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing, and consequently children are healthier.”
The article continues to say that “aid appears to work best when it is focused on health, education and microfinance”. At PPES we agree completely! Obviously, women’s education is at the heart of our mission, but through projects like Rags to Pads we also help promote women’s health. Even that project has an educational benefit, as Kristof and WuDunn note, menstruation is a major cause of absenteeism among girls in the developing world so by providing low-cost sanitary napkins Rags to Pads helps the girls make the most of their education.
And as if women’s rights needed any more of a boost, their promotion even makes sense economically. To find out why Bill Gates agrees, check out the article, “The Women’s Crusade”, here, and read the rest of the issue, here.
01 September 2009
Meet Shivani
Shivani is a beautiful 12-years-old girl with big brown eyes and a contagious smile. She joined PPGVS in 2005 and is now in the 9th grade. She likes coming to school and comes everyday! “I only miss school if I am sick. I don’t want to miss school because I want to go to high school and work with computers.” Although Shivani will only graduate in 2 years, she is already dreaming about more studies after completing her education at Pardada Pardadi. Her favorite subjects are English and Machine Embroidery - one of her strengths is vocational training.
Shivani comes from a small village called Garahara, 7km away from PPGVS. Our little student loves her village but she is sad to see how dirty it has become. It is known as one of the dirtiest of the district. When asked about things that she could do, Shivani positively explained that she wants to spread awareness on hygiene as she has been learning at school. For that she is counting on the help of her neighbour, Mr. Sukhveer Singh, who she admires for “helping everyone and encouraging people to keep the village clean”.
She lives in a small house with her grandmother, her mother and her two younger brothers. In Shivani’s father works as a construction laborer out of the village and comes only once a month.
Shivani's buffalo just had a baby so she wanted to show us how cute he was. When we asked what his name was, Shivani realized she hadn't named it yet. Any suggestion?
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