They all knew Kohinoor as one struggling to manage two meals a day for her bed-ridden husband and three daughters. But many of them do not know her trying time is over and her face now also reflects the changes she witnessed in the last few years.

Besides securing a space in the market five years ago, the once destitute woman now has a house of her own, and, above all, she is managing her family successfully. Through hard work and courage she won the battle against poverty.

"Hard days are gone and I don't want to recall those haunting moments," Kohinoor murmurs, sitting on a stool at her shop in Sabgram hat (market) in northern Bogra district.

Kohinoor is now taking part directly in economic activities breaking a long-standing tradition that deprives half the total population from being economically active. It was possible because of the assistance she got from a voluntary organisation.

Born in a middle-class family of Isaidaha village in Bogra sadar upazila, Kohinoor was married off by her parents at the age of 15 to Badshah, a solvent farmer who owned some cultivable lands. And she gave birth to three girls.

Misfortune struck the family when Badshah lost his ability to work getting both his kidneys damaged. Failing to treat him well, Kohinoor's in-laws refused to pay anymore money for his treatment throwing her out with three young daughters and the sick husband.

Although a brother-in-law of Kohinoor gave them shelter, the hapless woman who never went to school suddenly found herself as the sole breadwinner of her family.

"I married off my eldest daughter Smriti at the age of 14 as I failed to manage regular meal for them and money to buy medicine for my husband," Kohinoor said.

She began to work as an assistant to a tailor, which did not help much to run the family. Then she rented a sewing machine to work at her home but failed to manage everything although her two daughters helped her a lot.

Even she was forced to work as a day-labourer. To her utter woes, Smriti's in-laws sent her back two years later as Kohinoor failed to pay dowry.

At last Kohinoor found a light of hope when an NGO announced its programme of reconstructing a market in the village. The NGO said it would give six permanent shops and 20 percent of rest spaces to hardcore poor women.

Officials of CARE, which took the scheme in collaboration with Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), granted her a space after she applied for it. She borrowed some money from a lending institution and bought the sewing machine, dress materials and some readymade garments from wholesalers.

She now received a large volume of orders and makes a handsome profit. She charges on average Tk 20 for making a dress for women or children. She also sells cheap readymade garments purchasing from wholesalers.

The idea of developing the markets in rural areas was conceived in mid 2002 after a similar government move introduced in 1984 failed to achieve expected result. A total of 146 markets were brought under the programme.

A study of 2002 on the government projects showed that majority of the shops reserved for women entrepreneurs in 'Women's Corner' of the rural markets were being used by men, using women's name as a facade only.

The study also showed affluent women, in some cases, owned some shops and that many women found their shops occupied by men in their absence for illness.

The 2002's idea was aimed at mainstreaming of real hardcore poor rural women by placing them in the heart of the reconstructed rural markets to run businesses with regular monitoring to prevent any misuse of the facility.

Kohinoor has also got the opportunity to be included in a 12-member Labour Contracting Society, which got the contract of reconstructing Sabgram market. Seven female and five male members enlisted as contractor with LGED benefited in two ways they received the profit as contractors and regular wages as labourers.

"I saved about Tk 25,000 after the construction work and bought a piece of land and a bundle of tin (corrugated iron sheet) to build my house," said Kohinoor, now enjoying social dignity and living no longer as a parasite in other's house.

"These hardworking women are setting instance for others to earn economic freedom and contribute to society," noted local Union Parishad chairman Israfil Hossain Dewan.