Saturday, January 9, 2010

Microfinance and climate change -- voices from marginalized women in coastal belt of Bangladesh

Shahidul Island in Voice of South explores the role of microfinance in fighting climate change impacts in Bangladesh: Golachipa, Bangladesh: Golachipa, a place of offshore valley in Patuakhali of Bangladesh. Disasters, like cyclone, floods, river erosions, tidal surges, are common almost every year. The people of this coastal area survived with a lot of struggle after the devastating floods in 1970, 1988, 1998 respectively. Finally devastating cyclone SIDR of 15th November hit the people of this belt. Within two to three hours devastation, thousands of people died and millions of people lost everything they had. The remote islands of this belt turned in to a valley of death immediate after Cyclone SIDR.

Despite of all these losses and challenges, the coastal belt peoples are moving ahead with their new hopes, aspirations and dreams. Those who survived not lost their morals. They learnt –how to live with changing situation of climate change and disaster. This is a story of a microcredit beneficiary who is living a dignified life by adapting with climate change situations….

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