How Women in Cox's Bazar Built a Community-Led NGO Over 17 Years

Papiya (left) and Bakul (right) lead Upoma Nari Kalyan Songstha, a women-led organization in Cox's Bazar that grew from a small savings group into a certified NGO with 1,000 members through decade-long support from World Vision Bangladesh.

Syeda Tazrin

Monday, June 29, 2026

Papiya remembers the early days clearly. Women in her Khurushkul community, Cox's Bazar had no savings account, no meeting space, no collective voice. When something went wrong like, a child is sick suddenly, a lost harvest, a husband out of work, there was nowhere to turn. Extreme poverty was the norm. Girls rarely finished school. Women rarely left home.

For years, decisions were made around them, never with them. Then 2008 World Vision Bangladesh walked into Khurushkul and turned the room over to the women asking them to name their struggles, claim their dreams, and imagine a different life. It was the first time anyone had handed them that kind of power.

Papiya and Bakul were among those women. Quietly determined, they showed up to every meeting, every training, every difficult conversation. Together, they helped form Upoma Mohila Unnayan Somittee, a small savings group that would grow into something neither of them could have imagined.

Members of Upoma Nari Kalyan Songstha in Bangladesh hold a certificate inside their community office.

World Vision Bangladesh stayed close through those years. Women received vocational training and sewing machines. They learned loan management, record keeping, and savings discipline. Governance structures took shape. Democratic decision-making became normal. World Vision Bangladesh never handed them a finished organisation; they built the women who would build it themselves. When World Vision Bangladesh finally stepped back, it wasn't an ending. Papiya, now Chief Executive, and Bakul, now President, had already taken the wheel.

Today, Upoma Nari Kalyan Songstha has 1,000 members, a BDT 40 lakh revolving loan fund, and a 99% loan recovery rate. They have partnered with UN Women and Global Affairs Canada. They are networked with government departments and UN agencies. In December 2025, they received official certification from the NGO Affairs Bureau, a milestone nearly two decades in the making.

The women of Khurushkul didn't just build an organization. They built proof that when women are trusted, trained, and given space to lead, entire communities transform.