By UTTARAN
This blog is part of a dossier on locally-led adaptation, featuring insights and lessons from the Reversing the Flow (RtF) program. RtF empowers communities in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan to build climate resilience through direct funding and a community-driven, landscape approach.
Godaibeel, a small community in Satkhira’s municipal area, was once paradoxically one of the most isolated places in town. For most of the year, waterlogging submerged its only earthen access road, turning it into a muddy and treacherous path. The route that connected people to schools, hospitals and markets became impassable for months. For eight long months each year, families were effectively cut off from essential services and economic opportunities. Many were forced to rent homes elsewhere, leaving their own houses empty, while those who stayed risked injury simply trying to walk through the mire.
This cycle of isolation and exclusion continued for years until the community decided to take matters into their own hands. Through the LANDWATER Project, supported by Reversing the Flow (RtF) and implemented by Uttaran, the people of Godaibeel were empowered to lead their own development journey. Guided by the principles of locally led adaptation, they came together to design a solution rooted in their lived realities: elevating and reconstructing their road to withstand prolonged waterlogging.
What followed was a powerful example of collective action. The community mobilized local resources, contributed labor and oversaw the entire construction process themselves. Neighbors worked side by side, united by a shared vision of a connected and thriving Godaibeel.
Today, the rebuilt road has transformed the landscape and the lives of the people who call it home. Children can attend school even during the monsoon season. Pregnant women and the elderly can reach health facilities safely. Farmers and workers can transport their goods year-round. Movement that was once dangerous and uncertain has become safe, reliable and dignified.
This is more than a story about a road. It is a story of community strength, leadership and resilience. By empowering local actors to lead, the LANDWATER Project has turned a once-forgotten muddy path into a lifeline that connects people, revives livelihoods and restores hope. Godaibeel now stands as a living example of how landscape restoration, when driven by communities, can reshape the future.
