Zinat Ara Afroze

Each diesel pump runs on guesswork, not guidance. One farmer floods his field fearing the next day's outage, while another a few plots away waits helplessly for his turn. Pump operators struggle to balance pressure from farmers demanding "just one more hour" of water, even as groundwater levels sink and fuel costs soar. This is the frontline of Bangladesh's irrigation - where decisions are made by intuition rather than information.

After receiving the redundancy notice from my international non-profit employer in March 2025 due to the USAID fund cut, I applied for more than 20 development jobs and consultancy opportunities aligned with my experience. Surprisingly, I never heard back from any of them. The development professionals in Bangladesh, like me, had a higher mobility within the sector due to our extensive skill sets.