Despite global efforts for women's inclusion in the workforce, challenges persist, especially in conflict-affected areas where socio-political, economic, and cultural norms further impede their economic participation. We situate our work in Kashmir, India, a region with a long history of socio-political unrest. We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with women from a non-government organization operating community training centers in Kashmir. These training centers have been established, focusing on skill development to encourage women to venture into entrepreneurship. Our findings reveal socio-political and cultural factors influence women's struggles. We emphasize the vital role of these centers and the role of technology in these centers. Finally, we offer socio-technical design recommendations to support women's skill-building and entrepreneurship.

Mental health well-being is a global concern, with disparities in treatment services being a challenge. Though, digital mental health interventions are proposed to bridge the gaps and supplement support and assistance. Yet, many individuals still struggle with mental health issues, particularly in regions encountering socio-political unrest, and face obstacles in seeking professional assistance. Situating our work in Kashmir, India, a region with a long history of socio-political unrest, we conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with participants seeking professional support to explore how individuals navigate mental health and professional help-seeking. Our findings identify the struggles in seeking support rooted in the context through socio-political and socio-cultural influences, strategies and methods adopted to navigate these struggles, and the role of technology in seeking support. Using a social-ecological approach to mental health care, we emphasize accounting for the socio-political realities that shape support-seeking in politically disturbed contexts and offer socio-technical design recommendations.

The issue of youth unemployment is a global concern, with active initiatives, policies, and technologies in place to support employment seekers. Despite these efforts, youth unemployment in various regions is attributed to the complex challenges that impede access to resources, particularly in contexts characterized by socio-political unrest. To understand the use of job-seeking resources in such a context, we situate our work in the region of Jammu & Kashmir, which has a long-standing history of socio-political conflict ongoing for more than three decades. For this work, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with participants from Kashmir to understand their current job-seeking practices and the challenges they encounter during the entire process. Our findings present the systemic infrastructural challenges the youths face due to the ongoing crisis. Analyzing the youths' workarounds to mitigate these challenges, we discuss how we might leverage these workarounds into designing systems while navigating through the contextual complexities. We discuss the challenges of designing in the context and provide design recommendations to support job seekers.

Sustainable Development Goal 4 promotes inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. However, regions with ongoing socio-political conflict suffer disruption to education and learning. We situate our work in Kashmir, India, affected by socio-political conflict for more than three decades. We did multiple field visits and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with parents, teachers, students, and members of a non-government organization that runs Community Learning Centers in Kashmir. Our findings present the barriers in education caused by disruption and the role of community learning centers in overcoming the barriers within these contextual constraints. Further, we discuss engaging researchers and policymakers to leverage human infrastructure, embedding uncertainty into the design, infrastructuring trust, and content usability to develop solutions to make education more accessible. Despite significant research in HCI and Education, research in this particular context is under-explored, and our work contributes to filling this gap.