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Shamim Bano, a middle-school teacher, has recently returned from a fortnight in Kabul where she taught Afghan women to do search and rescue work. The training “involved climbing mountains and gorges using ropes and harnesses, using ziplines and rappelling. Any wrong move and you can start a rock fall,” she explained.

Handling serious casualties, “with broken bones, head, neck and back injuries,” was also part of the training, she added.

Muzaffarpur, Bihar: Runa Devi, 35, Class 8-pass of Kafen Chaudhari village of Bochaha block of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, is a Pashu Sakhi, trained to deal with simple medical ailments as well as advise goat owners on the rearing of quality ruminants to improve their market value. However, she is no ordinary “bakri ki dactar (veterinarian)” from the back of beyond.

The market at Nizamuddin basti is bustling with energy on a Thursday afternoon. There are some people chattering in front of a butchershop and children fighting while playing carom. The smell of fresh biryani fills the air as I walk through the winding lanes towards my destination, a kitchen called Zaika-e-Nizamuddin which is run entirely by a group of local women.

An initiative by the Aga Khan Foundation that began in 2012, Zaika-e-Nizamuddin was set up as part of a dual campaign to create employment opportunities for women and tackle the problem of malnutrition in this area.

By Bill Gates
Can goats empower women?
In one of the poorest areas of India, they already are.
This is thanks to a new team of health workers who are training rural women how to gain financial independence by raising healthier goats.

The health workers are goat nurses known as “pashu sakhis,” which means “friends of the animals” in Hindi. Pashu sakhis are all poor women themselves who are given basic training in how to vaccinate, deworm, and provide other preventive care to goats in their community.

So, how does this help empower women?