Women’s entrepreneurship in Bangladesh more than doubled over the past decade. The 2020 Wholesale and Retail Trade Survey counted approximately 1.5 million active women entrepreneurs nationally. Right2Grow — a multi-country programme implemented in Bangladesh by Max Foundation alongside five partner organisations — built on this trend by equipping Health Promotion Agents (HPAs) with business skills, supply chain access, and advocacy tools, and channelling their work into measurable WASH and nutrition outcomes at community level.
HPAs were recruited through a structured mapping and selection process across unions in Patuakhali and Khulna. Max Foundation prioritised women with social acceptance, communication skills, and experience in WASH, nutrition, or healthcare, placing one HPA in each union ward. A Training Needs Assessment (TNA) conducted through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 58 HPAs — 36 from Patuakhali and 22 from Khulna — shaped a tailored training programme covering business management, WASH and nutrition products and services, bookkeeping, demand creation, and Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) for children under five. Monthly follow-up meetings and quarterly reviews with Max Foundation and partner NGO teams provided ongoing coaching beyond the initial training.
Access to affordable products required structural support beyond training. Max Foundation facilitated Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between HPAs, sanitation Local Entrepreneurs (LEs), and sweepers, and established supply partnerships with private companies including SMC, RFL, Meghna Group, and MXN — giving HPAs wholesale access to WASH and nutrition products. Trade licences were obtained through lobbying with Union Parishads (UPs), the elected local government bodies, reducing a longstanding barrier to formalising women’s businesses.
HPAs organised into union-level associations that consolidated procurement, enabled peer learning, and gave members collective bargaining power with suppliers.
The associations also connected HPAs to Civil Society Organisation (CSO) platforms and UP development coordination committees, giving women a direct role in local governance and service delivery decisions. New entrepreneurs were being created by existing association members as the network grew, and private companies were proactively linking to the associations to access the community market.
HPAs conducted regular growth monitoring sessions for children under five alongside courtyard meetings and household visits targeting mothers, caregivers, and adolescent girls. Their combined role — selling products, delivering behaviour change communication, and mobilising communities — contributed to villages reaching the standards required for a Healthy Village declaration, awarded when over 90% of households consistently meet indicators across WASH, nutrition, and maternal and child health for at least one year. In South Ballavpur village, documented outcomes include 100% of households with access to safe drinking water, 100% using sanitary latrines, 93% handwashing with Maxi Basins, and all households meeting nutrition standards through household practices.