From Debt Cycle to Self-Resilience: A Story from the Small Village of Datinakhali

This case study describes how a community-led savings initiative, the Samabay Samiti, established by World Vision in the village of Datinakhali, Bangladesh, helps residents break a cycle of debt caused by frequent climate-induced disasters. By providing microloans and livelihood diversification training, the program enables members—particularly women—to build assets and achieve financial self-resilience.

• The village of Datinakhali faces a 'vicious cycle of debt' because the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, such as cyclones, river erosions, and flash floods, prevents residents from recovering assets before the next disaster strikes. This forces community members to rely on 'loan sharks' for urgent financial support, which consumes their income and prevents the accumulation of savings.
• World Vision established the Samabay Samiti, a cooperative fund committee consisting of 8 groups of 20–25 female members each. Members contribute weekly between 50 and 250 BDT (approximately 0.50 to 2.5 USD). Loans are issued monthly with a maximum limit of three times the member's monthly savings, and an interest rate of 50 taka per month per 1000 taka, with a three-month repayment period.
• Livelihood diversification training and the savings fund have enabled individuals to start small businesses. For example, Swapna Parvin established a cosmetics and hygiene product business, reporting a profit of 600–700 Taka for every 1000 Taka of product sold. This has allowed her to add 10,000–12,000 BDT to her monthly savings, build a house, and save gold for her children.
• The Samabay Samiti is expanding, with the number of groups increasing to between 20 and 30. The initiative is also entering a trial collaboration with the NGO BRAC to provide microcredit to its members.

APA

Mondal, V., Mahfuz, M., & Raya, T. Z. (2023). From Debt Cycle to Self-Resilience: A Story from the Small Village of Datinakhali. Global Resilience Partnership. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/from-debt-cycle-to-self-resilience-a-story-from-the-small-village-of-datinakhali/

Chicago

Mondal, Vaskar, Mahzabeen Mahfuz, and Towrin Zaman Raya. From Debt Cycle to Self-Resilience: A Story from the Small Village of Datinakhali. Global Resilience Partnership, 2023. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/from-debt-cycle-to-self-resilience-a-story-from-the-small-village-of-datinakhali/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mondal |first1=Vaskar |last2=Mahfuz |first2=Mahzabeen |last3=Raya |first3=Towrin Zaman |title=From Debt Cycle to Self-Resilience: A Story from the Small Village of Datinakhali |publisher=Global Resilience Partnership |date=27 February 2023 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/from-debt-cycle-to-self-resilience-a-story-from-the-small-village-of-datinakhali/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mondal2023from, author = {Mondal, Vaskar and Mahfuz, Mahzabeen and Raya, Towrin Zaman}, title = {{From Debt Cycle to Self-Resilience: A Story from the Small Village of Datinakhali}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/from-debt-cycle-to-self-resilience-a-story-from-the-small-village-of-datinakhali/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }