The women of Lachari Para can give more time in the family than before.

Government of Bangladesh and Asian development bank is implementing CHTRDP-2 project in eight upazila at Khagrachari District. Trinamul Unnayan Sangstha is a local implementing leading partner working jointly with other four local organizations in 200 para/villages at Khagrachari district. Zabarang kalyan Samity is working at 43 paras/villages in Manikchari, Ramgarh & Laxmichari Upazila among them. Lachari Para is one of them in 1 no. Ramgorrh union under the project area. It is located at the border of Bangladesh and India. It is 80 K.M from khagrachari sadar and 26 k.m from Ramagarh Upazila. Due to lack of socio-economic condition in the village and deprived from the first phase of the CHTRDP project, this village is recommended to select for the second phase by the local community leaders and local administrative institutions.

This village is in a hilly area where is 76 HH from Marma community. Along with the male there are 10 female led families in the village. There are total 305 people in which 154 male and 150 female. Most of the community in this village is dependent on agriculture and along with it they are day laborer and rare domestic animal for their livelihood. There are 3 classes of family according to the socioeconomic condition. Middle to higher classes are 06, poor are 25 and the poorest are 46 families. Supports from the Government and non government organizations hardly reached to the community due to remote and border area. Only a para center for pre primary education support for children from the Chittagong hill tracts development board in the village. Due to this sort of situation, there are many problems including the lack of communication, lack of safe drinking water, lack of irrigation channel and agricultural equipment’s for cultivation. It was difficult for the school and college students as well as the pregnant women in the village to take supports from GoB and NGOs, access to local market and the education due to lack of road communication. Safe drinking water was also a

major health problem in the village. Though there were 3 deep tube wells but it was difficult to meet the want of safe drinking water for the huge number of people in the village. They have to depend on the water sources from wells and the river to wash clothes, take bath and the irrigation of cultivable land. So water born diseases like cholera, diarrhea and typhoid breakout every year during the rainy and dry season. Women had to collect water from the long distances which need 30 to 40 minutes additionally from normal. The villagers could cultivate the land in the less area due to not having available shallow pump machine in the village during the dry season. So they don’t get expected crops due to less production from the agriculture. Only 50-60 Aries of rice could produced in a year. The production could not sale in the local market due to bad road communication between the village and the market and the cost of transportation was high and hard.

Zabarang Kalyan Samity facilitated the community to take project according to the needs assessment. The undertaken projects are shallow tube well, irrigation channel, pump machine, power pump and road construction. Zabarang facilitated to form a Labor contractive society in the village and involved them during the road construction in the village. Total 75 working days in which 10 no. of male and 10 no. female worked during the construction. The labor costs were equally paid to the both male and female labor.

This village is now changed significantly than before while taking several projects for development of the village. Due to installation of sufficient number of deep tube wells in the village, time has been consumed for collecting safe drinking water than before. The women can collect it within 10 minutes while it was required 30-40 minutes more in before. They can give sufficient time in the household as well as to take care of their child which contributed to increase income in the family. Additionally, water born diseases are reduced for using safe drinking water from the tube wells. Installations of irrigation channels and shallow pump machine at the cultivable land and distribution of agricultural equipment’s have created opportunities to cultivate the lands in due time. They can now cultivate it in two seasons and the two seasonal cultivable lands are increased in the village along with it. The villagers use the agricultural equipment’s properly through

their own management committee regarding it. If they utilize and mange the resources properly they will be benefited in future which will impact to develop their socioeconomic conditions.          .