Swiss Ambassador Visits CARE’s SHOMOSHTI Project

11 October, 2017
“I’m very excited to see that Union Parishad (locally elected govt. body), local partner, CARE and private sector are working together with extremely enthusiastic women groups. I’m encouraged to see so many entrepreneurial women are engaged’, this was expressed by HE Mr. Rene Holenstein, Swiss Ambassador to Bangladesh while visiting CARE’s SHOMOSHTI Project areas in Rajshahi on October 11.
SHOMOSHTI aims to support rural households, particularly poor and disadvantaged, by developing market systems and enhancing inclusive basic services (related to income, nutrition, health and education), which will result in higher incomes, improved livelihoods and social development outputs. With funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the project was launched in December 2015 and is scheduled to end in November 2019. The project works with 200,000 rural households in 14 districts of Bangladesh.
During the visit, the Honorable Ambassador interacted with people engaged in entrepreneurial activity e.g. Home Cottage Industry (dress makers) and Beef Fattening Program. He, along with local people, formally re-launched a community clinic that was closed for a certain period.
During the visit the Honorable Ambassador emphasized on developing skills for the group to maintain high market standard and quality control to secure sustainable income for the group members. He was impressed to see that so many women entrepreneurs have been able to improve their lives.
The Ambassador was accompanied by Madam Cornelia (Ambassador’s wife), Sohel Ibn Ali (Senior Program Manager – Economic Governance, SDC), Anowarul Haq (Director ERPP-CARE), Gias Uddin Talukder (Team Lead, SHOMOSHTI), Saifuddin Ahmed (Social Development Specialist, SHOMOSHTI), Emran Hasan (Regional Manager, SHOMOSHTI) and some other field staff.
It may be mentioned that CARE is one of the world's largest international humanitarian organizations, committed to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and alleviate poverty. Founded in 1945, CARE is working across 87 countries to fight global poverty and marginalization.