Kurigram: a women’s empowerment hub in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is vulnerable to frequent cyclones, floods (including flash flood), storms and periodic droughts, depending on the season. Climate change effects have also become prominent in recent decades, such as extreme heat, sea-level rise, and heavy rain. These contribute to an alarming increase in people’s vulnerability. Being a northern and Brahmaputra river basin district, Kurigram is also exposed to flood, drought, river erosion, extreme temperatures and storm.

River water flooding during the rainy season and drought in the dry season are common in this area. Furthermore, extreme heat increases the vulnerability of the impoverished people living in this district. The community is not familiar with climate-adaptive farming or disaster management and risk-reduction mechanisms, which exacerbates loss and damage. Moreover, the low-land areas of this district also have transportation- and communication-related challenges, prolonging the vulnerabilities of women, men, girls and boys and affecting their livelihoods, local infrastructure, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and the overall administrative system.

As part of its national education policy (2010), the government of Bangladesh has been prioritising girls’ education through subsidies, allowances, etc. But there are still external challenges. Students have to use boats or banana rafts to attend school as there are no bridges over some of the canals and rivers they must cross, particularly during the flood season. Moreover, the girls are deprived of basic menstrual hygiene and WASH facilities at their schools due to poverty and limited awareness. These are crucial barriers to formal education, many of which increase during any instance of natural disaster. Consequently, children are highly discouraged from attending school, and girls above all fall victim to removal from education. This further triggers social issues such as child labour, child marriage and gender-based violence.

In order to implement the government education and disaster management strategies, longer-term interventions are required while the level of vulnerability remains high. The relevant local government authorities are dealing with diversified challenges at any one time, alongside juggling the complex decision-making process in government and a limited budget. The government-formed disaster management authorities also have low capacity and functionality in remote areas like Kurigram.

In such cases, the government of Bangladesh collaborates with different donors and international non-government organisations (INGOs) to address immediate struggles while also focusing on the behavioural changes in the community for sustainable impact. Additionally, INGOs emphasise addressing the needs of vulnerable communities in Bangladesh in partnership with local organisations.

Gender-responsive education and action

One of the crucial programmes pertaining to these aspects was implemented by Plan International Bangladesh between 1 June 2021 to 31 July 2024 in three unions: Kachakatha, Kedar and Ballaverkhash, in Nageshwari Upazila in Kurigram District. The project, Gender Responsive School and Community Safety Initiatives (GRSCSI), was implemented with a local partner organisation, Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO). The project has worked to increase the knowledge and practice of disaster risk reduction and community safety initiatives through involving diversified stakeholders (e.g. civil society organisations, local government officials, local disaster management committees, school authorities, students, parents, caregivers and the broader community itself) to create a safer, more gender-responsive educational environment in which to address climate-induced disaster challenges in Bangladesh and Nepal. A few of the remarkable activities included in this project are: establishing a feedback mechanism in the target school; constructing a WASH block for girls; capacity-building in the community through regular meetings, mock drills and simulation exercises; and inclusive facilities for all students, including the those with specific needs and vulnerabilities. Below are the experiences of just two of the community members who benefited from the GRSCSI project.

Shoma (pseudonym), a girl with a physical disability from an extremely climate-vulnerable area, received a highly impressive grade point average in her Secondary School Certificate exam in a small madrasa in 2024. Anyone would be surprised to learn that this same girl rarely attended her madrasa classes just 2–3 years ago. She was once bullied for her physical disabilities, and was never comfortable attending school alone. Within three years, she has become an active voluntary group member of the GRSCSI project and has been involved in various voluntary works pertaining to disaster preparedness, safe-school initiatives, promoting gender-responsive approaches and so on in her madrasa and community. Shoma’s statement on her experience reflects her enhanced confidence:

In 2023, I along with my other group members rescued a woman from drowning in one of our neighbourhood ponds. After rescuing her, we gave her initial first aid treatment. Since the lady was traumatised with the situation, we also cheered her up to help her get over this initial trauma.

Parveen (pseudonym), another 20-year-old girl from the same union (Kachakatha), is a first-year undergraduate student. She has been involved in various voluntary works as a highly active member of a youth group named Torun Projonmo Egiye Jabe since 2019 (Phase 1 of the GRSCSI project). She also works with the union chairman and union/ward disaster management committees to increase awareness in the community regarding climate-adaptive farming, menstruation hygiene, child development, early warning, disaster preparedness and response activities. Initially, she was involved in a youth group formed by ESDO and later formed her own youth group in 2023, with 25 local members. Furthermore, she has been cascading her knowledge with her neighbours regarding climate-adaptive homestead gardening and livestock rearing, which she gained from different development projects implemented in the area. Another laudable initiative she has introduced is sewing washable sanitary napkins and selling them in her community for a minimal price, with a vision that girls in her community understand that menstrual hygiene enables them to lead a safe life. In doing so, Parveen put into action knowledge that she had gained while participating in another INGO-led project.

The transformative power of women’s empowerment

Proven international development approaches initiated through this project are the crucial factors behind such behavioural change in this region. At the core is the empowerment of women, with the development approaches including: community-based disaster risk assessments, preparedness activities and reduction mechanisms; strengthening emergency response on humanitarian crisis; and initialising climate-smart agriculture, livelihood and poultry farming via training sessions. Plan International, several other INGOs such as Oxfam, United Nations agencies, as well as a number of national, local and women-led NGOs such as ESDO, SKS, Jago Nari and the Association for Alternative Development (AFAD), have remarkable influence in this region. Moreover, the local government authorities, community leaders, civil society organisations, and most importantly, the community members themselves have been also coming forward with progressive thoughts and practices that also deserve huge praise. For instance, the community are now more concerned about the menstrual hygiene and needs of adolescent girls, women, lactating mothers and pregnant women during any disaster. School authorities, boys and youth groups have also demonstrated their increased understanding regarding menstruation, child marriage and gender-based violence.

Being a development sector researcher, I have conducted several research projects in Kurigram. I have witnessed unforgettable examples of women’s empowerment in this district in the last few years. My research findings have startled me each time I visit a new union of Kurigram and talk with the underprivileged girls and women of this region. I have observed significant cases of women’s empowerment with different dynamics; these solid instances of women’s empowerment provide constant encouragement for me to share their incredible work. I believe that their stories deserve to be shared widely, to every corner of the globe, while inspiring other actors at the same time to create scope for strengthening women where they are falling behind.

Tohura Moriom Misti is an independent consultant from Bangladesh and the founder of Upgrade Bangladesh. She has been working in different types of research projects on inclusion, women empowerment, gender rights, child protection, trafficking and migration, climate change, and disaster risk reduction, among others.