From hardship to hope: Aloti empowers indigenous women through clean cooking in Bangladesh
Aloti, an indegenous entrepreneur in Bangladesh, transforms lives with clean cookstoves—lifting her family from poverty and empowering women in her community
Aloti Munda is a dedicated entrepreneur who sells and maintains improved cookstoves (ICS) in her community. She regularly visits her customers to ensure their stoves are working efficiently and provides guidance on proper use and maintenance. Her efforts have a profound impact— she not only helps households cook more cleanly and safely, but also transforms her own life in the process.
Born into an indigenous community in Shutipur, Nachol Upazila in Bangladesh, Aloti always had it tough. Marriage to her husband Basanto Munda gave them a son and a daughter, but on his meagre income as a farmer, it was almost impossible to make ends meet. But Aloti refused to accept this as her lot. She was determined to stand on her own feet and support her family.
Entrepreneurial support for indigenous women
When Ashrai, a microfinance organisation, offered Aloti a loan, she seized the opportunity to diversify her family’s livelihood by starting a hay stock business and buying a goat. Recognising her entrepreneurial spirit, Ashrai invited Aloti to a two-day training course under the EnDev programme. The programme focused on making and selling improved cookstoves (ICS), a sustainable and efficient cooking solution.
For Aloti, the impact was immediate. Like millions of Bangladeshi women, Aloti had long endured her smoky traditional cooking stove. Now, she is not only using an ICS – biomass-based stove that uses 50% less fuel, cooks faster, and produces much less smoke – she makes, sells and repairs cookstoves for other women in her community. Aloti’s new skillset as a female cookstove technician has opened the door to a new future.
Aloti now sells an average of 74 improved cooksotoves for earnings of 37,000 BDT (270 EUR) every month – over a third more than the national average. She has expanded her goat-rearing business, bought a cow, and leased 1.5 bighas (0.38 hectares) of land. Today, Aloti is not only a vital service provider in her community, but also a successful entrepreneur who has lifted her family out of poverty.
Scaling impact for gender-transformative change
Aloti’s story is not an isolated one. EnDev Bangladesh partners with two NGOs – Ashrai and Ava Development Society – to sustain dissemination of improved cookstoves through this training programme and community outreach. It stands as one of EnDev’s most successful initiatives, and one that is aiding Bangladesh’s energy transition and climate strategy.
A key element of the programme’s success is its focus on women’s empowerment. Over half of the trainees are women – a critical achievement in a country where rural women often face barriers to employment and economic independence. These challenges are magnified among adivasi or indigenous women like Aloti, who risk being left behind by otherwise successful development programmes. EnDev’s recruitment of women trainees thus went beyond gender-mainstreaming the needs of women – it aims to achieve gender-transformative impacts.
For Aloti, the dream of financial independence is now a reality. Once struggling with household expenses, she is now a successful female entrepreneur and a source of inspiration in her village. What’s more, she has fulfilled a long-held dream of hers – to bring smiles to the faces of her husband, daughter, and son.
