About the Author: Robert Blake serves as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Rabia Mariam is a businesswoman who employs an all-women workforce to manufacture scarves and rugs from silk, cotton-silk blend, and wool in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan. Working with the USAID IDEA-NEW program, she employs nearly 1,000 women — many of them widows. Many of these Afghan women raise silkworms at home and boil cocoons, and go to weaving centers to weave the scarves and other handicrafts. Rabia’s work is bringing economic opportunity and hope to Afghan women.

I had the privilege of meeting Rabia and learning about her work at the South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurship Symposium, which was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh last month. The event exemplifies several of our bureau’s highest priorities… more »

About the Author: Deepa Ghosh serves as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

I was recently invited by the Maldivian Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) to join them on a site visit to Rasdhoo Atoll. The Maldives are well known for their natural beauty, coral reefs, and pristine beaches. Ensuring the country preserves this unique habitat is a priority for the dynamic staff of the MEPA.

The Maldives is a long, narrow country in the Indian Ocean formed by 26 natural atolls covering 90,000 square kilometers over a submarine ridge. Atolls are ring like coral reefs that surround lagoons. They are formed as coral builds up around eroding volcanic islands. The Maldives is also the lowest country on earth, measuring only 2.4 meters above sea level at its highest point, making it particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels. Protecting the country’s reefs from pollution, poaching, rapid development, and other hazards is vital to… more »