by Shimim Mushsharat | Jul 30, 2025 | Previous Events, Uncategorized
SAJIDA Foundation and the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) had the honour of jointly showcasing the ENGAGE4Sundarbans project at the Frugal Innovation Forum (FIF) hosted by BRAC in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 25-26 July 2025. The forum brought together researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, policy makers and development partners working on climate adaptation to discuss emerging climate challenges and solutions in the Global South. This year, the Forum centred around climate adaptation in agriculture, food security, and livelihoods.
SAJIDA Foundation’s Lead Researcher presenting the ENGAGE4Sundarbans project to Rizwana Hasan, Adviser for Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bangladesh
During FIF 2025, Nurul Islam Biplob, Lead Researcher at SAJIDA Foundation and Faisal Imran, Senior Research Associate, ULAB, shared insights from ENGAGE4Sundarbans’ Living Lab approach, emphasising how community-driven, gender-responsive agroecological practices are helping restore degraded lands in Protapnagar, a climate-vulnerable union located in the Sundarbans delta.
“Our goal was to strengthen social resilience for communities living near the Sundarbans, while also supporting local biodiversity and ecosystems,” SAJIDA’s Lead Researcher explained. He also reflected on the importance of listening to local, indigenous knowledge and co-creating adaptation strategies with communities who experience climate vulnerability firsthand.
Presenting ENGAGE4Sundarbans to Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC, during FIF 2025.
This participation was significant as it created space for dialogue with key policymakers and development actors. The presentation received thoughtful engagement from climate leaders, including Rizwana Hasan, Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bangladesh; and Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC.
ENGAGE4Sundarbans’ participation at FIF 2025 reflects our commitment to climate justice, locally led innovation, and building social and climate resilience for the most affected populations.
Watch ENGAGE4Sundarban’s session highlight from FIF 2025 ⬇️
by Shimim Mushsharat | Jul 8, 2025 | Blog, Resources
Rahima Khatun’s life has been shaped by challenges. She lives with her husband, one of her sons, his wife, and their child. Her two other sons have married and moved out. Her husband, now elderly, is unable to work much, and the son who lives with them is only able to earn seasonally. Together, their incomes are not enough to support the family of five.
With no land in their name, they faced not just financial uncertainty but also a lack of food security.
But Rahima is not one to be intimidated by obstacles. Through sheer determination and persistence, she turned her hardship into an opportunity.
Rahima Khatun grows a multitude of vegetables on her yard.
A Natural Leader in the Field
When SAJIDA Foundation’s ENGAGE4Sundarbans project started its ethnographic research, Rahima was selected as research participant due to her involvement with agriculture. She spoke candidly during interviews, sharing her farming knowledge and the struggles that came with having limited land and financial resources.
From the beginning, Rahima was determined to carve out a space for herself in her family and community. She was surprised and encouraged when she learned she had been selected to join one of ENGAGE4Sundarbans’s intervention groups testing crops with high value addition potential. She was placed in the group assigned to grow fennel along with two other female farmers.
Before long, Rahima became much more than just a participant. She took the lead in group planning, organised meetings, and became an active figure in project activities. Even her husband began to support her involvement, gradually letting go of his initial doubts.
As part of ENGAGE4Sundarban project’s group farming initiative, she now cultivates rice, grains, and vegetables on the land next to her home. In another small plot of just two decimals, she farms freshwater fish for her family’s consumption. Her yard, too, has a multitude of vegetables growing. Years ago, her elder son started building a roofed house, but financial constraints postponed the construction. Rahima, ever resourceful, transformed the unfinished structure into yet another thriving vegetable garden.
Through determination and persistence, Rahima has turned her hardship into an opportunity.
A Home Garden to Ensure Food Security
What truly sets Rahima’s farming apart is her commitment to diversity. During the monsoon, she grows Aman paddy. Once harvested, she uses the same land to plant potatoes, sunflowers, fennel, sesame, and melon during the Rabi season from Mid-November to Mid-March. In other plots, she cultivates mustard alongside red cabbage, spinach, radish, and coriander, aubergine, onions, beans, beetroot, gourd, and winter crops like spring onions, garlic, and chillies also find space in her garden. Her motivation is both practical and personal. She refuses to buy oil or vegetables from the market.
“Why spend money [on oil or vegetables] when I can grow them myself?” Rahima, a traditional farmer and participant of ENGAGE4Sundarbans project, says.
One of Rahima’s long-held dreams was to lease land in her own name, so she could grow rice without depending on others. Her wish came true when ENGAGE4Sundarbans leased land under the names of Rahima and her group members.
Looking ahead, Rahima hopes that by selling fennel in the Rabi season and vegetables during Kharif (Mid-March to Mid-November), she can earn enough to lease more land and commercially scale up her farming.
by Shimim Mushsharat | Jun 26, 2025 | Blog, Previous Events, Uncategorized
Jayanti Rani Saha lives in Pratapnagar, Assasuni, one of the climate change hotspots in Bangladesh. She is a housewife, sharing a modest home with her husband and three daughters. Her husband earns just enough to sustain their family of five. But Jayanti’s determination to contribute has turned their yard into a thriving oasis of hope and sustainability.
Jayanti is a proud member of a female farmer group supported by SAJIDA Foundation’s ENGAGE4Sundarbans project. This project aims to strengthen social and climate resilience in the Sundarbans delta, an area heavily affected by climate change. Together with her groupmates, Jayanti is currently cultivating beetroot to produce beetroot powder, which contains both nutritional and economic value.
Although Jayanti’s family doesn’t own agricultural land, they have two small ponds where they farm freshwater fish. But Jayanti’s transformation is most visible in her kitchen garden. She nurtures the garden with advice and training from SAJIDA Foundation. Determined to cultivate a healthy and self-sustaining lifestyle, Jayanti has transformed her garden into a diverse ecosystem.
In the winter, she focused on cultivating eggplants along with other vegetables. She crafts natural fertilisers and pesticides from kitchen leftovers, cow dung, and poultry manure instead of using chemicals in her garden. Her reasoning is simple yet profound, “Chemicals harm the insects and animals that are valuable for the environment. And I want my children to eat healthy food.” Her commitment to agroecology is a testament to her intuitive understanding of sustainable living.
“Chemicals harm the insects and animals that are valuable for the environment. And I want my children to eat healthy food.”
— Jayanti Rani Saha, Member of a female farmer group under ENGAGE4Sundarbans Project
Beyond cultivation, Jayanti repurposes household waste into fertiliser, pesticide, and cooking fuel. Cow dung cakes, neatly arranged on a coconut tree trunk in her yard, dry in the sun before being used as eco-friendly fuel. Her forward-thinking approach includes designating one eggplant plant as a seed plant, ensuring her family’s self-reliance in the next planting season. Notably, Jayanti’s garden also blooms with a vibrant scattering of flowers that attract beneficial insects, helps with pollination and also makes the space beautiful.
The backdrop to Jayanti’s story is Pratapnagar’s slow recovery from Cyclone Amphan, which devastated the region in 2020. The cyclone triggered prolonged waterlogging, heavy salinity, and the loss of greenery, leaving the land barren. But with the support of SAJIDA Foundation’s ENGAGE4Sundarbans initiative, Jayanti is rebuilding what was lost and creating something greener and more resilient.
Jayanti Rani Saha’s story is a reminder that resilience is about thriving in harmony with the world around us. Her passion, resourcefulness, and commitment to sustainability inspire not only her community but also anyone who dreams of making a difference, no matter how small their resources may seem.
Jayanti Rani Saha is member of a female farmer group under the ENGAGE4Sundarbans Project.
by Shimim Mushsharat | Jun 4, 2025 | Previous Events, Uncategorized
Farmers Share Updates, Experts Offer Guidance
On 1 June 2025, SAJIDA Foundation convened a Local Advisory Committee meeting at the Protapnagar Union Parishad to review agricultural progress and chart the way forward. The gathering brought together Union Chairman Abu Daud Dhali, former Agriculture Officer Mujibur Rahman, journalist Masum Billah, local leaders including market committee president Kamal Hossain, and farmers representing various farmers commons.
Farmers shared field-level updates, highlighting recent cultivation efforts in mustard, vegetables, sunflower, beetroot, and fennel. While some groups encountered challenges due to high soil salinity, late sowing, and drought conditions, others reported encouraging results. Notably, the women farmers’ group led by Rahima and Jayonti Rani celebrated a successful beetroot harvest, and fennel cultivators reported strong yield.
Providing expert insight, former Agriculture Officer Mr Mujibur Rahman discussed soil test results facilitated by SAJIDA Foundation and offered tailored guidance on fertiliser application. Farmers expressed gratitude for this data-driven support, noting such services were previously inaccessible in the area.
Local agri-input dealer and market committee president Kamal Hossain committed to supporting farmers with high-quality seeds and fertilisers. Chairman Abu Daud Dhali reflected on the region’s long-standing challenges due to saline water intrusion and lauded SAJIDA Foundation’s research-backed interventions—particularly the soil testing initiative. He also advocated for a salt-tolerant tree plantation programme and pledged Union Parishad backing for future ENGAGE initiatives.
The meeting concluded with a discussion on upcoming SAJIDA Foundation activities and a shared commitment to strengthen collaboration among farmers, local stakeholders, and the Foundation.
