The People’s Voice 34: Hardships of a Woodcutter’s Family in Banchanagar

1 Executive Summary

Shopna’s family in Banchanagar exemplifies entrenched rural poverty in Lakshmipur District, where limited income from woodcutting fails to cover basics amid health setbacks and substandard living conditions. Her husband’s illness curtails earnings, forcing the household of four to endure a leaking roof, absent sanitation, and barriers to children’s schooling. These issues mirror broader regional vulnerabilities in Chittagong Division, where poverty hovers around 30 percent, compounded by inadequate housing and water access. Nationally, Bangladesh grapples with a poverty rate that climbed to 28 percent in 2025, reversing prior gains due to economic pressures. Addressing this family’s needs through targeted interventions aligns with SDGs on poverty eradication, health, education, and sanitation. ALO recommends immediate support in housing via the Safe Abode project and water-sanitation through WASH-ALO, with costs estimated at 245,000–345,000 BDT total. Without action, such families risk deeper marginalization, underscoring the urgency for localized aid within national frameworks.

2 Individual and Family Needs

2.1 Key Findings at the Family Level

Shopna heads a household strained by erratic income and structural deficits. Her husband’s role as a woodcutter yields minimal returns, especially with his declining health limiting workdays. The family—Shopna, her husband, daughter, and son—faces acute shortages: their shelter leaks during monsoons, sanitation is nonexistent, and education remains out of reach due to costs. Daily struggles center on survival, with no buffer against seasonal floods or medical needs.

2.2 Methodology for Family-Level Data

Data were collected through a semi-structured interview with Shopna in Banchanagar on October 2nd, 2025. Questions focused on household composition, income sources, challenges, and desired improvements, allowing open responses to capture nuanced details. This approach ensured direct insights while respecting cultural contexts.

3 Regional and National History of the Issue and Need

3.1 Regional Context

Lakshmipur District, part of Chittagong Division, contends with poverty rates that outpace national averages, driven by agricultural dependence and climate risks. In Lakshmipur Sadar Upazila, moderate poverty affected 29.1 percent of residents as of 2016, with extreme cases at 5.5 percent. District-wide, the rate stood at 32.5 percent that year, reflecting limited job diversity beyond farming and manual labor like woodcutting. Housing quality lags, with many structures vulnerable to monsoons, echoing Shopna’s experience of dripping ceilings. Sanitation access remains uneven; rural areas in Chittagong show improved facilities for only about 45 percent of households by 2014, often shared and prone to contamination. Flood-prone geography exacerbates these gaps, displacing families and hindering education, where dropout rates tie to economic pressures. Local records from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics highlight unemployment at 18.7 percent in nearby Ramganj Upazila, underscoring the cycle of ill health and low earnings.

3.2 National Context

Bangladesh’s poverty trajectory shifted sharply upward in recent years, with the national rate reaching 28 percent in 2025 amid economic disruptions and inflation. This marks a reversal from 18.7 percent in 2022, pushing an additional three million into extreme poverty by projections. Rural areas bear the brunt, with extreme poverty at 6.5 percent nationally but higher in vulnerable zones. Housing and sanitation compound the crisis: improved sanitation utilization grew to 45.4 percent by 2014, yet gaps persist in rural settings, where 30 percent rely on shared or unimproved facilities. Health issues from poor water access affect millions, with 61.7 million lacking basic hygiene in 2021. Education suffers too, as families like Shopna’s prioritize survival over schooling. Government data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey track these trends, revealing inequality’s rise alongside poverty.

3.3 Alignment with National and Global Goals

This case ties directly to SDG 1 (No Poverty), emphasizing eradication through income support and resilience-building. SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) addresses the husband’s illness, linked to inadequate living conditions. SDG 4 (Quality Education) targets barriers to children’s schooling, while SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) focuses on the absence of toilets and water sources. SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) covers durable housing in rural contexts. Bangladesh’s national plans, like the Eighth Five-Year Plan, align these with global targets, aiming for 100 percent sanitation coverage by 2030 and poverty below 15 percent. Housing integrates across SDGs, driving health and economic stability.

4 Methodology

Primary data stemmed from the on-site interview with Shopna, supplemented by secondary sources including Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics reports, World Bank analyses, and UNICEF data on sanitation. Regional insights were drawn from district-level poverty maps, while national figures incorporated 2022-2025 projections. All sources were cross-verified for relevance, with a focus on rural Chittagong Division.

5 Needs Assessment Findings

5.1 Family Needs

Core requirements include stable housing to withstand rains, medical aid for the husband’s health, a sanitation facility for hygiene, clean water access, and educational support for the children. Income instability demands short-term relief, like vocational alternatives to woodcutting.

5.2 Existing Resources and Gaps

The family’s sole asset is the husband’s sporadic labor, but illness erodes even that. No formal sanitation or water infrastructure exists, and community resources appear absent. Gaps widen during monsoons, exposing health risks and halting education.

6 Resource Requirements

Durable Housing: Construction of a single-room house with weather-resistant materials is estimated at 200,000–300,000 BDT (USD 1,695–2,542, at 118 BDT/USD). This falls under ALO’s Safe Abode project. Sanitation Facility: A pit latrine with a concrete slab and superstructure costs approximately 30,000 BDT (USD 254). Deep-Tube Well: Installation of a deep-tube well for clean water access is estimated at 15,000 BDT (USD 127). The sanitation and tube-well components align with ALO’s WASH-ALO project.

7 Conclusion

Shopna’s situation demands swift intervention to break poverty’s grip, starting with housing and sanitation upgrades. Broader efforts in Lakshmipur must tackle health and education shortfalls, leveraging national momentum toward SDGs. ALO stands ready to implement, but sustained partnerships will ensure lasting change amid rising national poverty.

References

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. “Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022.” April 12, 2023. https://bbs.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/bbs.portal.gov.bd/page/57def76a_aa3c_46e3_9f80_53732eb94a83/2023-04-13-09-35-ee41d2a35dcc47a94a595c88328458f4.pdf.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. “Poverty Maps of Bangladesh 2016.” February 22, 2021. https://bbs.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/bbs.portal.gov.bd/page/5695ab85_1403_483a_afb4_26dfd767df18/2021-02-22-16-57-c64fb3d272175e7efea0b02de6a23eaa.pdf.

Hossain, Naomi, and Ferdous Jahan. “Situation Analysis of the Urban Sanitation Sector in Bangladesh.” Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), September 2017. https://wsup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Situation-analysis-of-the-urban-sanitation-sector-in-Bangladesh.pdf.

Mallick, Bishawjit, et al. “Trends and Inequity in Improved Sanitation Facility Utilisation in Bangladesh: Evidence from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys.” BMC Public Health 23, no. 1 (2023): 1343. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10619219/.

The Daily Star. “Poverty Soars to 28%.” August 26, 2025. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/poverty-soars-28-3970846.

The Financial Express. “3 Million More People in Bangladesh to Fall into Extreme Poverty in 2025, Says World Bank.” April 24, 2025. https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/home/3-million-more-people-in-bangladesh-to-fall-into-extreme-poverty-in-2025-says-world-bank.

UNICEF. “Billions of People Will Lack Access to Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in 2030 Unless Progress Quadruples – Warn UNICEF, WHO.” July 1, 2021. https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/en/press-releases/billions-people-will-lack-access-safe-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-2030-unless.

United Nations. “SDG Summit 2023: Bangladesh Country Commitments.” Accessed October 2, 2025. http://sdgs.un.org/national-commitments-sdg-transformation/22071.

Wikipedia contributors. “Poverty in Bangladesh.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last modified September 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Bangladesh.

World Bank. “Zila SDG v2.” 2022. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/9c1d0b1657e3694b19dbd37c6f488acb-0310012022/original/Zila-SDG-v2.xlsx.