Overview
Her Power project is an initiative to build a self-solvent women workforce through digital skill teaching. The project is specially designed for the women in the rural areas of Bangladesh, who face challenges to find proper resources to develop themselves for the current fast-paced job market.
In its initial phase, approximately 10,500 women received training in the ICT sector across 21 pilot districts. Building on this success, the project expanded nationwide, aiming to eliminate gender discrimination and poverty by enhancing women’s skills in 130 upazilas across 44 districts.
The initiative focuses on IT and digital skill development, creating employment opportunities, and increasing women’s participation in economic activities. To date, it has empowered 25,125 women with the qualification of pursuing careers in the IT service sector, freelancing, E-commerce, and call center. By providing this training for women to compete in these highly demanding and fast-growing sectors, the Her Power Project significantly contributes to sustainable women’s empowerment in Bangladesh.
Riseup Labs has played a pivotal role in this initiative in collaboration with the ICT Division of Bangladesh. Over 18 months, they have trained 906 women across 12 upazilas in the Rajshahi division, offering courses in Graphic Design, Web Development, and Digital Marketing in three phases. Each training phase spanned six months, with five months dedicated to coursework and the final month to mentorship, ensuring comprehensive skill development.
Aligned with the ‘Digital Bangladesh – Vision 2041’ initiative, this project aims to reduce gender gaps in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector by promoting women’s active involvement in the country’s digital advancement.
The Bridge Between Dream and Solvency
Most of the women joined the Her Power Project with a dream of becoming financially independent. A lot of them mentioned that they wanted to do something for their parents. In the rural areas of Bangladesh, because of social gender bias and financial limitations, it is more challenging for women to become economically independent, especially participating in the digital sectors. The Her Power Project works as a ladder to fulfilling these women’s dreams.
Challenges
Limited Access to Devices and Skill Development
It is hard to nearly impossible for women in rural areas to afford devices needed to develop digital skills, like Graphic Design or Web development.
Lack of Relevant Knowledge
Many women in rural areas have little to no prior exposure to computers. Then again, some women who already had a business page did not know much about boosting their page. These factors prevent them from effectively competing in the freelance marketplaces.
Sociocultural Barriers and Safety Concerns
Cultural norms and safety issues, such as harassment and eve-teasing, have been significant barriers for women to attend classes. Some students enrolled in our courses mentioned this to our mentors.
Solutions
Solutions
Government Support for Device Accessibility
The classrooms have government-provided device support for each student.
Comprehensive Training on Freelancing
Besides teaching them the basics and advanced concepts of skill development courses, our mentors also helped women kickstart and boost their freelance careers.
>> Profile Creation & Optimization: The mentors guided the learners in setting up professional profiles on popular freelance platforms and guided them in highlighting their skills, experience, and expertise effectively.
>> Strategies for Growth: They provided insights into proven techniques for gaining visibility, securing initial clients, and building a strong reputation in both local and global freelance marketplaces.
>> Boosting Facebook Profile: The learners who already had a Facebook business page, but were struggling to get proper reach, our mentors helped them with boosting profiles and taught them techniques of Facebook Marketing.
Asha, a learner of the Digital Marketing course, shared her experience saying, “I was struggling to gain expected reach from my Facebook Page. I understood that I lacked some knowledge and that’s when I got to know about the Her Power Project. I enrolled in the course. As the classes are taken at upazilas I did not have to go far away to attend. It was a great help for me. The mentors guided me with Facebook boosting and I learned the basics to advanced levels of Digital Marketing from the course. After applying what I learned from the course. Now, my business is running smoothly and getting huge responses from all over the country.”
Ensuring Safety Through Community and Government Support
When incidents of harassment were reported, the project coordinators from Riseups Labs coordinated with UNOs (Upazila Nirbahi Officers) and ensured the implementation of protective measures.
Objectives and Impacts
The Her Power initiative was planned and designed to teach women highly demanding digital skills for the current job market. The courses are planned in a way so that one can open a profile in the local and global freelance marketplaces and start earning.
Creating A Digitally Skilled Women Workforce
Digital Marketing, Graphic Design, and Web Development are known as highly demanding skills in the contemporary job market. The curriculum was planned to teach them from basic concepts to all the ins and outs of advanced level. The learners got to practice and gain first-hand experience under the guidance of Risseup Labs’ mentors. This made it easy for them to implement the skills in the marketplace. Many of our students shared how these courses worked as a base for a long-term freelance career.
The classes were taken at Upzillas. So the women did not have to travel far from home to attend, which made the project a success and served as a great benefit for the learners.
Empowering Women to Achieve Financial Independence
“I found the Facebook Boosting part of the Digital Marketing course very interesting. I started to explore the local marketplace and post from my professional account, following the guidelines of Riseup Labs mentors. Two clients knocked me seeing my posts and I successfully got works from both of them.
That was my first income. It was a proud moment for me. I shared a part of that first earnings with my father, and I also shared a part with my mother. This was the start of my current successful career in freelancing. I am grateful to Her Pwer and Riseup Labs for being such a great help in my career journey.” – said Nusrat, another student in one of our Digita Marketing courses.
Just like Nusrat, many other students’ career journeys started with these courses. “This was my first income” has become a buzzword of joy and women empowerment.
Earning From Home: Taking Women-Empowerment One Step Ahead
The best outcome of the Her Power Project is, that it is teaching women highly demanding skills. Most of the women who completed the course with Riseup Labs mentioned that they are earning by freelancing. They also look forward to developing a long-term career in freelancing.
This way they can earn from home and that saves them from a lot of hassle.
After the successful completion of the courses, all the learners are gifted a high-configuration laptop. This will help them easily complete the highly demanding tasks from clients all over the world and thrive in their careers.
This page was last edited on 25 March 2025, at 2:55 pm
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