Madhabi Rani, 36, a member of the PPEPP-EU project from Shoulmari Union in Jaldhaka Upazila, Nilphamari, was recently awarded the prestigious “Indomitable Women’s Award 2025” (Adammo Nari award) by the Department of Women Affairs. This award recognises her outstanding contributions to the community, particularly her efforts for the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Despite being a woman with a physical disability, Madhabi has become a strong voice for persons with disabilities in her Union. With support of the PPEPP-EU project, she has become a member of the standing committee on Social Welfare and Disaster Management of the Shoulmari Union Parishad. As a committee member, she regularly attends meetings and speaks up for the mainstreaming of persons with disabilities and their inclusion in social safety net programs. She is also a member of the Persons with Disabilities forum, one of the social platforms under the PPEPP-EU project.
Madhabi’s journey, however, has not been easy. Born into an extremely poor family, she could only pursue her education until the tenth grade. She married early, at 16 and became the mother of two children. Her husband, Ranjit Sarkar, is a daily labourer who earns just enough to cover their basic household expenses, leaving the family with no savings.
Realising that her husband’s income alone was inadequate, Madhabi was seeking an income-generating activity in her community. However, the social perception towards persons with disabilities limited her access to available livelihood options.
In 2022, Madhabi received a BDT 30,000 loan from SHARP, an implementing partner organisation of the PPEPP-EU project and bought a cow. Before receiving the loan, she received intensive training in cow rearing from PPEPP-EU. Building on her success, she later received a BDT 12,000 grant to start safe vegetable cultivation. Madhabi and her husband started cultivating hybrid cabbage on 15 decimals of leased land beside their home. With technical support and hands-on guidance on bed preparation and on seed, fertiliser, and pesticide management from the project, the first harvest in that season earned her approximately BDT 18,000.
Encouraged by this success, she took a second loan of BDT 40,000 from the PPEPP-EU project, leased another 10 decimals of land and expanded her vegetable cultivation. Today, she owns three cows and two goats and receives livestock services from the Upazila Livestock Department. With the project’s support, she also received a Suborno Nagorik card and gets disability allowance.
Reflecting on her journey, Madhabi said, “I am grateful to the PPEPP-EU project for receiving all the technical and financial support, connection with government offices and teaching me the process for inclusion in different available services. Now, my family and I are in a much better position today than before.”