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.  

Explore

News

Growing a Sustainable Future for Children: Spice Tree Sapling Distribution in Thanchi's Hilly Areas

On the date of on May 30, 2023, ActionAid Bangladesh and its partner organization promote ecological balance and climate sustainability in Thanchi's hilly area by distributing spice tree saplings to empower 68 children and young women for a greener future. Planting these saplings restores biodiversity, balances ecosystems, and educates the community about the importance of planting.
Read More

Publications

News

Amplifying Youth and Children's Voices: Mobilizing Children for Climate Action in Bangladesh

In May 2023, a training session was conducted for partner organizations, including all LRPs staff, to effectively engage children in climate justice activities.
Read More

News

Empowering Children and Parents through Psychosocial Counseling and Positive Parenting

Samiul (18), one of the participants, expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative, stating, "The training provided us with valuable insights that benefit both adults and children. The session on Depression, Stress, and Suicide particularly resonated with me, as many of our peers experience depression, sometimes leading to thoughts of self-harm. We identified the underlying causes and devised a six-month action plan. I will share what I've learned with children and parents in our community to promote a healthy life and environment for every child." " Anisa (35) expressed her transformative experience with the training, stating, "I was unfamiliar with the term 'positive parenting' until now. This training completely changed my perspective on effective parenting. I am committed to sharing this knowledge with other parents in our community. Personally, I will implement these techniques with my younger daughter in sixth grade. I will prioritize spending quality time with her and strive to be her closest confidante, ensuring her emotional development. I am grateful to ActionAid for granting me the opportunity to participate in the Psychosocial Counseling and Positive Parenting ToT."
Read More

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.
Read More

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.
Read More

News

Growing a Sustainable Future for Children: Spice Tree Sapling Distribution in Thanchi's Hilly Areas

On the date of on May 30, 2023, ActionAid Bangladesh and its partner organization promote ecological balance and climate sustainability in Thanchi's hilly area by distributing spice tree saplings to empower 68 children and young women for a greener future. Planting these saplings restores biodiversity, balances ecosystems, and educates the community about the importance of planting.
Read More

News

Amplifying Youth and Children's Voices: Mobilizing Children for Climate Action in Bangladesh

In May 2023, a training session was conducted for partner organizations, including all LRPs staff, to effectively engage children in climate justice activities.
Read More

News

Empowering Children and Parents through Psychosocial Counseling and Positive Parenting

Samiul (18), one of the participants, expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative, stating, "The training provided us with valuable insights that benefit both adults and children. The session on Depression, Stress, and Suicide particularly resonated with me, as many of our peers experience depression, sometimes leading to thoughts of self-harm. We identified the underlying causes and devised a six-month action plan. I will share what I've learned with children and parents in our community to promote a healthy life and environment for every child." " Anisa (35) expressed her transformative experience with the training, stating, "I was unfamiliar with the term 'positive parenting' until now. This training completely changed my perspective on effective parenting. I am committed to sharing this knowledge with other parents in our community. Personally, I will implement these techniques with my younger daughter in sixth grade. I will prioritize spending quality time with her and strive to be her closest confidante, ensuring her emotional development. I am grateful to ActionAid for granting me the opportunity to participate in the Psychosocial Counseling and Positive Parenting ToT."
Read More

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.
Read More

Blog, News

Being trained in leadership, the children of Kurigram are already planning to work on climate change and justice.

Child leadership refers to developing leadership skills in children, while cultural movement refers to the promotion & preservation of cultural values & practices.
Read More

News

Children participated in the 'Walk for Water' campaign to show respect and value for water

The idea of “Walk for Water', was a new concept for me and so I was eager to take part in ActionAid's events for water. Participating in the awareness sessions and other events organized by ActionAid made me rethink the importance of water in our lives. I am more committed to conserving water and making its responsible use in my daily life. We have to save water with efficient use and harvest rainwater.”, uttered Baishakhi (18 years old) from Ghoraghat, who attended the awareness sessions on the importance of water as a part of observing World Water Day 2023.
Read More

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.
Read More

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.”
Read More

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)
Read More

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.”
Read More

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.
Read More

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”.
Read More

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.
Read More

Blog

ClimateInjustice #WaterCrisis

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

Blog, News

Being trained in leadership, the children of Kurigram are already planning to work on climate change and justice.

Child leadership refers to developing leadership skills in children, while cultural movement refers to the promotion & preservation of cultural values & practices.
Read More

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

Related Projects

Projects

MAKING MARKET WORK FOR WOMEN

In Bangladesh, nutrition and SRH care are interlinked problems: poor food intake causes malnourishment, which leads to poor health and poor SRH perpetuates the inter-generational cycle of undernourishment. Deficiencies in nutrition and SRH care result in poor labor productivity and market performance. One of the key factors leading to (women’s) intake of poor nutritional food at home, poor reproductive, maternal and sexual health stems from lack of life skills (on SRH). Thus, poor reproductive health conditions adversely affect women’s ability to participate in activities outside of the home, which in turn manifests itself as their inability to participate in and shape the market.
Read More