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The government has proposed an allocation of Tk 5,222 crore in the national budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025 for the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, up from Tk 4,755 crore in FY2023-24.
“To continue developing women in the future, programmes for providing opportunities in education, healthcare, labour market access, social protection, and violence prevention will be strengthened,” Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said on Thursday while presenting the national budget for fiscal year 2024-2025 in parliament.
The finance minister explained in parliament that the government has undertaken several initiatives for empowering women and children. These include income and employment opportunities for underprivileged women in haor areas, advanced training in diversified jute product production, establishing daycare centres and hostels for working women in 64 districts, setting up child development centres for 4-year-olds, and implementing the “Safe Internet-Safe Children” programme.
“Underprivileged rural women have been facilitated to solve daily problems, including education, health, agriculture, business, gender, and legal support. Steps have been taken to render assistance in education and training to create awareness among them under the empowerment project through information and communication technology,” he said.
“An e-commerce marketplace, ‘laalsobuj.com,’ has been developed to empower marginalised women entrepreneurs through the ‘Tottho Apa’ project. Women are becoming financially independent by selling their goods on this platform. Already, 14,500 business owners are trading their goods by registering on this platform,” he added.
The finance minister further stated, “The programmes of creating women entrepreneurs and developing their skills through various trainings conducted by Joyeeta Foundation and the National Organization for Women are ongoing.”
“Microcredit funding programmes are in progress to improve the socio-economic status of poor and destitute rural women, aiming to alleviate poverty and create opportunities for self-employment. Loans ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 15,000 per person are being distributed through 488 upazilas of 64 districts by rotation from the allocated fund,” he said.
“Under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, a total of 1.22 crore women have received ‘Pushti Chaal’ and training through the VGD programme. Microcredit has been disbursed to 1,61,978 distressed and helpless rural women. Through 125 daycare centres, 9,030 working mothers have been served. A total of 28,825 sewing machines have been distributed among poor women. Grants amounting to Tk 147.85 crore have been disbursed to 99,368 associations.
“To protect underprivileged teenagers from incidents such as child marriage, eve-teasing, dowry, sexual abuse, and drug addiction, 7,033 clubs are in operation under various projects. These clubs conduct awareness campaigns to stop child abuse, particularly discrimination and violence against girls. To prevent child marriage, bicycles are provided to school-attending girls so they can continue their education uninterrupted,” he added.
The proposed national budget for FY25 in the parliament was Tk 7,97,000 crore.
