Guardian of the Godown

If you visit the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) warehouse tucked away in Khulna, Bangladesh, amidst the towering stacks of white and cyan blue cartons, you will find 47-year-old Rima. Under the fluorescent lights, you will spot her with a record-keeping register in hand, inspecting the cartons, counting them, and checking for any damage with a sharp eye.

Rima is not a front-line responder. But she is an integral part of UNICEF’s emergency supply chain in southern Bangladesh. When disasters like floods and cyclones strike, sweeping villages and submerging homes, her work becomes life-saving.

When she was 19, Rima was like any other high school student. Her days revolved around school, friends, and learning. Rima grew up dreaming of a simple life as a devoted mother and a homemaker, just like the women she had grown up watching. But when her father passed away suddenly, her world turned upside down. In an instant, she found herself with a grieving mother and four siblings to look after.

Through the Bangladesh Government’s family support quota, Rima was able to secure a job at DPHE as a mechanic – a rare position for women, even today. At the time, she was the only woman in an all-male office.

“People didn’t believe in me because I was young and because I was a woman,” says Rima. “So, I worked twice as hard to prove that I belonged.”

And she did.

With determination and resilience, Rima carved out a space for herself, not just in the office, but in a system where women were rarely seen, let alone respected. Today, nearly three decades later, Rima is a trusted employee at the DPHE warehouse in Khulna, where she is the heart of storage and management of UNICEF’s emergency supplies for southern Bangladesh. 

UNICEF/UNI825135/Rasnat Rima with a UNICEF staff at the DPHE warehouse in Khulna.

The warehouse is a vital hub where UNICEF stores survival kits that include items like jerry cans, handwashing and laundry soaps, sanitary pads, blankets, and learning materials–all ready to move at a moment’s notice. When disasters strike, she ensures that the supplies reach the children and families who need them the most.

UNICEF/UNI838970/Satu Zannat, 20, exhausted and unwell, carries her 4-month-old child as she makes her way from the hospital to a cyclone shelter in Gosaipur village, Feni.

Bangladesh is no stranger to disaster. As climate change intensifies, floods and cyclones are becoming more frequent and severe in the country. And when disasters happen, children are the most vulnerable. In 2024 alone, over 18 million people were affected. More than 7 million of them were children.

To make sure we are ready to respond as soon as disaster strikes, UNICEF has partnered and signed a Memorandum of Unity with DPHE.

“UNICEF is committed to providing technical support to the Government of Bangladesh in strengthening emergency preparedness systems that protect children’s lives and rights before disasters strike,” says Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.

This partnership is a vital step to protect vulnerable children in disaster-prone areas. UNICEF and DPHE will jointly manage more than 40 warehouses to preposition life-saving supplies, reach vulnerable children faster, and reduce delays and disaster risks.

Today, over $1.2 million worth of essential items are stocked across DPHE warehouses across the country – enough to support up to 345,000 people. Because the supplies are close to disaster-prone areas, help can reach children and families faster, even to the most remote corners of the country.

The DPHE warehouse in Khulna, where Rima works, is one of these vital hubs. When disaster strikes, trucks are quickly loaded with UNICEF’s life-saving supplies and trained distribution workers deliver the items to the affected areas. But behind that quick dispatch is months, even years, of careful planning of logistics, coordination, and relentless effort.

“When floods or cyclones happen, our workload increases,” says Rima. “But every time I think of the supplies reaching a mother and her children who desperately needed them, I know I am doing something meaningful. That keeps me going.”

UNICEF/UNI664767/Rasnat Trained distributors help transport family and hygiene kits to support children and families impacted by the 2024 floods in Feni.

What makes Rima’s story inspiring is not only her role in UNICEF’s emergency supply chain. It’s also her resilience.

She never imagined she would be the sole breadwinner of her family at such a young age. But she did. She never planned to break barriers in a male-dominated society. But she did. Rima was a young girl who had to take up too many responsibilities too soon. Over the course of time, she became an example of what’s possible when girls are given the chance.

“Every girl should go to school and complete her education and be financially independent,” says Rima. “When you earn your own money, you don’t have to depend on anyone. Not your father, brother, or husband. Otherwise, even for 1 taka, women are expected to explain how they intend to spend it.”

UNICEF’s work in Bangladesh depends on people like her: the implementers, the logistics experts, the boots on the ground. The ones who rarely make headlines but always make a difference. From all of us at UNICEF, thank you!