SWAPNO (Strengthening Women's Ability for Productive New Opportunities), a productive employment and climate adaptive livelihoods-based poverty graduation project and joint initiative of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (MoLGRD&C), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Marico Bangladesh Ltd, has recently reported significant progress in empowering Bangladesh's ultra-poor rural women - specifically those who are divorced, abandoned, separated, widowed or left with a disabled husband.
Marico, a major stakeholder in the SWAPNO project, has significantly contributed to empowering the project's beneficiaries by ensuring sustainable livelihoods for them, says a press release.
Highlighted as one of Bangladesh's flagship social safety net projects (as certified by the Cabinet Division), SWAPNO has worked in five poverty-stricken and climate-vulnerable districts: Satkhira, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Jamalpur, and Gaibandha.
The project has yielded impressive results since its inception, benefiting 588 women-headed households with formal employment (in RMG and leather sectors) and another 393 through local enterprise development projects, namely Bindu, Shunipun, Kallyani, Deshi, Areca, Dhorola etc., fostering significant sustainable economic growth in the targeted regions.
The initiatives undertaken by SWAPNO beneficiaries have resulted in a significant financial contribution to their household average annual income.
Internal analysis of the project has revealed that the approximate financial contribution to the economy from this project is over BDT 100 crore, highlighting SWAPNO's substantial potential for income generation and economic resilience.
SWAPNO's focus on climate-resilient skills training has also facilitated the beneficiaries in establishing climate-adaptive household micro businesses such as sack cultivation, vermicompost production, etc.
SWAPNO has played a pivotal role in disaster risk reduction, maintaining 14,567 disaster-affected public assets, and providing gender-responsive training to 5,472 Union Disaster Management Committee (UDMC) members from 171 Union Parishads.
Through the project, houses have been allocated for 101 beneficiaries, further safeguarding their livelihoods.
The project has enabled its beneficiaries access health services by introducing micro-health insurance and creating linkages with over 300 community clinics.
Speaking about SWAPNO's latest accomplishments, Rajat Diwaker, Managing Director of Marico Bangladesh Limited, said, "Marico's commitment to the SWAPNO initiative remains firm.
Our collaboration with SWAPNO aligns with Marico's values of fostering inclusive growth and making a meaningful impact in the communities we operate in. We look forward to celebrating more shared successes in the years to come."
