One of the biggest challenges facing poor fishing communities in Bangladesh is securing access and user rights to water bodies. Historically, wealthy landowners leased these water bodies from the government and employed fishers as laborers. However, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has successfully advocated for the government to lease water bodies directly to fisher groups, allowing them to utilize this newfound security to develop these areas and enhance their fishing capabilities.
The Aquaculture Development Project (AqDP), initiated by IFAD, aims to improve the living standards of fishing communities and women’s groups in the project area, where most households live below the poverty line. The project focuses on two underprivileged groups: (a) landless and near-landless people, including women, who make up the majority of the small-scale fishing population, and (b) marginal and small-scale farmers, including larger households engaged in aquaculture.
The project’s goal is to improve the livelihoods of fishing communities, alleviate poverty, and empower women. It seeks to provide fishing communities, particularly the poor and women, with access to water bodies and ponds, as well as to arrange credit for job creation and to boost the productivity of fishery resources. To empower these communities, the project reintroduced the concept of community-owned land for the benefit of all.