Women Entrepreneurship

Credit for Women

Governmental and NGO programmes which provide collateral free loans have assumed tremendous importance in providing credit to poor women in Bangladesh. A few examples are:

1. The Bangladesh Rural Development Board's Women's Programme covers 190 thanas and has provided credit to 100,830 members through 5,915 societies. 200 million Tk. was disbursed in 1996 of which 120 million was from the bank and 80 million from the women's savings (up to end 1996).
    

2. The Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) has disbursed about 600 million Tk. through 100 NGOs, which has reached 167,027 women and 22,293 men (up to June, 1994).
    

3. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) has disbursed a cumulative amount of 11,714 million through 4.25 million Tk. loans to 45,542 women and 3,364 men (up to June 1996).
    

4. Grameen Bank (GB) has disbursed a cumulative amount of Tk 65,509.8 million to 1,937,348 women (as of December 1996).
    

5. The Association for Social Advancement (ASA) has disbursed a cumulative amount of 3,411 million Tk. 495,423 women and 348 men as of June 1996.
    

6. Women's Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WEDP) The objective is to develop women as entrepreneurs by providing them training and credit facilities to establish small scale manufacturing and service units. The project has so far assisted thousands women entrepreneurs to set up independent business enterprises.

Employment for Rural Women

Several ministries of have programmes targeting rural women and employment. Below is a sample of the activities in this area.

The Agro-Based Development Programme for Women aims at developing women's skills in poultry raising, vegetable cultivation and small scale fisheries through practical training. Women are also given training in family planning, literacy, child care, health and nutrition etc. and credit support for income generating activities. The programme is implemented by the Department of Women's Affairs

a.  The Rural Maintenance Programme employs over 50,000 rural women to maintain 60,000 miles of earthen roads. In the programme, women are employed as labourers and supervisors for a period four years, during which they are given training and assistance for self-employment after completion of the contract. Implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department, in collaboration with CARE International and Union Parishads, the programme has contributed to improved rural communication and marketing.

b. The Population Control Through Women's Cooperative project began in 1974 to develop rural women's cooperatives. The project, implemented through the Bangladesh Rural Development Board, offers family planning motivation and services integrated with income generation activities. Ten training cum production centres have been established to develop women's vocational skills, where women cooperative leaders are trained at thana (sub-district) level, and then act as trainers for their group members. By 1992, the project covered over 3,000 women's cooperative societies.

c.  Started in 1975, and popularly known as the "Mothers' Club", the Use of Rural Mother's Centres for Population Activities project integrates population activities with human development efforts. The project involves women in self-employment activities and seeks motivate women towards establishing a small family norm. Skill development training to help women develop self-employment opportunities, functional education on maternal and child care, nutrition and family planning are all integrated parts of the project, which is administered by the Ministry of Social Service.