Social Welfare Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain today said women's empowerment is essential for building climate-resilient societies. "Women's empowerment is no longer merely a development agenda but has become a matter of national survival in addressing the adverse impacts of climate change. In a climate-vulnerable country like Bangladesh, women are among the worst affected and their empowerment is crucial for building a sustainable climate-resilient society," he said.
Workshop on Climate Resilience
Delivering the chief guest's speech, he made the remarks while addressing the National Lessons Learned and Scale-Up Workshop. The workshop, organised under the "Empower Women for Climate-Resilient Societies (Phase II)" project, was held at Aloki Auditorium in Tejgaon.
Government Commitment to Women's Empowerment
The minister said the present government remains firmly committed to women's empowerment by prioritising women in social protection programmes, skills development training and climate adaptation initiatives. Referring to the impacts of climate change, he said, "Rural women suffer the most from disasters such as floods, cyclones, increased salinity and drought."
International Collaboration and Local Impact
He appreciated the initiatives of international organisations alongside the government to improve their livelihoods and strengthen their disaster preparedness. Expressing gratitude for the project, he said women trained under the initiative have already improved their living standards and are providing leadership in climate-resilient agriculture and livelihood activities at the local level.
Call for Inclusive Policymaking
The minister also emphasized the need for ensuring women' participation at every stage, from national policymaking to grassroots implementation. The workshop presented achievements and lessons learned from project implementation in different districts. Participants recommended expanding the successful models to other parts of the country.
Stakeholders and Project Details
UN Women Bangladesh Representative Gitanjali Singh, government officials, development partners, representatives of UN agencies, NGOs, researchers and around 100 grassroots women entrepreneurs attended the workshop. The Empower Women for Climate-Resilient Societies project is jointly implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Women to empower women to build sustainable and inclusive societies in the context of climate change.
