‘I am more confident now’

Murzina Khatun, 27, is a mother of three and the treasurer for the local all-women pilot group of the “Growing Together” Project in Velarpara, a village in Mithapukur upazila, Rangpur. The Growing Together Project was launched by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), an international development organization that has worked in Bangladesh since 1974 to ensure that marginalized women and men in some of the country’s poorest districts can participate and benefit from economic and social development, according to a press release. Having joined the first pilot group in the area in 2014, Murzina learnt farming techniques that she has been able to pass on to her husband to support their family as they cultivate their own leased land. Murzina shares her experiences with the project, saying: “I have been taught what amount of fertilizer or pesticide to use, and in turn, have passed this on. Because my husband and I work together, it is easy to practice this new knowledge.” “My husband listens to me when I tell him how we should do things,” she added. So far, Murzina’s group has made Tk34,000 by selling their production to a local trader. They have reinvested this money in crops. Murzina is now able to support her children’s education. She said: “My husband would prefer to spend our share of the profit on cultivation. But I have decided to spend my share on my children's education. Currently this costs me almost Tk1,000 per month.” Murzina’s experience is a classic success story of women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh. She said: “When only my husband was earning for the family, I would always need his permission to spend money. But as now I myself am farming as part of a group, I have my own money and can take decisions myself. “I am more confident now.”