Basic Information:
Working area:
Funded by: Gates Foundation
Partner/s: COAST Foundation, Street Child, BINDU
Total Budget: USD 2,00,000
Project duration: 01 December 2024 – 30 November 2026
Climate vulnerable area in the Bangladesh
Project Participants Number (Primary & Secondary):
- Direct participants: 1,700 people (1,200 female, 500 male)
- Indirect participants: 8,500 people (6,000 female, 2,500 male)
Manpower (Staff):
Female: 01, Male: 02, Total: 03
Project Goal:
Enhanced women local humanitarian leadership and a more gender-transformative humanitarian system in Bangladesh.
Project Objectives:
Objective 1: A robust knowledge hub and collaborative initiative on women’s leadership in humanitarian efforts are promoted.
Objective 2: Strong collective actions among WLHL platforms to influence humanitarian systems.
Objective 3: Gender Transformative measures are incorporated in Humanitarian policies and implemented effectively, leading to inclusive humanitarian actions benefiting all groups.
The Project Addresses 3 Core Problems:
- Resource Gap — Acute shortage of humanitarian support in Asia’s high-risk disaster regions
- Insufficient Recognition of Gender Inequalities — Failure to account for gender-based violence, reproductive health needs, and women’s exclusion from decision-making during emergencies
- Lack of Support for Women’s Organizations — The international humanitarian system overlooks and underfunds women-led organizations
Short Description of the Project:
SHIFT Asia is a strategic humanitarian initiative implemented by the Association of Voluntary Actions for Society (AVAS), in collaboration with Oxfam and with the support of the Gates Foundation. The project is operational from 01 September 2025 to 30 June 2027, targeting climate-vulnerable communities across Bangladesh.
The project is designed to address three critical gaps in the existing humanitarian system: the resource deficit in humanitarian support, the insufficient recognition of gender inequalities during emergencies, and the systemic underrepresentation and underfunding of women’s organizations in humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
Through the strengthening of the Bangladesh Women Humanitarian Platform (BWHP) and the Women Community Leadership Platform (WCLP), SHIFT Asia endeavors to build institutional capacity, promote evidence-based advocacy, and facilitate the integration of gender-transformative measures into local and national humanitarian policies.
The initiative is projected to directly benefit 1,700 individuals and indirectly reach 8,500 people, with a particular emphasis on women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and other marginalized groups residing in climate-vulnerable areas of Bangladesh.