Independence through sewing skills

Akhter Jhony (21), daughter of Raju Akand lives in Krisnapur Uni Village, Gaibandha, Bangladesh.  Akhteris a girl who dropped out of school.  She was waiting to get married and heard from neighbours that the Samaj Jagoran O Unnayan Kendra (SJOK) a local NGO that helps poor women to learn independently.

After several days, Akhter met a team member of SJOK and filled out a few sheets of the application form to join. Not long after,  Akther joined a small group of women who wanted to learn to sew  in Roghunathpur. On July 23, 2009 Akhter joined the sewing skills training funded by MicoAid Projects.

After finishing her training, 15 days later Akhter received some fabric and sewing equipment obtained from the MicroAid Projects sewing training (read the project report). Then Akhter began practicing on her own making women's clothes.  Akhter was very diligent and now she has made a lot of clothes that are sold to order to her friends. SJOK team helped Akhter by giving lower-priced fabric and helping with the marketing of the clothes in the kiosk in her village and monitoring her progress.

In the early period, Akhter obtained a net income of US$0.40 cents per piece of cloth. Currently, she has managed to increase sales and earn income to US 1 Dollar per piece of cloth. Akhter also has helped improve the welfare of her family by making a better and permanent family latrine. Now she is not dependent on money from her parents.  Jhony Akhter thinks that after six months, she will be able to buy a new sewing machine and expand her business.

Family’s latrine before renovation

Akhter in the front of the new family latrine

Posted in: family story