Introduction

POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment and Rights) project is a multi-country project implementing in Ghana, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan with the long term objective to increase economic empowerment of women. This project also works with families to help reduce women’s burden of unpaid care work, so they can contribute towards income generating ventures. ActionAid Bangladesh has been working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and SKS foundation to make this project a success since 2016.

Four areas of this project include: 

  • Unpaid care work for women;
  • Climate resilient sustainable agriculture;
  • Market access for women;
  • Violence against women

Background

The prevailing gender norms and power relations in Bangladesh justify women’s heavy workload and limited control over productive resources must be challenged if the economic participation of women is to be improved. In 2016, ActionAid Bangladesh has done a research on “Time Use of Women and Men (Unpaid Care Work)”. It shows that women spend 6.3 hours and men spend 1.1 hours in household work daily. According to another research, women spend on average around 8 hours in unpaid care work which was more than men who spent approximately an hour and a half on it. The bottomline being that women in Bangladesh are spending almost five times more in unpaid care work than men. 

 

In Bangladesh other key contributors to the persistence of gender inequality are women’s limited knowledge and mobilisation around their rights, limited partocipation of women in decision making spaces, and violence against women. In addition, access to markets is a major barrier for rural women. They receive unfair treatment from buyers,  often lack knowledge regarding the current market situation, as well as finance and other productive resources. Many women consequently utilise ‘middle-men’ to market their products which reduces profits and maintains gender imbalance. Therefore, by recognising and addressing these issues and increasing household and community influence are crucial to women’s economic empowerment.

This project works with women to help empower them within their households and the community including a contribution to decision making. This is achieved by training them about their rights, and sustainable money generating activities such as climate resilient agriculture.

This project also works with families to help reduce women’s burden of unpaid care work, so that they can devote more time to income generating ventures.

The initiative was to promote opportunities for women’s empowerment and rights. ActionAid Bangladesh has been working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and SKS foundation to make this project a success since 2016.

Four areas of this project:

  1. Unpaid care work for women;
  2. Climate resilient sustainable agriculture;
  3. Market access for women;
  4. Violence against women

We have covered Gojaria, Konchipara, Uria, Udakhali, Fajlupur, Mogolhaat, Kulaghaat, Rajpur, Harati, Khuniagach village of Rangpur and Sylhet divisions so far.  

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News

Child Rights Advocacy Coalition Bangladesh (CRAC, B) Organizes “Mock UPR with children” to Empower Child Voices and Foster Government Accountability

Expressing joy, Shopna shared, “Participating in the Mock UPR was not only enjoyable but also enlightening about the UPR (Universal Periodic Review). As members representing different countries, it felt like we were sitting in Geneva, sharing our thoughts and providing recommendations for the development of Child Rights in our country. I felt a sense of significance. I hope that one day I will have the opportunity to participate in the UPR at Geneva and represent my country, Bangladesh.”
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Publications

The Power Within

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News

"Play, Learn & Grow" Transforming Lives Through Enriched Child Spaces

ActionAid Bangladesh's project, "Play, Learn & Grow” supported by ActionAid Italy, marks a significant milestone as it completes a successful 12 months of implementation.
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News

Empowering Shishu Bikash Kendro by Edotco & ActionAid

The partnership between ActionAid Bangladesh and Edotco Group seeks to establish a reliable and environmentally sustainable electricity supply in areas where ActionAid Bangladesh works.
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News

Child Rights Advocacy Coalition Bangladesh (CRAC, B) Organizes “Mock UPR with children” to Empower Child Voices and Foster Government Accountability

Expressing joy, Shopna shared, “Participating in the Mock UPR was not only enjoyable but also enlightening about the UPR (Universal Periodic Review). As members representing different countries, it felt like we were sitting in Geneva, sharing our thoughts and providing recommendations for the development of Child Rights in our country. I felt a sense of significance. I hope that one day I will have the opportunity to participate in the UPR at Geneva and represent my country, Bangladesh.”
Read More

News

"Play, Learn & Grow" Transforming Lives Through Enriched Child Spaces

ActionAid Bangladesh's project, "Play, Learn & Grow” supported by ActionAid Italy, marks a significant milestone as it completes a successful 12 months of implementation.
Read More

News

Empowering Shishu Bikash Kendro by Edotco & ActionAid

The partnership between ActionAid Bangladesh and Edotco Group seeks to establish a reliable and environmentally sustainable electricity supply in areas where ActionAid Bangladesh works.
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News

#Child-Led Climate Action at Chanpara Community: #Fund Our Future for a Sustainable World: # Uniting for Climate Justice and Child Rights in 2023

On October 18, 2023, the youth of Chanpara, Bangladesh, assumed a prominent role in the 'Fund our Future' climate justice campaign. They were joined by 280 individuals representing diverse backgrounds, uniting to raise awareness about the adverse effects of climate change in their vulnerable region. The community faces a multitude of challenges, including pollution, overcrowded and substandard housing, a high population density often linked to poverty, and a general lack of environmental consciousness.
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News

Empowering Children for Climate Action: A Shyamnagar Success Story

Together, we can combat climate change! 🌿#ClimateAction #Fund Our Future #Climate Crisis and Child Rights Crisis"
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News

Promoting Environmental Awareness and Action: Combating Plastic Pollution and Reducing Fossil Fuel Use

Awareness and action for a healthy environment are growing among the people. World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5th, focuses on solutions to plastic pollution. In Bakalia, activities included an art competition on "Solutions to plastic pollution" with 128 children participating. A rally and discussion sessions raised public awareness, while a workshop engaged 56 participants, including students, youth, parents, teachers, and local elites. Tree plantation activities were conducted at various locations, and saplings were distributed to schools and families. A cycle rally, awareness campaign, leaflet distribution, and community-wide initiatives involved participants from different groups. These efforts promote awareness and action to combat plastic pollution and protect the environment.
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Event

Capacity-building training on child journalism has motivated children to pursue their dreams:

The objective of the child journalism training is to provide children (trainee journalists) with the concepts and the information that will help them to develop responsible news reporting skills that appreciate and respect children's rights.
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Event

Drama and child competition have an effective power of expression

A child from the drama group Meem (15) said, “while developing the drama script, we were not aware of but after finishing we realized every character of the community has a role to prevent child marriage and we can effectively fit the roles. Along with the parents and community leader, neighbor the role I played has a great responsibility and can positively or negatively tackle child marriage situations.”
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Event

Celebration of Child Rights week 2022 in Social Change

“We girls don't get many opportunities to play sports in our community, especially in public places. But this time on Child Rights Week, a friendly football match competition was organized by ActionAid and BNKS. Where I participate as a team leader. Before the start of the game, my team members and I practiced football in our area for a few days. And this practice was the first-time played football in our life. Playing sports refreshes our minds and increases our social participation. Participating in sports also keeps us physically healthy. Participating in a football match has taught me to think that girls can participate in all social activities, it is our right”, shared by D Hola Wang Marma (16 years adolescent child)
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Event

Children from Sunamganj created awareness among community people during Child Rights Week:

One of the performers, Tamanna (15-year-old) said, “We tried to aware others of the alarming issue of our community. Children are engaging themselves in stone lifting work. After flood, the rate has been increased. It is really alarming as they are dropping out from school. To keep this in mind, we, the cultural team planned to aware others through a street drama, and we did it during Child Rights Week. People from different areas enjoyed the drama, someone even cried. I hope this would be helpful to stop child labor at our community.”
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Event

Children of Ghoraghat are moving towards cultural movement:

This year, Children of Ghoraghat celebrated Child Rights Week through different activities. This time, they focused on street drama presentation as through this, the image of the society can be beautifully displayed. As easily as drama leaves a mark on people's minds, no medium can. So, they decided to portray the image & problems of their area through a street drama.
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Event

An Amusing Picnic Day for Children

Jim (05), a young girl, reading in class two, was very happy to take part in the picnic and shared, “We are very happy that ActionAid Bangladesh arranged this picnic for us. Me and my friends participate in the games. We enjoy a lot. On behalf of all I would cordially thanks to ActionAid to gift us an enjoyable day”.
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Blog, News

Introducing Sahakom Mobile App: Empowering Child Sponsorship Communication through Training of Trainers

ActionAid Bangladesh is thrilled to announce the launch of the Sahakom Mobile App, a groundbreaking technology designed to revolutionize the way we communicate and connect with child sponsors.
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Blog

ClimateInjustice #WaterCrisis

I joined my ActionAid Bangladesh colleagues and volunteers engaged in the preparedness initiatives to mitigate the impact of #cycloneMocha.
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Achievements

The empowerment of women at household and community level, raising awareness of and claiming their rights

The recognition, redistribution and reduction of unpaid care work which keeps women in the private sphere

The increase of women’s access to productive resources, markets and knowledge of sustainable practices, which will ensure women continue to have a livelihood in the longer term

Affecting policy and institutional change to provide an enabling environment that supports women’s economic empowerment

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