By supporting my comunity I learned my true value
Jasmin Akter has been trained to assist agricultural producers in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, Bangladesh: an opportunity to contribute to her family's needs, but mostly a way to boost her confidence and claim a greater role for women in their communities.
“I had nothing: no income, no self-identity. But today I have everything – a business, an identity, income and, most importantly, respect from everyone.” Jasmin Akter (27)– a woman Local Service Provider (LSP), from the remote upazila Naikhongchari of Bandarban district in the Chattogram division went through a remarkable journey that led her to become a successful entrepreneur.
Today, she runs her own agriculture input business, named Jasmin Akter Beej Vandar (seed storage) in Combonia para, and she earns 10,000 to 15,000 BDT per month. However, the path to get there was not easy. In the past, Jasmin's life was fraught with challenges. “In those days, my family could barely manage two meals a day" she reveals. "My husband was a day labourer and hardly earned enough to meet the family's basic needs. Even I was often starving during my pregnancy and my first baby was starving too. We had nothing.”
Jasmin was no exception to the other women in her community. Constrained by patriarchal norms that limit women’s mobility in the name of “family honour”, she was initially hesitant to start her own economic activity or step into a public role.
Despite these obstacles, Jasmin’s strong desire to overcome hardships for herself and her children fuelled her journey. Her story took a significant turn when she learned about the LSP training organized by Helvetas under the Leadership to Ensure Adequate Nutrition (LEAN) Project. However, the journey was not easy, “when I started work, people in my and neighbour communities did not perceive it well, and I had to face a lot of criticism. To address such obstacles, I invited community local leaders, chairman, UP members in different awareness sessions, which supported me to roll out and continue my services to the community” Jasmin said. Engaging as LSP with LEAN proved to be a catalyst for her empowerment journey.
Assisting producers in their community
Local service providers (LSP) are people from the communities who are selected and supported in strengthening their skills to assist producers in their area (for details see box below). Through LSP programme, Jasmin learned different agricultural practices based on using local resources, how to start a homestead garden, and how to develop a business plan as a local service provider. “I never thought to grow vegetables in my courtyard as I did not know how to” recalls Jasmine, “The training to become an LSP provided me the scope to build my knowledge and skill on crop production, vermicomposting, business management, and necessary communication skill”.
She highlighted how this newfound knowledge was central to her transformation journey and how she continues to learn through practice and different engagements. “In the beginning, I applied what I learned from LEAN training to set up my garden, surprising my neighbours with the results. This success boosted my confidence as an LSP. I always test new knowledge myself before advising others and building trust in my community. I organize sessions on production technologies and nutrition, especially for pregnant and lactating mothers, and support producers' groups. My dedication led to my selection as leader of the LSP group and member of the Service Providers Association (SPA). Now, those who criticized me respect my work, seek my advice, and invite me to social events."
The LSP program also helped her build connections essential for her business. She established linkages with agriculture officers, input suppliers, and market actors, which enhanced her ability to provide quality services. “These linkages enable me to provide necessary service information to producers groups and voice my community's needs to the government service providers and private companies”.
The work of Jasmine and other LSP trained by LEAN project brought some visible changes in the communities of the Chattogram Hill Tracts: “Five years ago people use to cultivate mainly tobacco, as cash crop” recalls Jasmin, “but now they are more and more growing vegetable to improve their families’ nutrition and contribute to improve the whole community well-being”.
Jasmin Akter, LSP
Towards a bright future
Jasmin continues to advocate for rural producers' needs to local authorities and private sectors. Acknowledging her work and commitment, family and neighbours have encouraged her to run in the local elections, and she has decided to take up the challenge. She is preparing for the next electoral race, confident that her experience and passion will help her to stand up for the community, especially for underserved groups.
Today Jasmin stands as a witness to the power of grassroots initiatives in driving positive change. “The respect and social recognition I gained by becoming an LSP is precious above all else”, she stated.
The LSP model has proven to be successful in women’s empowerment by supporting their skill development, better access to resources, increased mobility, and financial independence. Moreover, this model facilitates women's participation in different platforms and fosters a supportive community environment that contributes to build their confidence and capabilities to stand up against societal challenges. Women like Jasmin, can thus become agents of change and work to transform traditional perspectives, improve their family well-being, and inspire others to take on leadership roles.
“If women get a better scope to develop their capacity, they can strongly contribute to developing our society” she believes. “The LSP platforms provide a life-changing opportunity to women like me. Many women, who are starting their activity as LSP or producers, come forward to seek advice: they are not afraid to participate in the market”.
Local Service Provider (LSP) programme is an approach developed by Helvetas to bridge the systemic gaps across different value chains. LSP are selected and trained to perform some basic services in their community across different on-farm and off-farm sub-sectors. For instance:
- Organize producer’s groups and facilitate group discussion session and their capacity building.
- Facilitate the timely supply of quality inputs and services, such as seeds, fertilizer, crop protection measures, medicine, feed, vaccination services, etc.
- Set up demonstration plots and demonstrate modern technology taking assistance/support and or in association with GoB line departments and private sectors.
- Provide fee based technical advice & mentoring support on production, crop management and regular basis follow-up services.
- Establish linkages with public and private sector actors such as Department of livestock, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) livestock or agricultural line departments, private input & output supplier, and production buyers to ensure better services for the producer.
- Facilitate the linkages with output market actors and relevant market intermediaries at local level including traders, buyer, wholesaler, retailers and consumers.
- Operate collection & sale centers to aggregate, maintenance of the center, communicate with market actors, sort and quality production.
- Support producers, especially women, in developing business plans and facilitate to enhance producer’s financial literacy and provide necessary support to implement producers’ business plan.