Meet Joshna Begum

For many years, we’ve worked with communities in Mymensingh in Bangladesh. The area used to be one of the most fertile in the entire sub-continent, with farmers able to rely on three crops per year. But due to increased drought and flooding they struggle now to produce even one crop and rely on irrigation systems and practices that are depleting the soil.

In this community, we met a woman, Joshna Begum, who was a housewife. Her husband was an agricultural labourer on other peoples’ land. They had only a 1/3 hectare of land themselves – less than a football pitch.

In one of the meetings we had with the community, she shyly started asking questions.

She asked what she could do with this land herself – explaining she couldn’t afford any hired help nor could her husband give any time, as they relied on the income from his labour.

Local Traidcraft Exchange project staff shared that rice wouldn’t be profitable in such a small area, but she could try vegetables and poultry. So she converted her land to veg growing all year round. She tested the soils and planted varieties that would thrive in that environment and for which there was a market.

After a year, people noticed how well she was doing. She was elected unanimously to be President of the farmers group she was a part of.

A year later, she was voted to become Secretary of the Association of farmers’ groups at the sub-district level, despite a lot of resistance from men.

Joshna Begum, at her farm in Phulpur, Mymensingh district.

Joshna became quite famous in her local area, and trained in sustainable agriculture practices, helped others in the villages to test their soil and invest in more sustainable production. Her group set up a savings and investment scheme so that they could take out loans when they needed cash to invest in new crops and had a safety net for emergencies.

Despite all of this activity, Joshna’s community was struggling to get produce to market. To get there, you had to cross a marshland – which used to flood only in monsoon season but now was flooding regularly due to increased rainfall.

To get round the marsh, it was a five-hour walk. She lobbied local government for months to build a road but they refused.

In the end, she decided they would have to do it themselves. She organized her community and convinced them they needed to take this on as a project. Everyone contributed what they could- and she he led them in building their own road.

It now takes just 10 minutes to get to market rather than five hours.

Joshna and the road that transformed her community.

Joshna embodies all the qualities that we see in women’s leadership – her curiosity, her determination to find solutions, her ability to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge and her understanding of the need for community action and collective responsibility.

This is why we need to support women like Joshna in the fight against climate breakdown. They are uniquely placed to create solutions and to bring about change. They are natural leaders.