Empowering Coastal Women: The WECE Program
Nirmol Bangladesh's Women Empowerment and Community Entrepreneurship (WECE) program is reimagined to build climate resilience and create sustainable livelihoods for women in Bangladesh's vulnerable coastal communities.
Our Dedicated Team
Meet the passionate individuals leading the WECE Program, committed to fostering economic independence and leadership among women in coastal Bangladesh.
Nusrat Jahan Nitu
Program Manager
Dr. Maria Zaman
Program Supervisor
Maisha Farzana Methila
Gender & Livelihoods Lead
Fabiha Kobir Toha
Entrepreneurship & Market Access Lead
Sajjad Hossain Sakin
M&E Specialist
Monirujjaman Momin
Communications & Advocacy Lead
Md. Towhidur Rahman
Partnership & Donor Relations Officer
Sheikh Fahim Faysal Sowrav
Training & Curriculum Specialist
Md. Washikur Rahman
Financial Inclusion Specialist
Program Overview: A Holistic Approach
The WECE Program is a comprehensive initiative by Nirmol Bangladesh designed to foster economic independence and leadership among women, particularly in vulnerable coastal communities. It's structured around interconnected pillars to create sustainable change.
Core Vision & Goals
The program aims to significantly enhance the economic autonomy, entrepreneurial success, and leadership roles of at least 5,000 women in vulnerable coastal communities by 2030 through successful and climate-resilient entrepreneurial ventures.
It seeks to equip women with comprehensive business management skills, financial literacy, and market-relevant and climate-adaptive vocational skills, empowering them to thrive amidst environmental challenges.
Key Program Components
- Climate-Adaptive Vocational & Business Skills: Tailored training for resilient livelihoods.
- Access to Resilient Finance & Financial Literacy: Financial products and knowledge for climate shocks.
- Sustainable Market Access & Value Chain Development: Connecting products to viable, green markets.
- Leadership, Mentorship & Agency: Fostering women's voice in climate adaptation.
- Policy Advocacy & Enabling Environment: Challenging norms and creating supportive policies.
The Intersecting Challenge
This section outlines the profound, dual challenge facing women in Bangladesh. We begin with the national landscape of economic disparity and then focus on how climate change acts as a devastating risk multiplier for women in coastal regions, creating a cycle of extreme vulnerability that demands a specialized, resilient approach.
A National Disparity
Across Bangladesh, women face systemic barriers to economic participation. The data reveals a significant gap in employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, compounded by limited access to finance and digital technology. This foundational inequality sets the stage for even greater challenges in vulnerable areas.
Climate as a Risk Multiplier: The Coastal Reality
For women in coastal regions, national economic disparities are severely amplified by climate change. Rising seas, soil salinity, and extreme weather destroy traditional livelihoods, deepen poverty, and intensify existing social inequalities, making their situation uniquely precarious.
Livelihood Destruction
Salinity intrusion and erosion destroy arable land and fisheries, which are the primary sources of income. This forces migration and deepens poverty.
Health & Sanitation Crisis
Lack of potable water and poor sanitation, worsened by climate events, lead to severe health issues, particularly affecting women's reproductive health.
Economic Subjugation
Women's wages in coastal areas are often half of the men's minimum wage. They have less control over assets and limited adaptive capacity to financial shocks.
An Integrated, Resilient Solution: Activities & Impacts
To address this complex challenge, the enhanced WECE program provides a holistic, five-pronged solution. Each component is designed to be interconnected, building upon the others to create a comprehensive support system that fosters true economic independence and climate resilience. Explore the tabs below to understand how each piece contributes to empowering coastal women, detailing key activities and their anticipated impacts.
1. Climate-Adaptive Vocational & Business Skills
This component moves beyond generic training to equip women with skills for livelihoods that can withstand climate shocks. Business training integrates climate risk assessment and sustainable planning, ensuring new enterprises are built to last.
Key Activities:
- Vocational/Business Training Workshops: Focused on salt-tolerant agriculture, diversified aquaculture, climate-smart food processing, and digital skills for location-independent work.
- Curriculum Development: Creating tailored curricula that integrate climate risk assessment and sustainable business planning.
- Provision of Tools & Kits: Supplying vocational tools and business kits relevant to climate-adaptive trades.
Anticipated Impacts:
- Increased adoption of climate-resilient livelihood strategies.
- Enhanced entrepreneurial capacity among coastal women.
- Reduced vulnerability of livelihoods to climate shocks.
Strategic Enhancements: From Generic to Specific
This section provides a clear, side-by-side comparison of the program's evolution. It illustrates how each component has been strategically updated from a general empowerment model to a targeted, climate-smart approach specifically designed for the coastal context. This pivot is crucial for delivering meaningful and sustainable impact.
Original Approach: Vocational Skills
Provided general vocational training based on broad market demand.
Coastal Enhancement ✔
Focuses on climate-resilient livelihoods like salt-tolerant agriculture and digital services. Integrates climate risk into business planning.
Original Approach: Finance
General financial literacy and linkages to standard micro-finance institutions (MFIs).
Coastal Enhancement ✔
Promotes climate insurance and flexible loans. Addresses collateral barriers for coastal women and includes digital financial literacy.
Original Approach: Leadership
General leadership training and network building.
Coastal Enhancement ✔
Focuses on building agency for women to lead in local climate adaptation and disaster management committees.
Probable Outcomes & Key Deliverables
The WECE program is designed to achieve tangible results, fostering significant improvements in women's economic well-being and community resilience. This section outlines the expected long-term impacts and the concrete outputs that will drive this transformation.
Probable Outcomes
- Significant enhancement in the economic autonomy and entrepreneurial success of coastal women.
- Increased adoption of climate-resilient livelihood strategies among target beneficiaries.
- Improved access to and control over financial resources for women in coastal areas.
- Greater participation and influence of women in local decision-making, particularly in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
- Strengthened supportive ecosystem and reduced systemic barriers for women-led businesses.
- Enhanced adaptive capacity of coastal women and their communities to climate shocks.
Key Deliverables
- Detailed Logical Framework (LogFrame) with indicators, means of verification, and assumptions.
- Comprehensive Budget Breakdown.
- Detailed Work Plan/Gantt Chart for each program phase.
- Curriculum Outlines for climate-adaptive vocational and business training modules.
- Profiles of Key Program Personnel.
- Letters of Support from Partner Organizations and Community Representatives.
- Baseline Report on Women's Economic Participation and Entrepreneurship Barriers in coastal areas.
- Risk Management Matrix.
Partnering for Impact: Funding Opportunities
The WECE program offers a unique and impactful opportunity for international donors and development partners to invest in climate-resilient women's economic empowerment. Our strategic alignment with global goals and targeted approach ensures maximum return on investment.
Probable Budget Overview
The program's budget is structured to ensure efficient allocation of resources across all vital components, maximizing direct impact on beneficiaries and operational effectiveness. A detailed breakdown is available in the comprehensive budget document.
- Personnel Costs: Program management, specialists (gender/livelihoods, entrepreneurship/market access, M&E, communications, financial inclusion, training).
- Program Activities: Workshops, training, financial literacy, mentorship, market fairs, digital platform development, policy research, advocacy.
- Training Materials & Equipment: Curricula, vocational tools, business kits.
- Financial Inclusion Support: Seed capital (if applicable), MFI linkage fees.
- Travel & Logistics: Field visits, workshop venues, event participation.
- Communication & M&E: Material production, media, surveys, evaluations.
- Operational & Administrative Costs: Office overhead, utilities, communication, audit.
- Contingency: A percentage of the total budget for unforeseen circumstances.
Why Invest in WECE?
The WECE program stands out as a high-impact investment due to its:
- Climate-Smart Approach: Directly addresses climate vulnerability, a key donor priority.
- Gender-Transformative Focus: Goes beyond empowerment to challenge systemic inequalities.
- Holistic & Integrated Solution: Addresses economic, social, and environmental dimensions.
- Strong SDG Alignment: Contributes directly to multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13).
- Robust M&E Framework: Ensures accountability and measurable impact.
- Local Contextualization: Tailored specifically for the unique needs of coastal women in Bangladesh.
Types of Projects We Seek
We are actively seeking partnerships for projects that align with our core objectives and enhance climate resilience:
- **Climate-Resilient Livelihood Incubation:** Projects supporting the development and scaling of new, climate-adaptive enterprises (e.g., salt-tolerant aquaculture, eco-tourism, digital services).
- **Financial Inclusion for Resilience:** Initiatives to expand micro-insurance, flexible credit, and digital financial services tailored for coastal women.
- **Digital Literacy & Market Access Platforms:** Projects developing and deploying digital tools to connect women entrepreneurs to broader markets.
- **Community-Led Climate Adaptation:** Projects empowering women to lead and participate in local climate action and disaster preparedness.
- **Gender Norm Transformation Campaigns:** Initiatives focused on engaging communities and men to challenge restrictive social norms and promote women's agency.
- **Research & Innovation:** Studies on emerging climate-resilient livelihood opportunities and gender-responsive adaptation strategies in coastal areas.
Measuring and Aligning for Global Impact
The enhanced WECE program is not only designed for local impact but is also meticulously aligned with global development priorities. This section visualizes its direct contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hover over each goal to see how our targeted interventions create a ripple effect, advancing a broader agenda for a sustainable and equitable future.
No Poverty
Gender Equality
Clean Water & Sanitation
Decent Work & Economic Growth
Reduced Inequalities
Climate Action