Daffodil International University
Resilient Voices
Finalist, Creating Impact
About
Climate change is hitting coastal Bangladesh in extreme ways, rising seas, stronger cyclones, and persistent salinity intrusion now contaminate drinking sources for over 25% of the population. Women bear the heaviest burden, 60% report limited clean water access, spending hours daily collecting water, yet less than 15% hold any voice in local water governance. Resilient Voices Project responds by turning lived experience into action. Across 5 villages, we documented how extreme salinity disrupts 368 women's health and livelihoods through participatory mapping. We trained 52 youth to co-produce a five-episode podcast series, now reaching 13,400 listeners via digital platforms and community radio. Our Gender-Water Insecurity Index, built directly from women's stories, has already prompted three Union Parishads to reserve seats for women on new water committees. We prove that centering marginalized voices in climate adaptation isn't just ethical, it drives measurable, community-owned resilience.
Top 3 learnings
- We learned women’s unscripted audio testimonies shift policymakers faster than traditional academic reports
- When women led the dialogue, men in households started showing up to water meetings!
- Co-creating the Gender-Water Index with local people turned data into tools leaders actually use
Sustainable Development Goals
| 2026 | |
| Creating Impact | |
| Finalist, International |
