In 1980, Nijera Kori emerged when activists from some NGOs in Bangladesh recognised the importance of empowering marginalised communities. They saw that patriarchy, poverty, and discrimination were rooted in unequal distribution, power dynamics, and social norms—not due to a lack of resources, as was commonly believed. Rejecting dependency-inducing approaches like microcredit, and service provision, Nijera Kori instead supports rural women and men to form autonomous landless organisations to assert their own collective agency. The organisation believes in the strength and capacity of those experiencing poverty to address its challenges. Nijera Kori sees itself as a catalyst, supporting the collective efforts of the poor. As it states clearly, it works with the poor and not for the poor.  The focus is landless rural people relying on labour as their main livelihood, involving indigenous communities as well as diverse minorities, ethnic, religious, cultural, sexual, social etc. where these communities can then become central within their geographical area. Gender equality—from women’s roles within their families, ensuring their rights over resources, to their political participation and recognition of their labour in production processes, to mention a few areas, has been at the forefront of the organisation's work since its inception.  Both class and patriarchy are addressed equally as structures that are oppressive and needs to be addressed in order to bring about necessary changes in society