Mansehra district is located in Hazara division of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. The total area of the district is 4,579 square kilometers, while the district houses a total population of 1,152,839 (61,376 urban and 1,091,463 rural)1. The average annual growth rate is 2.4 percent and district’s population density is 252 persons per square kilometers1. For every 100 women there are 98 men in the district. Average household size in the district is 6.7 persons1. Oghi, Balakot and Mansehra are three tehsils of the district whereas there are 58 union councils and 1,160 villages in the district1.

The literacy ratio in the district accounts to 36.3 percent (males 50.9 percent as against 22.7 percent for females)1. There are 1042 health institutions established in the district. For every 8,362 people there is one doctor available in the district while for 33,447 population there is one nurse2. The EPI coverage percentage in the district is 71.11. Around 55 percent of the households are using piped water while the access to water in far flung rural area is poor. Separate or shared kitchen, bathroom and latrine are available in 21.0 percent, 21.0 percent and 9.8 percent of the housing units respectively1. There is an acute problem of accessibility to road infrastructure as on an average there is 0.18 Km road/sq. Km of the district2. About 49.1 percent housing units have electricity facility while 94 percent households use wood as a source of cooking fuel1. The access of common people to basic civic facilities and amenities in the district is quite ironical, however, the quality of these services are well below the acceptable standards.

Poverty is prevalent in the district and is assuming menacing proportions with the passage of time. Unemployment rate in the district is 28.4 percent1. More than 56 percent district’s population lies below poverty line and 30 percent population belong to middle-income group that is living hand to mouth3. Poverty in this context perpetuates due to ongoing political instability, uneven distribution of resources, poor human resource development and polarization of power and resources in the hands of a small percentage of population.

The district’s overall performance on gender empowerment is dismal. A low investment in (female) human capital, negative social biases and prejudices, controversial and discriminatory policies and laws, restriction on female mobility and the internalization of patriarchy by women themselves, has become the basis for gender discrimination and disparities in all spheres of life.

Increasing environmental degradation in Pakistan is a constant threat to the biological diversity and natural resource base of the country and is unfavourably influencing the lives of the poorest sections of society. The picture in district Mansehra is quite akin with the rest of the country. In 1999-2000, the total area under cultivation was 80,747 hectares and the area under forests was 332,252 hectares2, far below than acceptable standards. The land use and cropping intensity were 82.7 percent and 136.7 percent respectively2. Average per hectare yield of major crops such as maize, rice, and wheat is 1,718 kgs, 2377 kgs, and 1,554 kgs respectively2. The agriculture land holding is less than 6.13 acres per household3. Buffaloes, cows, sheep, goats are the main sources of milk and meat and on an average there are 501 buffalo/cattle, 1651 sheep/goats per 100 households in the district. It is worth to mention that the last few decades have witnessed increasingly exploitative and disenfranchising practices including illegal timber harvesting, deforestation on mountains and hill sides, rangeland degradation, over-cultivation, uncontrolled grazing, low productivity in agriculture and livestock, poor water resource management and a host of socio-political factors contributing to the ecological degradation.