Bangladesh Resident Mission

Roads to Change

Background

At a colorful stall in the biweekly market at Pan Bazaar in northwestern Bangladesh, Azizur Rahman sells onions, garlic, chillies, and other spices. He has been a regular seller at this haat, or rural bazaar, for 22 years. “Sales have definitely risen since the market and the road were improved,” he says. “Before that, my weekly sales brought in 800–900 taka. Now it’s more like 1,200–1,500 taka.”

More people come to the market now, he says, because there is an all-weather road that is open even during the monsoon season. And shopping is a more pleasant experience because of the better environment at the haat itself. Especially important in a rain-prone country like Bangladesh are the concrete platforms and the rain shelters. No longer do sellers and buyers have to squish through muddy paths or buy soggy goods.

With a per capita income of $333 a year, Bangladesh remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Reducing poverty is the single most important challenge facing the nation. Given that the rural poor make up about half the total population, it is crucial to expand employment opportunities and raise incomes in the villages so people stay in the countryside rather than move to Dhaka and other cities to look for work.

The ADB-supported Rural Infrastructure Development Project, now in its third phase, reduces migration to towns by creating opportunities in rural areas. The project is improving rural markets and building better access roads to them. Although the project benefits all people in these rural communities, its impact is particularly changing the lives of rural women, including some of the very poorest of the poor.

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New Concept for the Country

An innovative idea implemented through the project is putting in place “women’s sections” in the haats.

Murshida Begum is one woman who has benefited from this concept. She has a small shop in the women’s section of the haat, where she sells utensils and glassware. When the haat was improved and expanded in 1999, one part of it was set aside for shops to be run by women.

Before that, women had little or no opportunity to sell anything at the market. The social norms in rural Bangladesh make it difficult for women to set up stalls side by side with male shopkeepers. Now the haat management committee has allotted 10 shops to women entrepreneurs.

“This is a new concept in Bangladesh,” says Mohammad Abdul Rashid, Chairman of the Haat Management Committee. And it seems to be working to the benefit of numerous women.

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Bringing Opportunities to Rural Women

In a similar scheme in the village of Pawtana, Murshida Begum runs a tailor’s shop. “I used to stitch at home, which is about half a kilometer away,” she says. “But it’s much more profitable here.” Since moving to the market, her monthly profits have doubled from Tk1,500 to Tk3,000. “There are more customers and I can charge higher prices,” explains Murshida Begum.

Nayantara Begum sells cloth and ready-made garments. “Both men and women shop here,” she says, with the men often buying lungis (sarongs) and the women saris. Before she was allotted this shop, she ran a small business from home, making Tk500–Tk700 a month. In one year, her income has shot up to Tk3,000–Tk4,000 a month.

Nayantara Begum is understandably happy with the women’s section. “It is a good scheme,” she says with satisfaction. “I had seen women running shops in Dhaka, but never before in this region.” Despite the profits, she is positive social norms would prevent her from simply putting up a stall elsewhere in the haat. “If there were no women’s section, it would not be possible for me to run a shop,” she says.

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Ending Hardship for Poor, Single Women

Social norms can be even more oppressive for unmarried women who live below the poverty line, often preventing them from earning a living for themselves and their children. Traditionally, women do not work outside the home in rural Bangladesh. This leaves single women, usually widowed or divorced, in a precarious situation. As rural women tend to marry at a young age, they often have children to support as well.

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), responsible for building rural access roads, employs women to maintain roadside plantations. The women work in groups of six to tend trees, shrubs, and grass planted by LGED along a 3-kilometer stretch of road. The Union Parishad, the lowest-level government body, selects the women based on need.

Halima Khatun is the leader of a women’s group working on a stretch of road leading to the haat at Pawtana. Her husband, a landless agricultural laborer, died 3 years ago, leaving her to support 5 small children. “Before this scheme, I had nothing,” she says. For 2 years she worked as a household helper for rich neighbors in exchange for rice. In addition, she earned about Tk100 a week selling cloth.

Now her group has a 2-year contract with LGED. Halima Khatun earns Tk43 a day and works 30 days a month. She has an account in a bank in Pawtana, she says with some pride. The LGED scheme requires her to save at least Tk10 a day, but she tries to save a little extra. In 11 months, she has already saved Tk3,000. When her contract expires and she can withdraw her savings, she hopes she will have enough to buy a cow, so that she can sell milk.

By supporting these innovative schemes, the project is helping improve rural infrastructure, raise household incomes, and create employment opportunities for poor women.

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