Entrepreneurship

Deepika Unnayan Sangstha understands that economic empowerment is necessary if sustainable health outcomes are to be achieved for rural women in Bangladesh. DUS realizes that very few women could engage in business or make themselves financially independent because of certain prevalent hindrances to their access to capital. Thus, DUS has taken the empowerment of women entrepreneurs as its mainstay of vision. Most of the women from such communities were economically dependent, not only on their spending pattern but also on their vulnerability to abuse and lesser health outcomes.

Targeted initiatives to foster entrepreneurship among women have led to economic self-sufficiency that extends from the individual to the entire family. Women’s economic empowerment has been found to increase household incomes and, accordingly, improve access to resources in all households. Economically, these activities not only improved the social status and influence of women in the family and society but also gave them greater power at the decision-making level in matters concerning their lives.

Health goes along with economic empowerment, so Deepika Unnayan Sangstha has been promoting a holistic approach to community development that is resilient and self-reliant, dominant women in shaping the future of their families and communities. DUS continues to support and build capacities for women entrepreneurs and empowers them towards sustaining development with enriched quality across rural Bangladesh.