today y we head to rwanda and fd out how golden monkeys and people are benefiting from energy-efficient stoves. we meet a competitive athlhleten peru, who also happens to be blind. and we meet women and girls in india,ho are takg a stand against widedespread misogogynd viviolence. violence against women is a global problem.

a study ranks the u.s. as the 10th most dangerous country for women, primarily when it comes to sexual violence. in the other nine, human trafficking, misogynistic traditions, poor healthcare, and discrimination also cast a shadow over daily life. india tops the list. there, over 100 rapes are reported every day, but that's thought to be just a tiny fraction of the actual number. reporter: sometimes, actions speak louder than words. and the e wave of sexual violee in india needs a response. kavita sharma and her fellow-school teachers are here not t st for theheir own self-defense. later, they will also be training their pupils. kavita: it's important for women to learn how to defend themselves. there are so many assaults on buses and subway trains. so it's good for women to attend these classes to learn self-defense. i'm out t and about quite a lo. men don't engage with the issus.

they just do what they want. reporter: some police forces in india are now offering a variety of training cocourses. a culture of sexual violence is widespread in this country. it's clear to instructor yogendri dedha that women need to know how to protect themselves. yogendri: women are particularly at risk after dark. that's when most rapes happen, and kidnappings, too. we launched this training program to enable women to feel strong and more confident. report: ththesvideos p posted ononline iustrtrate everydayay harassssment. inin the first, , a man pressep against a a woman in thehe cr, doeses he disappeaear. the perpettotors include p pole offificers. this case, the man pretendedta woman.n. witnesses chahallenge.

was later dismissed from the . ong the victims whose lives hahave beeshatattered by sexexul viviolence is shshabnam. atat the age of f 17, she was d by 10 men. her family has stood by her, ich is not the case for many otother women and d girls. in indndia, rape is s widely ses a stmama. shababnam: it was s in septem. i came i into town frorom my vie to visit m my grandmother. they grabbed me frfrom behd, dragged meme away and then cald the others. reporter: with no end to the problem of male violence i in sight, self-defense classes for women have been growing in demand in recent years. they've even b been introducedo the curriculum and taught at girls' schools across the country. >> it's important because in india, the country is full of

crime. not the whole country, but some people. in usually delhi and developed cities. . so it s important. >> yes, i feel very confident, very strong, and very dependent on myself, not others. i feel very independent. reporter: teteacher and self-defsese coachavitita shma takes the bus to and from rkrk evy daday. aboard, and it's in crowds erere e mamale ppetratatorfeeled d on especially c confident abobout molestining women. kavita: i've hadad some really nasty expeperiences. it's exhausting having tththink out t it. it's not my fault they g grab . when we berarate the men, , ty inlt us. they touch us everywhere. it makes me want to cry. but here on the bus, i can't avoid it report: all too equently, the police prefer to ignore or even suppress complaints ofn't

harassment and assault, rather than take action. but a growing number of indians have had enough. a lot of taxis in delhi now bear stickers calling for an end to the violence, and more support for women. kavita: we go to work in order to make a living. but now i'm even afraid for my children's safety when i leave them at home. they're not even safe there. so even at work i feel anxious. reporter: which is why she holds an afternoon self-defense class for her daughter and other local children on the roof of her homeme. skills like these will help make young women more confident and less vulnerable. host: what about the role of women in politics? worldwide, just a handful of women hold top political positions, and very few countries have a female head of government. globally speaking, only 24% of parliamentary seats are filled by women.

but in the state of pernambuco in brazil, five talented and committed women are forging new paths. reporter: the juntas have arrived. of film and d music producucer l rvergolino, r robeyoncé l lima,e firsrstrans lawyer in the region, rereet selr jojô calvacanti, literature stude jojoelma carla, , and elementy schoolol teacher kaátia cunha.a. the righght to run colollectiy for polititical office i is nen

brazil. the five metet each otr r doig grasassroots politicical work. only one of f them can physicay occupy the seat, of course. they agreed d that jô calalvaci would do that. but t juntas sharere everything else, frfrom thealary y to the polilitical projects involved. carol:l: we were allll memberf the socialalism and libeberty p, and hahad all consididered rung individualallyor office. bubut in the endnd, we had thehe revolutitionary idea t to band togethther. repoporter: the jujuntas wanto show that while lilicymang iss tritioionally top-downwn, it jô: lo of people sayhey're sick of litics ausual, a that w. th don't fl like participing. but t litics res our les.. if yououet on thbus to ride inintohe city, you're encotet. but t litics res our les.. i i thinthat getting peoe ifvolvlvedn makingololitice

decisions e extrely pushhe issuef women'the groo ghts. in 2014,omen occied just 10.5% ofhe seatsn all ofy brazi. pushhe issuef women'the groo that number crept up to 15% last year. carol: behehind our idea to setp a collectitive feminist t candy and d take on a position of por was slolot of women. . how come? because when life improves f fr women, e especially fofor black women, when childcare services e to fealeavavinyour house anorore, wn chililen get thehe chance to go to a good schoo ana woman n getso decide wt happppens to her own body, all those ththings don't j just me life better for women. they improveve society as s a w. reporter: : the group wowon 400 votes toto gain their r sea. manyf their supporters are invoeded in unns o or hun rightsts work. ththe business c community andnd

evangelicacal churches generald polilicians. robeyoncé: we don't't expect tm to welcomeme us in parliliamenth open arms.s. we're prepaparedr confrontatioion. itit an everyday part l life for us. reporterer: they were number 580 on the b ballot paper.r. onon the campaigign trail, thr commititment to workrking toger with everyday people was cle to s. joelma: wewe spoke to people personally, and we discovered that i it made a huguge differ. otherwisise, the only y place pe see a a parliamentarian is behd dedesk. there's no personal dialogue but wi t this apoach, , yo bubuild bridges s between the ee anand the polititicians. in other wordsds, we're tryingo communicate momore dirtly.y.

them, to s serve them, a and bd ssomethg totogeth with h them. rorobeyoncncé: the fact is s wew part of a a parliament t thas mostly m made up of whwhite meo through ouour presence a alone e already mang a political atatemen reporter: brazil's newly-elected right-wing government has already announced plans to c ct funding for health, education, and social services. so the j juntas will h have a ln their r plates in ththe wes ad momonths to me. kátia: we e will supupport eacah other through the dark phase that is possibly awaiting .. one ere e theyant toto te away rights havave they takenen away ncnce yesterday?y?

host: according to the world health organization, 1.3 billion people around the world are in some way visually impaired. for those who cannot see well, or are blind, participating in society y can be very y diffic. almost two thirds of the 36 million blind people worldwide are women. sight problems are often age-related in industrialized countries, whereas in developing countries and emerging economies, women and girls have less access to proper healthcare, and little support from the state. but in peru, we met a woman who's nonetheless pursuing her dreams. reporter: lourdes is not one to give up easily. training on sand in 30-degree-celsius heat is extra strenuous. she specializes in the 100 and 200 meter sprint disciplines.

lourdes has the athletic talent, but needs someone to guide her, because she's blind. lourdes: it was really tough at first. i would only run a short distance and i was already tired. i just wasn't in shape. but t now my body's used to i. reporter: now she's training with some of the best disabled athletes in peru. under the strenuous watch of her coach, she trains for four hours a day, six days a week. by the end of the session, everyone's exhausted, but happy with what they've achieved. miguel: many of the children here are afraid to integrate into society because they feel inferior. once they realize theyey can o the same thihings that others without disabilities can do, it gives them a sense of affirmation, as athletes but also as human beings. reporter: the training forges team spirit. it's also their own little haven.

here, a disability is nothing out of the ordinary, unlike elsewhere in the peruvian capital. there isn't much in the way of signals, ramps, or railings to help visually impaired people. lima is a city of 10 million, with massive traffic congestion. but bus drivers often just ignore lourdes. two buses go by before one finally stops to let her on. lourdes: i'm lucky to get a seat today. people don't always give up their seat for me. there are days when i have to stand, or someone beats me to a seat. it's complicated. reporter: lourdes lost her sight when she was 14. she was taking powerful medication for an autoimmune disease. an overdose destroyed her optic nerve, and one morning she woke up blind. that was 13 years ago. lourdes: i got really depressed, i just couldn't accept it.

the illness was already bad enough, and then i was suddenly blinind too. i wondered what elsese would o wrong. reporter: lourdes gradually felt her way back into her new life. at home, everything has its fixed place. but outside, life is more of a battle. lourdes has a college degree, thanks only to huge help from mother. iris: i read all the books that she needed. i read them out loud and recorded myself. that way she was able to listen to the recordings and learn what she needed to know. i must have recorded more than 50 books. i read them at night or early in the morning so that she could study. reporter: but for all the progress, there are setbacks. lourdes has applied for numerous jobs with newspapers and

reporter: in peru, blind people don't get any direct help from the state. but the government does fund associations like cercil, a center that helps the visually impaired to find their place in society. look for a job? do i want to be an artist or a musician reporter: lourdes has got involved in a theatre project. lucho cáceres has headed up the initiaiative for thehe past ne years. he's a well-known actor in peru. he says the work has totally changed his perspective.

want selfies too? wow. and it was a moment that reporter: here, they tell us blind people can do almost everything. they just do it differenently. lourdes is likewise not allowing her blindness to hold her back. lourdes: l last year i was ablbo reprpresent my country in spor, in colombia. it was the first time i'd been in a plane and the first time i'd left peru. it was like a dream come true, to represent peru in compmpetition. reporter: and d so she keeps p the training, constantly pushing the boundaries. whatever life throws at her, this is a woman who's determined to reach her full potential.

hostst: this weeeek's global n comemes from southeaeast asia. >> i i am a global teen. grace: my name is grace gambrill and i live in bangkok, thailand. so i'm half new zealand/australian and half thai. it provides a lot of schedule to my life and also it build a really great community and gives me things to do in my free time and find out what i like and what i enjoy. i like to play volleyball, doo art, and play piano. i like thai pop music and korean pop music. thai pop music is a lot more calm, acousticic-type of musu. while korean pop is lot more dance and more kind of upbeat.

personally, in terms of my future job, future goals, i hope to either major in architecture or psychology, or both. but realistically what i really want to have in the future is happiness. i think the entire environmental problem, and the over-population problem is one of the biggest that we probably have to deal with pretty quickly. the garbage patches in the oceans are only getting bigger. there are not t many famouss solutions s that are hapappeng right now, so it's kind of woworrying to see those issues getttting bigger a and biggerd not seeing as much action as we hoped. host: estimates suggest that the population of africa could well double over the next 30 years, from 1.2 billion to 2.5 billion.

rwanda already has more than 12 million inhabitants, making it one of the most densely populated countries on the continent. in this week's global ideas, our colleague, conny bormann, paid a visit to the volcanoeses natiol park, where deforestation is posing a huge threat to local wildlife. reporter: they can only be found in the virunga mountains, and even here, only in a few forests -- golden monkeys. every day, rangers s show visits around volcanoes national park, where they can observe the monkeys in the wild and photograph them. golden monkeys are endangered. their habitat is shrinking rapidly, so conservationists are especially keen to preserve this forest. placide: involving local people, first of all, is one of the key elements we need to make sure that they are happy with the

park. first of all, it helps for avoiding poaching problems. we have had many people used to go there for cutting trees like bamboo. these bamboo trees can be used for handicrafts. reporter: fast-growing eucalyptus trees have crowded out indigenous vegetation all over the park. the rwandan environment management authority, rema, says 80% of all households in the country use wood for cooking fuel. claudine nyirambabazi gets off to an early start on her long walk to where she collects wood. by the time she gets home, she'll be tired and her back will ache. she can no longer carry so much wood now that she has had a baby. so instead, claudine frequently buys wood. cooking g on a traditional three-stone fireplace wastes a lot of wood. it takes hours for the

mother-of-four to prepare a meal, as most of the heat disappears into the room and the unhealthy, acrid smoke pollutes the air. claudine nyirambabazi: my eyes are not good at all. sometimes i can't see anything anymore because of all the smoke in my eyes. i have to cook for my children. i have no choice. i can't let my family starve just because of my eyes. but i am really worried about them. reporter: about 18 months ago, her neighbor, claudine nyirabureteri, got a new stove. she only had to pay part of the cost. but even that is unaffordable for most people here. with the new stove, cooking takes only half as long. and there's less smoke pollution. claudine nyirabureteri: with my new stove, my y health has

improved. my eyes don't water any more when i cook. my cough is gone, and i no longer get dizzy. reporter: claudine got her new stove from an austrian firm called likano. soon, the company wants to equip even more communities around the national park with these cookers. the plan is to supply 50,000 households altogether. clarisse: we distribute the stoves. and the stoves are contributing to the reduction of carbon. so we are selling those credits in order t to have other mone, other funds, for again buying the stoves from the factory. reporter: the cookers are produced in the capital kigali, in a large factory about 10 kilometers from the city center. one of the key elements in the stove is made from a local waste product. this is coffee husk residue

which can be purchased cheaply from local farmers. coffee is a key export product in rwanda. the husks are mixed with locally sourced clay to form an insulating material. that is then used to create clay cylinders like these which are placed inside the stove. an element like this can withstand heat of 1300 degrees celsius. alfin: its work is to insulate, direct the flame, and then to crcreate the chimney e effect, h is needed for efficient burning of the fuel. so in that way, it is going to reduce all the smoke and the other products o of combustion which are not healthy to the user of the stove and to the environment. reporter: the clay cylinder is surrounded with another heat-insulating layer of clay.

that stops the cooker from losing heat and keeps it stable. the producer guarantees the stove for at least seven years. the likano company developed the design together with the women who use the cookers. scientists from neighboring uganda have tested how much wood they can save with it. clarisse: actually, we made a monitoring and evaluation. we are finding that it goes to 60% comparing to the previous consumption. reporter: claudine used to spend seven euros a week on firewood. now, she only spends a third of that. she has already bought five sheep with the money she's saved. they provide the family with wool and meat.

and d her two school-aged sons n use their time to study and do homework, as they no longer have to help gather firewood. claudine spends her afternoons in the women's club. there, she and other villagers create handicrafts together, another money-making venture. what they're making here gets sold to tourists who come through the village on their way to volcanoes national park, which is just 400 meters away. the reduction in wood consumption is also relieving the pressure on the e remainig primimeval forests, an i import step in preserving the habitat of the endangered golden

we're back next week, and in the meantime, don't forget we're always pleased to hear from you. write to us at global3000@dw.com. see you soon. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> today on "earth focus," the future, swedish style. building a model eco-district in stockholm, growing urban food in skysyscraper farms, , expandingg ororganic eateteries, and using sunlight to purify water. innovative solutions from sweden that may traransfo the w wy we live, coming up on "earth focusus." sweden, in the heart of scandinavia and at the edge of the arctic circle, is the fourth-largest country in europe. in fall and winter, the northe