Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2005:

Sufia could see that when she spoke alone about her concerns, she spoke to deaf ears. But collective action counted for a lot: it caught the local administration by the scruff.

Sufia Khatun, Landless Organization of Atabarpur
Regional Committee of the Landless

A silent victim of domestic violence until 1984, Sufia Khatun's life changed dramatically after she met with activists from the NGO Nijera Kori (which means doing it ourselves) who told her about human rights and the need for collective action to assert those rights. Mobilizing women, she set up a women's group in first in her own, then neighboring villages, where organizations of landless people formed a regional committee. Her mobilization has led to a reduction in domestic violence in the area, and the weakening of fundamentalist forces.