38-year-old Swapna from Kanchipara, Gaibandhapossess multiple identities- skilled seamstress, President of a women-ledCooperative, owner of a Vermicompost production center and sole breadwinner ofher family of five. But two years back, she was just a housewife struggling tofeed her family. Being a mother of three children and abandoned by her husband,she had faced extreme hardship. She couldn't provide her ailing mother-in-lawthe care she needed.

After joining UNDP’s Strengthening Women’sAbility for Productive New Opportunities (SWAPNO) project, she slowly butsteadily started changing her life. She had a knack for making beautifuldresses, so she received training on dressmaking and bought a sewing machinewith her first Rotating Savings & Credit Association (ROSCA) savings.

Simultaneously, she started taking training onlivestock management, organic fertilizer production and kitchen gardening. Shehas bought cows, goats and chickens. She has established a Vermicompostfertilizer production center and cultivated vegetables. Through theseinitiatives, she is now earning BDT 7000 (USD 80). With this earnings, she canbear the expenses of her family.

Apart from this, she has formed a Cooperativenamed ‘Kanchipara SWAPNO Women Cooperative’. She is currently the President ofthis Cooperative, and is in charge of its activities, such as holding monthlymeetings with the Cooperative members, providing training on money management,health and nutrition, and so on. Swapna hopes to open her own tailoring shop inthe near future, where she can train other disadvantaged women like her.

SWAPNO’s poverty graduation model has abetted thousands ofdistressed rural women to change their condition and lift them out of extremepoverty. Owned by the Local Government Division and UNDP, this social securityproject has successfully transformed the lives of rural women who aredivorced/abandoned or having a disabled husband.