Celebrating 20 Years with Bagdha

Minoti Mondal is a cheerful woman who enjoys her work and her fellow producers. Minoti married a poor farmer before she was twenty. Life was a struggle and after having two sons and two daughters, her husband's income was just not enough. She started looking for work and found a handicraft project that was hiring poor and widowed women. Twenty years later, she is still working for Bagdha.

Minoti primarily works with wood and carves wooden toys. She can also knit body mitts and she proudly knits two a day. The income she has earned has helped her family immensely. Her four children have been able to finish secondary school and one of her sonds is a businessman at the age of 23. She says she is happy that her job has helped her children to further their education. And she will continue to work for Bagdha as long as she can.

Usha Rani: Skilled Basket Weaver

Usha Rani was the first person to make a sample of a basket for Hajiganj Handicrafts. Today she is a very skilled weaver but it wasn't always that way. When Hajigani first started, she and the women that were hired did not know how to weave baskets. But they were given the opportunity to learn and do well.

MCC's Job Creation Program arranged for the local women to be trained in the skill of basket weaving. The training laster a couple of months and by the end the women were able to weave baskets of different shapes and sizes.

Usha Rani said at first weaving was difficult, but after years of working it has become easier. Because she is highly skilled, she has been promoted and is now a supervisor. She supervises the other producers and makes sure they are weaving quality baskets. She also makes new samples for customers.

Joshna Khatun: Chairperson of the Producer Management Committee

Joshna Khatun has been working for Shuktara for over 12 years. During those years she has been able to work in the different areas of the paper process. She is intelligent, skilled and respected by her peers.

In 2006 she was elected by her fellow producers to be the Chairperson for the Producer Management Committee (PMC). She appreciates the confidence that her peers have in her and she takes her position seriously. The PMC is comprised of 7 members (all elected by the producers) and they meet once a month.

The PMC makes sure producers are satisfied and that issues and problems are being discussed. They discuss a variety of issues, including product orders, quality of products, producers' well-being, and working conditions. With the help of the Producer Development Assistant (PDA), they record what they discuss in the meetings and then give the information to the manager.