Women Lead Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh

Naimul Haq – IPS – Friday, 30 March 2012 (originally published 28 Mar)

Kalpana at her pottery. Image: Naimul Haq/IPS

NOAKHALI, Bangladesh, Mar 28, 2012 (IPS) – Kalpana Rani Pal’s pottery business is modest by any yardstick but it is small enterprises like these that are helping reduce poverty levels in Bangladesh.

“I earn about Bangladeshi taka 6,000 (72 dollars) a month from selling the earthenware I make,” said Kalpana, 34, who is glad she enrolled for a three-month pottery-making course, run by the Noakhali Rural Development Society (NRDS), a non-government organisation (NGO).

Jhumur Majumder, 37, who also availed of pottery training under a small crafts producers development project, initiated by NRDS about five years ago, recalls a time when families like hers were living in penury. “I can’t imagine what we would have done had I not availed of the free pottery course . . .”

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