LocationsFrom Destitution to Dignity: Women Who Rewrote the Script
August 6, 2025
SWAPNO women in Pirojpur stand proudly with UNDP team, symbolizing resilience, dignity, and new beginnings.
By Tanvir Mahmud, Senior Governance Specialist, Democratic Governance Cluster, UNDP Bangladesh
It was a rainy morning when we arrived in a remote area of Pirojpur—a district exposed to climate and economic fragility. As I stepped into the Union Parishad courtyard (lower tier of local government), around 36 women greeted us, not as aid recipients, but as proud contributors to their families and communities. Once landless, food-insecure, and socially invisible, they are now earners, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers. Thanks to the Strengthening Women’s Ability for Productive New Opportunities (SWAPNO) project, implemented jointly by the Local Government Division and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from the Swedish Government and Marico.
From hunger to hope
Many of these women once went to bed hungry. Today, they run small businesses, raise livestock, sew clothes, and send their children to school. One woman beamed with pride as she told me her daughter is now studying at a university.
This shift is driven by the SWAPNO project. Through SWAPNO’s cash-for-work programme, they received daily wages for public works, with one-fifth of the savings compulsory. These savings became the seed for entrepreneurship. Beyond Income, they gained Voice, Visibility, and Respect.
Perhaps the most striking change I saw in Pirojpur was not economic but social. These women, once shy, hesitant to speak even in small gatherings, now spoke confidently in a room full of people. Their social standing has shifted. They are now invited to neighbors’ weddings, given groceries on credit by shopkeepers, and consulted by neighbors.
The Acting Chair of that Union Parishad who is also female admitted:
“They’ve changed how we see them—and how they see themselves.”
This is the poverty–power nexus in action. SWAPNO challenges us to see Poverty is not only a matter of income. It is also a condition of being unheard, unseen, and unrecognized.
Smart systems that empower this transformation are not incidental. SWAPNO was deliberately designed with empowerment in mind: focusing on accountability, dignity, and inclusion. Their wage payments are made through mobile banking, ensuring direct transfers to women’s own accounts. This not only minimizes leakages but also builds financial literacy and confidence in engaging with formal systems.
Health Insurance: A Safety Net within the Safety Net
One of the most inspiring stories I heard that day came from a woman who had, for the first time in her life, accessed health insurance. Once, a minor illness meant debt and hunger. Now, she walks into clinics with confidence. This safety net within a safety net shows the power of integrating health into livelihood support, driven by SWAPNO.
UNDP and local partners plant a coconut sapling in Pirojpur, symbolizing resilience, nutrition, and a greener future under the SWAPNO project.
Planting dignity, resilience, and nutrition
During our visit, Marico Bangladesh, a partner from the private sector, distributed coconut saplings to project members, specially women, symbolizing more than green growth. They represent nutrition, income, and long-term resilience, rooted in women’s hands.
From Public Works to Enterprise
As we celebrated the inspiring stories of entrepreneurship and empowerment, one message came through clearly from the women themselves: this is just the beginning. With the cash-for-work phase complete, many have launched micro-enterprises using their savings and training. But they know the road ahead may not be without challenges.
Their message to both government and the private sector was clear: “Help us move from trying to thriving. Let’s do this together.” This is where the next phase of innovation lies—in aligning public and private actors to ensure that the gains made through SWAPNO are sustained, scaled, and adapted for different contexts.
From Local to the National
SWAPNO, as a field model, serves as both a laboratory and a lighthouse—UNDP will bring those learning into national-level policy influencing work. UNDP’s Social Protection Policy Support (SPPS) project, which partners with the Cabinet Division and Planning Commission of Bangladesh. With support from the Australian Government, we are helping build a citizen-centric, shock-responsive social protection system, featuring unified registries, digital platforms, and better inter-ministerial coordination.
The Road Ahead
SWAPNO’s women are not statistics. They are evidence of what’s possible.
That rainy day in Pirojpur will stay with me—not just for the stories I heard, but for the lesson it offered: when development respects the dignity of people and puts power back into their hands, even the most fragile places can become sites of resilience.
The real question now is: will we scale it—bravely, equitably, and systemically?
SWAPNO empowers rural women to rise from poverty to leadership through dignity, resilience, and opportunity.
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