Home ›› 23 Jul 2022 ›› Opinion
According to experts fisheries and related activities support more than 7 pe rcent of the country's population. The fisheries sector contributes to both meeting the country's demand for fish and earning foreign exchange. Small-scale fishermen are one of Bangladesh's most deprived communities. They are known as the "poorest of the poor."
Most of them live from hand to mouth. The majority of the fishermen are landless, destitute, and completely dependent on fishing for their living. Their lives are made more difficult by different socio-economic factors, such as an increase in the number of fishermen, low income, lack of alternative income-generating activities, vicious loan cycle, piracy, and price rises.
Fisherwomen are often only involved in household chores and child rearing. Due to social norms and religious barriers, women cannot be involved in this work. These women of the fishing villages cannot contribute to the financial development of the family for social taboos. Women play a major role in fishery activities for income and subsistence.
Women in the fishing communities in Bangladesh’s rural areas have limited opportunities to earn money. They generally have fewer assets than men and have difficulty getting credit to set up small businesses or maintain urgent family needs.
It is important to set aside money not only for emergencies but also for major expenses like education, health care, and homes. Although it is not always possible to meet the saving goals above gap the USAID-funded ECOFISH II activity of WorldFish Bangladesh has created savings and loan opportunities for fisher’s women at its intervention sites.
What is community savings group?
The Community Savings Group (CSG) is a self-managed and self-capitalized savings group of fisher’s women that uses members’ savings to lend to each other. In a CSG, 15–30 individual members from within a community meet regularly (monthly) to save their money, distribute soft loans, and collect monthly instalments.
The project has so far established 200 CSGs where 5675 fisherwomen have saved 188029 US dollars. 3987 CSG members have taken loans and invested in small scale businesses. One study found that fisher’s women affiliated with the Community Savings Group (CSG) were more economically well-off than other fisher brides and less dependent on moneylenders' high-interest loans.
Leadership ability is also observed among them. CSG members are also less prone to migration than others. Through the formation of this savings group, a 100 per cent economic gain has been achieved among the members of the group. This has been made possible by increasing the tendency of savings among them and by borrowing from those savings and spending it on developmental activities. Most members of the CSG are more aware of the importance of conserving biodiversity during the various prohibitions than other fisher’s women. There is also a positive attitude towards girls' education, the participation of women in alternative employment, the education of children, and the protection of biodiversity.
CSG women are more capable of providing leadership than other women. About 60 per cent of CSG members feel comfortable speaking in public on a variety of important issues, including infrastructural development, gender-based violence, and fishing bans, compared to about 50 per cent of non-CSG members. More than 80 per cent of CSG members ensured that their male family members attend alternative income generation training and other awareness meetings on a regular basis.
Their earnings can be spent based on their needs. Through this CSG, the confidence, ability to speak, courage, and ability to communicate of the fisher’s women have increased a lot. Econometric analysis shows that CSG has had a positive effect on savings, gross household income, income from fishing and other alternative employment, expenditure, women's empowerment, and dietary diversity.
Business literacy for fisherwomen
The project has introduced a Business Literacy School programme for CSG members. Through this 6-month course, CSG members learn basic literacy, maintenance of savings and loans, and managing bank accounts. CSG members also learned from BLS on various aspects of business planning, alternative income generation, and protection of marine biodiversity; how to comply with the seasonal fishing ban; sanitation; safe water use; dowry and child marriage; maternal and child nutrition; gender-based violence; etc. So far, 132 BLSs have been established through ECOFISH II activity.
Contributing to a decrease in gender-based violence
Women’s economic empowerment plays an active role in reducing gender-based violence against women. ECOFISH II formed Community Savings Groups (CSG) in fishing villages, with 100 per cent membership of women from fishing households. In addition to that, ECOFISH II supported improving women’s livelihoods and economic empowerment of coastal fishing households by providing training and input support for diversified and more resilient alternative income-generating activities.
CSG members recognise these groups as a safe platform for saving and taking loans. Women take loans from CSGs to invest in purchasing fishing gear or to establish new businesses for their husbands. They also took loans to invest in their own business by purchasing sewing machines, starting homestead gardening, poultry rearing, etc.
Women contribute to children's education, healthcare, and other essential needs. With their savings in CSGs and their own income, women are contributing financially to their households and actively supporting their husbands’ income, which increases the resilience of fishing households to cope with crisis moments like the Covid-19 lockdown and different fishing ban periods.
The perception of men towards women has changed positively over time. Women are now more valued and respected in the household. They now see women as partners rather than a liability.
They can participate in the decision-making process and share their opinions. Women’s active participation in income and decision-making processes has an impact on reducing household conflicts. The ratio of gender-based violence, especially domestic violence, has been significantly reduced, and women's security has been increased.
The community has also accepted women's participation in various forums, and the barriers to their mobility have been reduced as a result of ECOFISH interventions.
The writers are researchers
