The women of Katine

Traditional birth attendant Josephine Achen attends to a pregnant woman. Josephine received only basic training seven years ago, when there was no one else in the village to act as a midwife. She is now involved in training other birth attendants Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Pregnant women wait to enter the maternity ward of the Katine health centre. Over the past year, village health teams have received training to help prevent unnecessary deaths in pregnancy and childbirth. As a result, the number of deaths has dropped Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Women and babies in the maternity ward of the Katine health centre, which was opened two years ago. Improving healthcare in the sub-county is one of the five components of the Guardian’s three-year project with Amref. Over the past year, mosquito resistant nets have been handed out to pregnant women in the sub-county Photograph: Guardian

Agnes Ameo is the only girl from her village to have passed O-levels and is now setting another record – as the first female teacher at Amorikot primary school Photograph: Madeleine Bunting/Guardian

Santina Awio is a teacher in charge of girls at Katine primary school. The school faces many challenges, including a lack of textbooks. Over the past year, 2,000 textbooks have been handed out in the sub-county and 102 teachers have been trained Photograph: Guardian

A child washes her hands at the new latrines at Amorikot primary school. One of the reasons many girls drop out of school when they reach puberty is because they don’t have access to decent sanitation facilities. Research has found that educated women hold the key to development Photograph: Guardian

Women and girls are traditionally expected to fetch water for their village. They use jerry cans to carry water they collect from the pumps. As part of the Katine project, new boreholes have been drilled and existing wells protected, which means more people have access to safe, clean water. It also means women have less distance to travel to fill their cans Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Sarah Akol, 18, helps farm her mother’s land early in the morning. Most villagers, young and old, rise at 6am to tend their land before going to school or out to work to earn a typical daily wage of 50p Photograph: Guardian

Women move soya from the World Food Program at the Katine health centre. The soya is for pregnant women and new mothers. The food was being stored in the local doctor’s house Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Women cooking food in large pots for sale at Katine market Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Melissa Iruo, Katine’s hairdresser, braids the hair of a young mother. Find out what three Katine women think about their role in society here Photograph: Guardian

Politician turned pharmacist Loyce Achao in her pharmacy. Among her achievements as a local politician were the upgrading of the Katine health centre, the building of another in Ojom, new iron roofs for several schools and road improvements. Now she runs a pharmacy in Katine's high street Photograph: Guardian

Katine women attend a village savings and loans association meeting. Another pillar of the Katine project is improving people’s livelihoods. One of the ways to do this is to establish community-based financial services for villagers. Barclays is working with Care International and local NGO UWESO to create 200 VSLAs across Katine Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Women take their children to fetch water. Collecting water is often a social occasion Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian