RANGPUR, June 13, 2025 (BSS) - Bharoti Rani Sen, a struggling woman, has become a symbol of women empowerment by overcoming many obstacles in life and changing the fate of poor rural women.
 
Born in 1977 in a very poor family in the remote Gangadas Baraipara village of Haridebpur union in Rangpur Sadar upazila, she endured a lot of hardships due to extreme poverty since childhood.
 
Overcoming numerous obstacles, she has contributed greatly to changing the fate of local women by freeing them from extreme poverty and removing social curses.
 
At the age of six, she lost her right vision when an arrow hit her eye while playing in their yard, bringing more darkness into her life.
 
"My parents were very worried about my future. Since I lost my right eye vision, my classmates used to avoid me in school, so I lived a life of despair," Bharoti told BSS recently.
 
Before her SSC examinations in 1993, her poor parents married her off with neighbour Shushil Chandra Sen, an illiterate poor day-labor. Her studies came to an end.
 
Bharoti gave birth to her daughter Sanchita Rani Sen in 1995, and later, two sons Sagar Chandra Sen and Pradip Chandra Sen. 
 
"It was extremely difficult to manage food for our five family members. My husband frequently fell sick and could not work regularly," she said. 
 
"I got broken mentally as I wished my children would complete studies to become established in the society," she said.
 
In 2005, Bharoti got a job in an earth work project of the Local Government and Engineering Department as supervisor. 
 
After completion of the project in 2007, she got another job of nursing planted saplings of mango, palm, jackfruit, olive, plum and date by the side of a local one-kilometer road under a project of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority.
 
"I earned Taka 700 per month by taking care of planted saplings for two years," she said, adding that the trees are now giving fruits to villagers.
 
In 2009, officials of SKS Foundation went to the village to select extremely poor areas as a partner organization for implementation of the Social and Economic Transformation of the Ultra Poor (SETU) project of Care Bangladesh.
 
Observing her solid eagerness, the SKS officials selected Bharoti for the project. 
 
Bharoti received training on community leadership, savings group management, raising social awareness and few other sectors. 
 
The NGO formed Haridebpur union Natural Leaders' Organization (NLO) with 140 natural leaders from different 'Mohollas' of the union.
 
Bharoti was elected General Secretary of Haridebpur NLO, which increased her movement to different institutions, including union parishad, to follow up people's demand.
 
She thought to bring a transformational change in the lives of her villagers through their empowerment as they were trapped in a vicious cycle of generational poverty and social curses.
 
Talking to BSS, the villagers narrated how they began the journey with a community action plan based on participatory analysis of extreme poverty under Bharoti's leadership in 2009.
 
"We identified our problems first and collectively took the decision to address those," said housewife Mongli Rani Sen. 
 
Under Bharoti's leadership, the villagers built their own organization and identified open defecation practice as a major reason for their various water-borne diseases round the year.
 
"We soon brought all 62 extremely poor households in the village under cent percent sanitation coverage on their own within only three months," Mongli added.
 
To cope with the seasonal lean periods in Aswin-Kartik months, they formed 'Baraipara Women Savings Group (BWSG)' with 37 female members and Bharoti as its General Secretary.
 
Project beneficiary Jamuna Rani Sen said she took Taka 8,000 as interest free loan from BWSG and invested in the betel leaf business of her husband Anno Chandra Sen at nearby Panbazar in 2011.
 
"We started earning well to lead a better life," Jamuna said, adding that the project provided grants ranging from Taka 7,500 to 14,000 to every selected household depending on their skills for income generating activities.
 
Under the leadership and guidance of Bharoti, all villagers started earning well to live happily and their children going to schools. 
 
The village is now clean and tidy, free from extreme poverty, water-borne diseases, child marriage, malnutrition, illiteracy and able-bodied couples, pregnant women and adolescents have gained knowledge about health and hygiene. 
 
At the request of the locals, Bharoti contested for the reserved women member post of Wards 1, 2 and 3 in the Haridebpur union parishad elections in 2015. She was elected to the post without any expenditure. 
 
And thus, Bharoti has won the hearts of the villagers by serving them and set a shining example of women empowerment by overcoming every obstacle in her life and empowering poor rural women.