Walk With Them
Women around the world are creating profound change, for themselves, their families and communities.
Over the next 60 days we’re asking you to Walk With Them through the stories and insights they share and join them as they journey out of poverty.
Women are a powerful force in ending poverty
When women are given equal access to education, financial resources, and leadership opportunities, they act as powerful agents of change, often reinvesting up to 90% of their income back into their families and communities.
If women had the same access to productive resources as men, the number of hungry people could be reduced by up to 17 percent.
Providing women with equal access to land, tools, and credit significantly increases farm productivity and reduces food insecurity.
Educated women are more likely to ensure their children, particularly daughters, attend school, effectively breaking the cycle of multi-generational poverty.
Empowered women are more capable of managing household risks and recovering from economic shocks or disasters.
“Even though life has been tough, I refuse to lose hope. I believe that with hard work and perseverance, we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way.”
Naseem, a mother in Pakistan
Much of the work HOPE donors support centres on the strength and leadership of women as drivers of lasting change.
By expanding access to clean water, the time women and girls spend collecting water is reduced from hours to minutes and the health of families is significantly improved.
Through community-based health initiatives, women gain the knowledge and services they need to care for themselves and their children.
Supporting food security helps families grow resilient crops, nourish their communities, and protect local ecosystems.
Investments in learning open pathways for girls and women to develop skills, confidence, and leadership.
Strengthening livelihood opportunities means women can build sustainable incomes, support their families, and drive economic growth in their communities.
Together, these efforts empower women not only to transform their own lives, but to shape healthier, more resilient futures for everyone around them.
Decades of supporting a powerful force for change
FEATURE STORY
Nak and her husband Chin in their vegetable garden.
Everything Nak has built for her family started with access to clean water
In a remote village in Pursat Province, Cambodia, every day begins the same way for 29 year-old Nak Chheun, a new mother — with empty buckets and a long walk to gather water. The water becomes a thin rice soup for breakfast. Nak and her husband Chin Bon have just moved to Veal Veng to live with his parents and five more siblings. Chin is gone for weeks at a time, crossing the Thai border illegally to work and send home money for their growing family. In 3 months he earns $150. Nak works for others in the cassava fields to make enough money to buy food that day. Working 7 days a week, she makes just enough money to buy rice. Soon, Nak has three more children, a girl and two boys. They are thirsty. They are hungry. They are tired. They are often sick. In the evening they walk to the water again.
Then, in 2022, everything changes. A well is built.
With a source of clean, abundant, nearby water, the walks stop, the sickness fades, the fear lifts. And something else begins. The family plants a garden and their table bursts into colour: red peppers, orange carrots, yellow squash, and green beans. Soon, there’s enough to sell at local markets. With that money, they buy more rice and even, for the first time, meat. Nak is able to bathe herself and her children after a long day of work. Chin moves home. As the children grow healthier and stronger, they start school.
The years are full – of hard work, yes, but also laughter and possibility. Dreams that once felt out of reach begin to take shape. By 2023, Nak and Chin move their family into their own home. She plants cucumber, lemongrass, mint and zucchini to sell. Her harvests now earn her more than ten times what she once made as a day labourer. The younger kids bike to school in crisp blue and white uniforms.
And now?
Today, they’re thriving. Nak is opening her own small business making and selling rice cakes and sweets from a small shop. Chin is home all the time now, farming his land and watching their children grow. They are building futures with pride, with determination – and above all with hope.
Watch for more stories…
Check back each week for more stories from women who are changing everything for their families and communities.