BANGLADESH鈥橲 artisan economy is not a relic of the past; it is a living industrial system spread across Narayanganj鈥揝onargaon鈥檚 Jamdani belt, Tangail鈥檚 saree heartland, Sirajganj鈥檚 handlooms, Rajshahi鈥檚 silk corridor, Rangpur鈥檚 shataranji, and shital pati weaving in Sylhet and Jhalakathi. Framing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 ongoing engagement with these producers as a national 鈥極ne Village, One Product鈥� strategy offers a practical route to equity, SME development, women鈥檚 empowerment, mass employment, and the recovery of national pride. It also aligns with two headline goals: creating 1 crore new jobs in the first 18 months and putting Bangladesh on course to a $1 trillion economy by 2034.
The idea is simple and proven. Thailand鈥檚 One Tambon, One Product model, adapted from Japan鈥檚 OVOP movement, helped local communities turn unique, place-based products into competitive brands. The approach emphasised a clear product identity per locality, coaching for design and quality, a star-rating system to signal standards, and strong links to domestic and export markets, including tourism. Localised for Bangladesh, one village, one product model means selecting one emblematic product for each village, enforcing quality and traceability, and connecting producers to finance, design support, logistics, and both public and private buyers.
The foundations already exist. A national handicraft mapping shows more than seventy thousand handicraft establishments, the vast majority home-based, employing well over one hundred thousand people. Women own about half of these establishments and make up a majority of workers, which is rare and valuable in our broader enterprise landscape. Handicraft exports, though still modest, are a proven beachhead that can scale with better branding and order fulfilment. Handloom capacity remains extensive, with over a hundred thousand units and hundreds of thousands of looms nationwide, and several districts 鈥� Sirajganj, Tangail, Narayanganj鈥揝onargaon, Rangpur, and Rajshahi 鈥� retain deep technical skill, supplier networks, and market memory. Heritage recognition strengthens the economic case: Jamdani is both UNESCO-listed and Bangladesh鈥檚 first Geographical Indication; Tangail saree and Rajshahi silk hold GI status; shital pati is UNESCO-listed; and Rangpur鈥檚 shataranji has GI protection. These recognitions are not ornaments; they are pricing power if tied to quality assurance and reliable delivery.
In practice, this proposed model could turn scattered cottage activity into village-anchored, women-led CMSMEs. Each participating village forms a producer group, prioritising women鈥檚 leadership to choose the flagship product, agree on design and quality standards, and adopt a simple one-to-five star rating adapted from Thailand鈥檚 OTOP. District-level common facility centres provide shared services 鈥� dyeing, washing, finishing, testing, packaging, barcoding, and basic compliance 鈥� so micro-units can meet large orders without prohibitive unit costs. Finance is tied to orders rather than only to firms: time-bound working capital, invoice discounting, and small equipment loans are synchronised with production cycles, with dedicated quotas for women-owned enterprises. Market access is solved by combining a curated national dedicated e-marketplace with buyer aggregation for export and guaranteed slots in national fairs. Public procurement policies create steady demand by reserving portions of school uniforms, hospital linens, and official gifts for certified village producers who meet quality marks.
Area-specific opportunities make the strategy concrete. In Narayanganj鈥揝onargaon, Jamdani鈥檚 UNESCO and GI status can be converted into consistent premiums through QR-based traceability, a design lab that supports weaves and motifs, and a CFC that handles colourfastness testing and finishing. In Tangail, GI recognition positions saree-producing villages for higher prices if dyeing and packaging are standardised and if a women-first working capital window lets home-based units accept larger orders with confidence. In Sirajganj, the density of looms makes it ideal for export-grade home textiles and hospitality linens once CFCs ensure batch consistency and quality marks at volume. In Rajshahi, silk鈥檚 GI status supports 鈥淪ilk City鈥� branding, designer tie-ups, and craft tourism that spreads income along the sericulture chain. In Rangpur, shataranji can scale to larger formats and eco-fibre lines for European home-d茅cor buyers through village-level order aggregation and design workshops. In Jhalakathi 鈥� particularly Nalchity 鈥� shital pati can become a model 1V1P village once finishing standards, logistics, and last-mile market links are fixed, building directly on BNP鈥檚 local engagement.
Equity is a design feature, not an afterthought. Because production is overwhelmingly home-based and women-intensive, a women-first financing window and basic home-based safety standards convert unpaid family labor into paid enterprise. Simplified GI logo use and easy-to-understand quality seals allow women-led groups to claim brand value rather than surrendering it to intermediaries. Training focuses on practical needs鈥攑attern development, color matching, finishing, costing, digital catalogs, and order management鈥攄elivered within villages at times that fit women鈥檚 schedules. By anchoring value-added services locally and recognizing women鈥檚 leadership formally in producer groups, 1V1P-BD raises incomes where poverty is most persistent.
The employment math is realistic and fast. If 250 to 300 priority villages each formalise and scale around 100 micro-enterprises averaging five steady jobs, Bangladesh adds 125,000 to 150,000 direct jobs quickly, most of them for women. As villages reach four- and five-star ratings, allied inputs (yarn, dyes and chemicals), packaging, logistics, digital sales, maintenance, and tourism create additional layers of work. Scaling the model across the country鈥檚 mapped clusters鈥攏early two hundred, with dozens in handicrafts鈥攖urns a village-level engine into a national pipeline that meaningfully contributes to the 1-crore jobs pledge. Because the approach is labor-absorbing and geographically dispersed, it spreads opportunity beyond major cities and into districts where underemployment is highest.
The strategy also rebuilds national pride. GI seals and UNESCO listings become more than headlines when they are tied to consistent standards and transparent origin. When a Jamdani saree carries a village code that the buyer can scan, or a shital pati bears a quality stamp that guarantees durability and colorfastness, heritage becomes a premium the world is willing to pay. That premium, in turn, pays school fees, expands a home workshop, and keeps skills alive in the next generation. Pride stops being abstract when it shows up as a dependable order and a fair price.
Policy can move within months. The government can announce the model for Bangladesh with clear eligibility 鈥� one product per village, women-led groups prioritized 鈥� and set up a simple rating and certification system that producers understand and buyers trust. District public-private partnerships can establish CFCs benchmarked to export specifications. Bangladesh Bank and partner institutions can offer order-linked working capital and invoice discounting, with lighter paperwork and seasonal tenors matched to weaving and finishing cycles. A national e-marketplace can showcase rated products, while public procurement rules reserve a share of institutional purchases for certified village producers. Tourism agencies can map craft routes around Jamdani, shital pati, shataranji, and silk so visitors spend in villages rather than only in city showrooms.
If implemented with discipline 鈥� capital, coaching, certification, and contracts 鈥� the artisan economy becomes a cornerstone of an equitable, women-powered growth story. One Village, One Product turns what our villages already do best into dignified livelihoods at scale, advances BNP鈥檚 10-million-jobs commitment, and helps build a $1 trillion Bangladesh that wears its pride 鈥� not just in museums and memoirs 鈥� but in the everyday prosperity of its people.
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Dr Ziauddin Hyder is an adviser to the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a former World Bank senior health and nutrition specialist.
