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Many laws are passed in Albania that are not implemented for various reasons. In the case of the law against domestic violence, passed in December 2006 with overwhelming bipartisan support and coming into effect in June 2007, the effort by Albanian citizens, including the Albanian Center for Legal Civic Initiatives made a big difference and helped ensure the law was enforced.

USAID/Albania, through a partnership between the University of Hawaii and  the Agriculture University of Tirana (AUT), is helping the university prepare a workforce of future agriculture economists and entrepreneurs who are capable of using innovative technologies to respond to market demands.

Thanks to a partnership between a USAID local governance program and a local marketing company, Celesi, the Municipality of Pogradec opened the city's first Tourist Information Office to help boost employment and economic development. The office provides free-of-charge high-quality professional tourism information services to the visitors.

Nearly 450 schools in Battagram District in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province were damaged or completely destroyed by the devastating October 2005 earthquake. As winter approached, people from the remote Allai Valley descended from their mountain homes to the banks of the Indus River to seek shelter at the Mehra Relief Camp. With USAID’s help, 1,550 children attended one of the three schools at the camp, some of them for the first time.

To help the government of Pakistan promote earthquake-resistant reconstruction, USAID sponsored a project with Nepal’s National Society for Earthquake Technology to train local organizations, engineers, masons, and carpenters in safe building practices.

Pakistan’s gems and jewelry sector is often described as a cottage industry, where a typical workshop employs a handful of artisans who craft pieces by hand or with outdated machinery. Since 2004, a USAID-led working group has been helping representatives of the precious stones and jewelry industry tap into that potential by fostering cooperation between industry players from “mine-to-market.”

With USAID support, Holy Family Hospital is pioneering telemedicine – healthcare services through information and communications technologies such as videoconferencing. Holy Family serves as a hub where specialists from the hospital consult in real time with patients who visit one of eight established telemedicine sites in rural clinics in Punjab and Sindh provinces.

In late 2007, economic recession combined with a regional drought brought poor communities to their knees in rural western Pakistan. Families stopped sending their children to school, and instead put them to work to help pay for their evening bread. With few skills or opportunities, the least fortunate took to the streets to become beggars.

Bakhtawar was a good student in the fifth grade at a small school located in a Southern Pakistan village. She enjoyed learning, laughing with her friends, and spending time with her family. But one evening, as she sat nervously in a chair beside her parents at the local meeting hall, she knew that everything about her childhood was coming to an end. No more school, no more girlfriends, no more fun. At 15, Bakhtawar was about to become engaged to be married.