Meet Shefalika. A mother of two, her story is typical of many other young women in rural Bangladesh – but with support from UP, she has turned her entrepreneurial dreams into reality and transformed her life.
Now 36, Shefalika entered an arranged marriage when she was just 15. Despite her uncertainty, she went along with her family’s decision and lived unhappily with her husband for a few years. After the birth of her second child (who has disabilities), her husband got married to another woman – at which point Shefalika left him to move back in with her parents.
Unfortunately, she and her parents struggled with poverty and often she was not able to provide enough food for everyone. In an attempt to bring in more money, she moved to the nearest city to work in a clothing factory. She worked there for three years, and managed to scrape together enough money to build a larger house for her family.
Juggling work and family
But as the needs of her ageing parents and her youngest child grew, she was forced to leave her job in the city to take care of them.
To make ends meet, Shefalika started raising chickens and pigs, and sought out training on mushroom cultivation and tailoring from the Department of Women’s Affairs. The money she earnt went towards paying her eldest son’s school fees and her youngest son’s medical treatment. She lived with a high level of insecurity for several years, working night and day to provide for her family.
The power of women coming together
In November 2019, Shefalika became involved with our nutrition project. She saw an opportunity to put her entrepreneurial skills to use, and made a plan with several other women in her village to launch their own Women’s Business Centre. She invested tk. 5,000 (50 GBP) of her own savings and a loan from a relative into this venture.
After receiving training as part of our project, Shefalika led the first awareness campaign in her village on maternal and child nutrition. This provided the community with vital information, as well as generating business for the fledgling Women’s Business Centre.
Along with nutritious, locally produced food, the Centre also sells clothing that Shefalika makes herself. Thanks to its popularity, all loans were quickly paid off and Shefalika is now earning enough to support her entire family and further expand her business. She is continuing to run the nutrition awareness sessions and has also begun campaigning to prevent child marriage and promote maternal health.
Context:
Shefalika was supported as part of our five-year ‘Leadership to Ensure Adequate Nutrition’ project in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, funded by the European Commission and implemented in consortium. The project aims to improve maternal and child nutrition in three core areas: (i) improved nutrition governance; (ii) increased community-led nutrition awareness; (iii) strengthened local value chains. To achieve these aims, UP trains local leaders, like Shefalika, through the Women’s Business Centres to disseminate relevant nutrition information.