Financing Climate Resilience Through Gender-Transformative Microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh
Climate-induced losses and damages disproportionately burden vulnerable communities, yet existing financial mechanisms under the UNFCCC remain inadequate for addressing these impacts at the grassroots level. Women's potential for driving climate adaptation and resilience-building remains largely untapped, despite evidence of their crucial role in disaster recovery. This presentation examines an innovative financing model piloted in flood-prone Kurigram district, Bangladesh, which combines blended finance with women-centered capacity building to address these gaps.
28 October 2026 | 13:00 CEST to 13:30 CEST | Lille, France
Abstract
The Sustainable Loss and Damage Recovery Support (SLDRS) model provides climate-affected families with a combination of grants (70%) and concessional microcredit (30%), totaling BDT 40,000, alongside training in climate-resilient income-generating activities such as poultry rearing, climate-smart agriculture, and handloom weaving. A longitudinal study tracking 160 families over 26 weeks compared intervention recipients against a control group experiencing similar climate impacts without external support.
Results demonstrate significant improvements in the intervention group's economic resilience. Weekly family income increased at 51 takas per week compared to a 43 taka weekly decline in the control group. Female participants' weekly earnings grew substantially at 66 takas per week while remaining stagnant in the control group. The intervention group also showed higher propensity to invest loans in productive, climate-resilient activities rather than merely maintaining consumption.
However, the findings reveal persistent challenges. Women's decision-making authority in household financial matters showed limited improvement, suggesting that capital access alone cannot dismantle deeply rooted gender barriers. Frequent income disruptions due to work unavailability and raw material shortages highlight the need for complementary market linkages and employment creation.
This research contributes to themes of Challenge, Change, and Collective Action by critiquing inadequate climate finance mechanisms, demonstrating innovative approaches to building community resilience, and exploring how participatory, gender-focused interventions can drive meaningful transformation in climate-vulnerable contexts.
Rationale and Objectives
As climate change intensifies, vulnerable communities in the Global South face escalating losses and damages that existing financial mechanisms inadequately address. The 16th European Evaluation Society Conference's focus on evaluation and democracy resonates deeply with our work: effective climate finance requires not only evidence-based interventions but also democratic participation that centers marginalized voices—particularly women who bear disproportionate climate burdens yet remain excluded from decision-making.
Current evaluation literature reveals critical gaps in assessing community-level climate finance mechanisms. While policy frameworks for addressing Loss and Damage have advanced, questions persist about how resources can effectively reach grassroots communities and genuinely transform adaptive capacity. Furthermore, gender-transformative approaches in climate finance remain under-evaluated, with limited longitudinal evidence on whether financial inclusion alone can shift entrenched power dynamics within households.
This presentation offers the European evaluation community rigorous empirical evidence from Bangladesh's climate frontlines. Our 26-week longitudinal study evaluates an innovative blended finance model implemented by an international NGO that challenges conventional microfinance approaches by intentionally targeting women as agents of climate resilience. The findings carry significance beyond South Asia: as organizations across contexts design climate adaptation programming, understanding what works—and what doesn't—in building household-level resilience becomes essential for equitable, effective interventions.
Objectives:
1. Present longitudinal evaluation evidence on whether blended finance combined with skills training enhances economic resilience in climate-affected households, using comparative data from 160 families tracked over 26 weeks in flood-prone communities.
2. Examine the relationship between financial support and women's agency by analyzing whether capital access translates to meaningful decision-making authority within households, sharing evidence that economic gains did not automatically shift gendered power dynamics.
3. Identify practical implementation barriers that emerged during intervention delivery—including market access constraints, raw material availability, and employment gaps—to inform how NGOs can design more comprehensive support packages beyond capital provision alone.
Lille Grand Palais
Room 16
1 Bd des Cités Unies
59800 Lille, France