CASE STUDY

The document highlights the success of the Basundhara Forum, a 148-member women-led cooperative in Bangladesh's Gopalganj district. By combining technical training in alternative livelihoods and disaster-risk reduction with leadership and organisational skills, the forum has increased members' incomes and confidence. By 2015, 80 percent of the forum's women were self-sufficient. Beyond economic gains, these forums enable women to participate in participatory vulnerability assessments and gender-sensitive adaptation planning, while advocating for their needs with local government officials.

• Women-led community cooperatives improve both economic outcomes and political agency, increasing the confidence of women to participate in local government decision-making.
• In Bangladesh, women-led forums contribute to climate change adaptation through activities such as adaptation planning, training in gender-sensitive adaptation, and participatory vulnerability assessments.
• While technical skills in disaster-risk reduction and alternative livelihoods are necessary, soft skills in leadership and organisation are essential for sustaining the impacts of that technical capacity.
• The Basundhara Forum in Gopalganj district, consisting of 148 members, achieved a rate of 80 percent self-sufficiency among its women members by 2015.

APA

Verma, S. (2020). CASE STUDY. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Christian-Aid-Basundhara-Forum-Case-Study-2.pdf

Chicago

Verma, Simant. CASE STUDY. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Christian-Aid-Basundhara-Forum-Case-Study-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Verma |first1=Simant |title=CASE STUDY |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Christian-Aid-Basundhara-Forum-Case-Study-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{verma2020case, author = {Verma, Simant}, title = {{CASE STUDY}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Christian-Aid-Basundhara-Forum-Case-Study-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }