Written by Jordan Roberts (March of the Penguins) and narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman, Where the Water Meets the Sky tells the inspiring story of a group of women in a remote region of Northern Zambia who achieve the unimaginable: they learn how to make a film as a way to speak out about their lives, raising an issue that no one will discuss - the plight of young women orphaned by AIDS.
Alleviating poverty is more guesswork than science, and lack of data on aid's impact raises questions about how to provide it. But Clark Medal-winner Esther Duflo says it's possible to know which development efforts help and which hurt—by testing solutions with randomized trials.
Cleto Choque is a Bolivian shoeshiner who's fighting the negative stereotypes surrounding his profession. As he struggles to pay his way through school and support his younger brothers, he's being helped by the Nuevo Dia Foundation.
In the middle of a global recession, Kenya's Equity Bank is booming. Microloans as small as $10 are helping the country's budding business people. Can Wall Street learn a lesson from these rural entrepreneurs?
After coach punishes the team for having a party by cutting short their leave, Kezia and Oli happen upon a group of people beating up Kezia's brother Rodez. The team must confront the reality of mob justice and an unfair health care system, and joins together to help Rodez.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations on the planet: half of its population lives on less than a dollar a day. But in the tiny semi-rural village of Dholla, microfinance loans from the Grameen Bank are empowering locals to create thriving small businesses.
Winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), Smile Pinki tells the uplifting story of two young children in India born with cleft lips. Thanks to the efforts of Smile Train, an organization that pays for surgeries to fix clefts, thousands of children around the world are given a second lease on life every single day.
The Great Ones Pre-School in northern Zambia is no ordinary pre-school. Not only does it educate vulnerable children who may otherwise not have a chance to learn, it's also run by young women from a similar background who have seized the opportunity to improve their communities.
Women in Ethiopia are being trained to make cobblestones, a profession that gives them regular income and financial independence, allowing them to raise their families and send their children to school.
Despite being rejected by society since birth, millions of so-called "Untouchables" in India are beginning to win the battle against the prejudice that has denied them basic human rights for centuries.
The Sulabh toilet is self-composting and requires no drainage, and already serves some 4 million people daily in India. What's more, this revolution in public sanitation—with help from the Sulabh movement's leader, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak—is empowering some of the country's poorest people.
Nigeria has had some success in getting more women into government and business. But what about those in the crowded and often violent slums of Lagos? Meet three girls from one of the city's poorest and toughest neighborhoods, all looking for their chance to escape.
Sushma, a 24-year-old single mother of four from a remote village in Nepal, was taken to India and sold to a brothel for $250. Unlike most victims of sexual slavery, however, Sushma managed to escape her captors and return home. In this film we meet some of the women trying to staunch the flow of an estimated 12,000 young women who are trafficked across the open Indian border every year, and follow Sushma as she sets out to find the man who lured her to Kolkata.
Sampat Pal is a campaigner with a mission: to ensure that those born into the lowest caste have an education, avoid child marriages, and earn a decent wage. But, while Mahatma Gandhi famously preached non-violence, Pal believes that India's long history of patriarchy, abuse, and corruption demands a new style of justice.
Rafeh Malik, the young prince of a powerful Pakistani family, was given the poverty-stricken village of Ratrian on his eighteenth birthday. He is attempting to implement the UN's Millennium Development Goals in the village, yet soon finds out that resources and determination might not be enough to challenge the status quo.
In the shantytowns of Cape Town, South Africa, the local healthcare system has been stretched to near breaking point by the impact of HIV. But volunteers from both the healthcare profession and the local community, are fighting back and giving hope to ordinary people.
