Climate resilience opens new livelihood avenues for Chitral women

A project aimed at strengthening climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods among rural women in Chitral has benefited hundreds of women from the Kalash and other communities through vocational training, climate-smart agriculture, and livelihood support. 

The project, titled “Empowering Women for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods in District Chitral,” was implemented by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) with financial support from the Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

The jam-packed hall of a local hotel echoed with applause when the trained women narrated their success stories at the final showcasing event of the project. Representatives of the district administration, government departments, NGOs, traders, social media influencers, and members of the Chitral Press Club attended the event.

Implemented from March 2025 to July 2026 in Bumburet in the Kalash Valley and Ayun, women were imparted training in various trades under the project to help them cope with the changing scenario.

Officials said that 50 women received vocational skills training in five trades, including Kalash local embroidery and jewellery making, home-based guesthouse management, food processing, fashion designing and dressmaking, and women-led shops and display centres.

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The participants, they said, were trained in production techniques, quality improvement, hygiene standards, customer orientation, basic bookkeeping and tourism-market awareness.Another 50 women, officials said, were organised into five Women Farmer Groups under the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) component.

The women, they said, received training in climate-smart farming, climate information and weather monitoring, marketing and business networking. The groups focused on wheat and winter vegetables, maize, beans, broccoli and oyster mushroom farming in different areas of Lower Chitral.

Officials said that all trainees received need- and trade-specific toolkits, tools, raw materials and agricultural inputs to help them apply their skills and initiate or strengthen livelihood activities.

The project also sought to strengthen market access by providing women with opportunities to interact with government departments, NGOs, traders and potential buyers.Officials said the formation of Women Farmer Groups and the development of market linkages would help sustain the benefits of the project beyond its formal completion.

It was informed that the Agriculture Research Station (ARS) Chitral provided technical support for the CSA component, while the Drosh Institute of Computer & Technical Education (DICTE) supported the vocational skills component.

Speaking at the event, SRSP Regional Programme Manager Tariq Ahmad welcomed the participants and highlighted the organisation’s interventions across Chitral.A representative of the women beneficiaries, Shahi Gull, thanked the Australian government and DFAT for their support and SRSP for building the capacities of rural women. Additional Deputy Commissioner Shah Adnan, who was the chief guest, said the project was an important step towards creating employment opportunities while preserving and strengthening the cultural heritage of local communities.

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He appreciated SRSP’s efforts for supporting marginalised and rural communities through inclusive and sustainable development initiatives. Later, Shah Adnan and Director General Kalash Valley Development Authority Fidaul Karim visited ten stalls set up at the event.

The project, which ran from March 2025 to July 2026, combined climate-smart agriculture, vocational skills development and community-based disaster risk management to help rural women respond to economic and environmental challenges.The heart of the event was the women themselves, standing behind stalls displaying the products, crops and enterprises they had developed through the project.