Scaling climate change Adaptation Knowledge and Technologies for Empowering women, and to Enhance social equity and disaster resilience in Bangladesh (SAKTEE Project). Bangladesh is ranked the most vulnerable country in the world to climate change, with global warming, sea level rise, and weather variability drastically affecting the livelihoods of many of its 163 million people. Climate change-related precipitation change, salinity intrusion (slow-onset events), and extreme events like cyclones, and floods are affecting all facets of their livelihoods.

As a result of environmental, socio-economic, and political processes, in addition to climate change impacts in recent years, the livelihoods of women in the affected regions of Bangladesh have been rapidly deteriorating. The SAKTEE initiative funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) was aimed to tackle these issues and build climate and disaster resilience among the vulnerable population of the country. The project is the result of the collaboration of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), The University of Manitoba (UOM), the Department of Women Affairs (DoWA), and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) with BCAS taking the lead.

The general purpose and objective of the project are to scale appropriate, socially-transformative climate change adaptation technologies, enhance development planning capacity and policy sensitivity at multiple institutional levels (local, regional, national and international), and support the empowerment of women and other disadvantaged segments of the population in Bangladesh.

In addition to this, the SAKTEE project aims to improve understanding of the dynamics of various factors, identify and evaluate innovative adaptation technologies, enhance local, regional, and national level stakeholder awareness and capacity on CCAT and Facilitate policy engagement on gender-responsive adaptation and gender equality.

The Project is being implemented in 4 Upazilas (Kaliganj, Shyamnagar, Dowarabazar, Jamalgonj ) of 2 districts of Bangladesh which are, a southern coastal district that is affected by frequent cyclones and tidal surges, sea level rise, salinity, and water logging; and Sunamganj, a northeastern district, which is located in a haor basin and is affected by flash floods, erosion, drought, heat and cold waves. These two districts were identified as the most vulnerable regions in the country to climate change. The targeted sub-populations will include stakeholders and representatives of local communities, government departments (Department of Women’s Affairs, Department of disaster management, and Department of Environment), NGOs, universities, and private sectors at different levels.

For implementation, the SAKTEE project is focusing on four key components: Exploratory research, Capacity building, Participatory Action Research, and Policy-Institute-Practice Integration. Under these components the project aims to: 1. Explore and understand the interrelationships of various environmental, socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors and climate change that may exacerbate social and gender inequity – which is one of the main prevailing knowledge gaps (Exploratory research component); 2. Scale-up innovative, locally-tested adaptation technologies to address worsening climate change impacts, particularly on water and agriculture, through promoting “best practices” in disaster and climate resilience and multi-level institutional coordination and integration (Capacity building component) 3. Support the empowerment of women, students, and poverty-stricken disadvantaged households in the climate-vulnerable regions (Participatory Action Research component); and 4. Engage and inform policy and decision-makers about transformative climate change adaptation technologies and the potential for their integration with social and gender equity programs (Policy-Institute-Practice Integration component).