A national workshop was held in Dhaka, highlighting the People's Adaptation Plans for Inclusive Climate-Smart Cities initiative. Photo: Collected

DHAKA, Sept 21, 2025 (BSS) - Vulnerable communities in Bangladesh are 
stepping into the driver's seat of climate action, preparing their own 
adaptation strategies and reshaping how cities can build resilience in the 
face of intensifying climate crises.

The results of this groundbreaking, community-led approach were presented 
today at a national workshop in Dhaka, highlighting the People's Adaptation 
Plans for Inclusive Climate-Smart Cities initiative, said a press release 
here.
 
For the first time, residents of climate-vulnerable towns such as Laksam, 
Feni, and Mirsarai have developed roadmaps to address recurring challenges 
including floods, excessive rainfall, waterlogging and heatwaves.

The initiative is funded by the UK Government's Foreign, Commonwealth & 
Development Office (FCDO), supported by the Global Center on Adaptation 
(GCA), and implemented by Save the Children Bangladesh and Young Power in 
Social Action (YPSA), with technical support from Jahangirnagar University 
(JU). 

It is designed to empower low-income groups who are disproportionately 
impacted by climate change due to inadequate infrastructure and services.

"Every monsoon, our homes go underwater, and we face a severe crisis of safe 
drinking water. A proper drainage system could solve this," said a community 
representative from Laksam. "Through this project, we have finally found a 
voice to express our needs."

A defining feature of the initiative has been the integration of advanced 
scientific tools, such as GIS mapping, with community knowledge gathered 
through household surveys and focus group discussions. 

This blend has produced People's Adaptation Plans (PAPs) that are both 
scientifically sound and rooted in local realities.

"These PAPs are their plans, not ours," said Abdullah Al Mamun, director of 
Save the Children International. "Our role has been to facilitate their 
vision for a safer, more resilient future," he added.

Key achievements to date include reaching more than 2,100 direct 
beneficiaries across 27 low-income communities, training Community Mobilizers 
to sustain adaptation work, and establishing Local Adaptation Committees 
(LACs) to strengthen community governance.

Rita Lohani, country representative for the Global Center on Adaptation 
(GCA), emphasized the project's wider significance.
 
"The people-led model we see here has the potential to transform urban 
climate resilience across Bangladesh and serve as a template for other 
developing countries facing similar crises," she said. 

Panelists from the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and the 
Department of Disaster Management (DDM) called for integrating PAPs into 
municipalities' Annual Development Plans and aligning them with Bangladesh's 
Smart Cities agenda to ensure long-term sustainability.

The workshop, attended by senior government officials, representatives from 
the British High Commission, BMDF, and development partners, concluded with 
strong consensus that scaling up this bottom-up model is vital for building 
climate-smart cities in Bangladesh - with those most at risk leading the way.

ABM Firoz Ahmed, deputy team leader of the Climate Change and Environment 
Team at the British High Commission, and Golam Md. Baten, deputy director 
(Local Government) of Feni and Administrator of Feni Sadar Municipality, 
spoke, among others.