Income and Its Variability against Poverty: A Study on Char Women in Northern Bangladesh

Abstract

The main focus of the study is to assess the income variability of char women through participation in the CLP programme in Bangladesh. To improve the status and empowerment of women is a central progress in global development; perhaps more importantly, the achievement of equitable treatment makes it crucial to represent women. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether the project of the Chars Livelihoods Programme leads to economically developed women in char society. Actually, the char area is apart from the mainland, and people suffer greatly from natural calamities in Bangladesh. All of these burdens fall on the women in a family. So, the study was conducted on char women in the riverine area of northwest Bangladesh. For taking an empowerment approach within a framework, CLP women beneficiaries and non-beneficiary women were considered for this study. In addition, secondary data were used to show the initiatives of the Chars Livelihoods Programme in those areas. However, the research findings showed that the empowerment status of women who are engaged in CLP activities increased compared to non-CLP women. The research findings also showed that, after the introduction of CLP, 60.8% of respondents became involved in IGA’s practice. The findings also showed that CLP had a great impact on women’s income. About 72.5% of the CLP women were in the medium income category, while non-CLP women were in the low category (70%). About 45% of respondents took credit from CLP. Most of the respondents (96.7%) of CLP beneficiaries received high to medium training. The analytical results of the findings offer strong support for the relationship of women’s empowerment with household income, women’s personal income, access to credit, training received, extent of participation in IGAs, and access to resources provided through CLP, which explained 60.9% of the total variance of women’s empowerment. This study highlights the significance of training received (29.1% contribution) to CLP women’s empowerment, compared to 13.7% for non-CLP women. The above-mentioned findings indicate that the programme activities had a positive and significant influence on women’s empowerment. The study also recommends that women build up their power against violence. However, the study findings will be valuable for extension workers, policymakers, and international donors in designing policies and programmes to improve women’s present condition in char lands. The findings and recommendations provide valuable insights to develop organizations for involving more women to expand women’s rights in char land.