Our Team

In 1990, she founded WJCC, with the aim of helping poverty-stricken Women and children in south-west Bangladesh. That advice by the Japanese social worker Ms. Midori set the prototype of making WJCC program. The first WJCC program began a few months later in response to the needs of hundreds of thousands of women and children's of satkhira at the end of 1990. Later the programs were extended to other South-western regions, and places such as Khulna, and Jesshore. Today, with the support of all the National and International donors it enable WJCC to provide support to Distressed Women, impoverished children and their communities with access to clean water, nutritious food, healthcare, education, and also with special focus on economic opportunities, enabling them to become self-reliant.

In 1990, she founded WJCC, with the aim of helping poverty-stricken Women and children in south-west Bangladesh. That advice by the Japanese social worker Ms. Midori set the prototype of making WJCC program. The first WJCC program began a few months later in response to the needs of hundreds of thousands of women and children's of satkhira at the end of 1990. Later the programs were extended to other South-western regions, and places such as Khulna, and Jesshore. Today, with the support of all the National and International donors it enable WJCC to provide support to Distressed Women, impoverished children and their communities with access to clean water, nutritious food, healthcare, education, and also with special focus on economic opportunities, enabling them to become self-reliant.

It has been a great privilege for me to visit and stay in Jatpur, Tala, Satkhira for Bengali language learning for one month in the early 1991, shortly after Ms. Ashrafun Nahar had launched Woman Job Creation Center (WJCC). As woman living in the traditional rural Bangladesh, it has been so inspiring to see her take a leadership role courageously. Since then, our relationship has grown. When I moved to Tala to become an advisor for another new local NGO in 1996, my relationship with WJCC turned into a new stage. Asha Apa had developed embroidery department well organized by then since an embroidery work is very useful for village women to be involved for earning at home, while using their neat sewing skill. During this time, I received a contact by a group of Japanese women in Japan, who were very interested in having a relationship with women in Bangladesh through embroidery works. They loved embroidery, too! In this way, I became a bridge between WJCC and Japanese women who decided to find people in Japan who purchased embroidery made by Bangladesh rural women. Meanwhile, one of my Japanese friends who was specialized in art/design/coloring visited me and graciously offered to teach them about color-coordination from Japanese coloring perspective. After I moved out of Tala in the end of 1999, this relationship between WJCC and Japanese women continued so I had been continuously a bridge for them, even after I was stationed in Japan till a few years ago. It has been such a joy for me to see those who had no opportunity to grow their potentials, find opportunities to develop their potentials within and be full of confidence in their new self-reliant status in the society. WJCC has been a great organization to walk with rural women at their pace and to encourage them to grow continuously. I visited Tala in 2012 and 2017. It was a deep pleasure to see those women’s kids become grown-ups and continuously pursue a better life for their kids. A wonderful generational cycle has been developed. This owes to Asha Apa, who courageously took decision to launch WJCC for the rural women and take care of women and the organization with perseverance during ups and downs for the last 30 years. Paying with a deep respect to Asha Apa from the bottom of my heart.