Asma-Ul-Husna (33), a person with a physical disability, married off at an early age of 16 and conceived her first child two years later. One year after giving birth to the child, Asma’s husband left her and married someone else. Three years after her marriage, she was divorced with a daughter to feed. The story could easily end here, but for Asma, it’s just the beginning of her journey of resilience and determination.
Losing her place and identity, Asma returned to her father’s home where she grew up—Satkhira’s Shyamnagar upazila’s Gabura Union. Gabura is one of Bangladesh’s few Unions whose inhabitants live fighting against all the odds of mother nature—cyclones, tidal waves, river erosion, and salinity intrusion.
The reason Asma was forced to get married was her physical inability and her father’s struggle to run the five-member family- husband, wife and three daughters. With Asma’s divorce and return, their struggle has multiplied now, which forced her to look for employment opportunities. Unfortunately, she was rejected socially and from all potential job opportunities.
She was not earning much from her midwifery practice. Looking forward, she became a PPEPP-EU member and received a sewing machine and a 30-day tailoring training. Taking a BDT 20 thousand loan from NGF, a downstream partner of the project, she bought the required inputs and started making hand-sewn clothes for the locals. Now, she often trains the locals on tailoring and earns some extra.
Subsequently, she bought two goats using part of her profit and the emergency assistance received from PPEPP-EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her goats multiplied in numbers and she sold six of them. Now, she has five goats and some ducks in the shed. Her monthly income stands around BDT 16,000 from all her income sources, of which she bears the education expenses of her daughter reading in class three.
PPEPP-EU provides IGA training and technical and financial support to many like Asma to help them contribute to their household income by engaging in farm, off-farm, and other viable IGAs. As many living in coastal areas often lose their livelihoods due to climatic hazards—many of their crops, fisheries, and livestock get washed away—it is easier for them to engage in off-farm activities.
With the assistance of the PPEPP-EU project, Asma has got the Subarna Nagorik card, a government-issued identity card for persons with disability. Now, she receives a quarterly disability allowance under the government’s social safety net programme. PPEPP-EU works as the bridge between the participants and the local government offices to ensure their inclusion in the safety net scheme.
