CLIMATE RESILIENCE THROUGH FINANCIAL SERVICES: FARZANA’S STORY

Before Cyclone Aila, which tore through southwest Bangladesh in 2009, Farzana and her family farmed a small tranche of land in the Khulna Division in the delta of Bangladesh, where they made an income growing rice, mangos, and lemons. The storm significantly impacted agricultural land and communities, and Farzana and her family were no exception. The embankments around Farzana’s home flooded, submerging the land and washing away her home. Her livelihood was also destroyed – for her smallholder farmer family, their primary asset (land) had been decimated. Compounding these losses, both Khulna’s proximity to the coast and ongoing extreme heat has caused a significant spike in salinity, which has devastated traditional rice varietals, a staple of the community’s diet.

When an extreme climate event such as Cyclone Aila occurs and households are not well prepared, women like Farzana may resort to coping strategies that have greater negative effects on their immediate and future well-being than those experienced by men. CGAP’s new working paper on gender, climate change, and financial inclusion explores these disproportionately negative impacts on women and girls and the role financial services can play in improving women’s resilience and coping mechanisms.