How can we help ultra-poor families rise out of extreme poverty? By giving women in rural Bangladesh advice and financial support to become entrepreneurs, the EU-funded WFP Food Security for the Ultra Poor project achieved this and so much more -- it transformed the lives of women participants, their families and entire communities!

As part of her visit to Bangladesh in January, CARE's Asia Regional Director, Deepmala Mahla visited ready-made garments workers (RMG) in Gazipur, Dhaka, who are part of CARE Bangladesh projects. She visited the workers under Health Access and Linkage Opportunities for Workers Plus (HALOW+) project at a community organized Resource Center. The project focuses on four key areas of interventions, aimed at improving health care access for RMG workers and their health and nutrition-seeking behavior. In addition to increasing preventative and curative service uptake by RMG workers; mobilizing communities and creating referral networks and service linkage for RMG workers and their families and creating shared platforms to address underlying health and nutritional issues faced by workers.

In order to ensure the export of safe food, complying international standard, Bangladesh is working to change the production, pre-harvest and post-harvest management techniques following “Good Agricultural Practice” or (GAP), “Good Handling Practice” or (GHP). Bangladesh Fruits Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters Association, (BFVAPEA) is a non-profit organisation, formally established in 1984 for export promotion and diversification. It is the only association in Bangladesh for exporting fresh vegetables, fruits, betel leaf and allied products to the global market.

"This journey of ours started 30 years ago," explains Deepak Khadka, Country Director of iDE Bangladesh. In this short video, Deepak takes us on a ride to meet one of the first farmers who bought the game-changing treadle pump back in the early 1990s. We also learn how today iDE Bangladesh continues to expand their reach and deepen their impact. Finally, we get a glimpse of how things run in the Dhaka office, located in the heart of the vibrant capital city.