Soccer is being used as a platform to talk about women’s issues in a male-dominated society, an Afghan female athlete has said.

Khalida Popal, a former captain and founding member of the country’s first women’s national soccer team, fled in 2011 after receiving death threats.

Pakistan’s so-called “Light Ladies” are helping power up off-grid villages, becoming real agents of change in their hometowns, a young female executive has said.

The initiative is part of the “light a million lives” project of the Buksh Foundation, a microfinance institution.