A 19-year-old from Manor Park is helping women in Tajikistan to increase their participation in the business sector.

Imran Hussain, of Browning Road, is currenly working with the international development organisation VSO in the former Soviet Union republic, bordering Afganistan and China.

Imran, who is a volunteer at Little Ilford Youth Zone in Manor Park, succefully bid for a volunteering grant from the Jack Petchey Foundation, to take part in the project for two months.

He is volunteering for two months in Khujand, the country’s second largest city in the country.

Ahead of his trip Imran said: “I hope to understand how life is for people whose livelihoods are different to mine, and get a feel for the variety of challenges that are present in all corners of the globe”.