Expert panel highlights civil society's role in strengthening women's resilience to heat stress

The CSO Conversations webinar on Gender and Heat Stress, held on September 24 via Zoom, brought together civil society organizations (CSO), Asian Development Bank (ADB) staff and development practitioners to address the critical intersection of gender equality and extreme heat resilience across Asia and the Pacific. Jointly presented by ADB’s Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department's Gender Equality Division and the NGO and Civil Society Center, the session highlighted civil society's essential role in strengthening women's resilience to extreme heat.

Presentations and Insights 

ADB's Gender Equality Division discussed a technical assistance Strengthening Women’s Resilience to Heat Stress in Asia and the Pacific, emphasizing that heat stress poses profound threats to humans, ecosystems, economies, and societies. The ADB Technology Innovation Challenge awarded a $500,000 grant for cooling solutions benefiting women farmers in Cambodia, demonstrating that innovations work best when women's lived experiences inform their development. 

Civil society organizations Banteay Srei, People in Need (PIN) UK, and Islamic Relief Pakistan shared insights from their gender-responsive heat resilience projects. 

The Kampot Cooling consortium, which included CSOs and the private sector, presented their winning project from the ADB Technology Innovation Challenge, which pilots solar-powered cooling and irrigation systems for Cambodian pepper farms. 

This innovation addresses agricultural vulnerability where heat and drought have caused up to 80% crop losses, severely impacting women central to the industry. Their gender assessment revealed income losses of 30-40% linked to heat-related productivity drops, with 90% of surveyed women having never heard of "gender."

Islamic Relief Pakistan presented findings from their rapid risk assessment across five provinces through 24 focus group discussions and 28 key informant interviews.

The assessment revealed that reduced working hours from 6-8 hours to just 3-4 hours severely impact women farmers' incomes, while extreme heat disrupts health and education sectors, particularly affecting female students and teachers in overheated classrooms with inadequate infrastructure.

Discussion 

Discussions highlighted critical gaps in heat stress preparedness and the importance of localized solutions co-developed with women. The session reinforced that lasting change requires direct community engagement, data-driven decision-making, and leveraging civil society's specialized knowledge to ensure the most vulnerable populations are not left behind. Questions arose around scaling solutions, private sector investment, incorporating new technologies in ADB operations, technology affordability, education, and heat-resilient construction generated active engagement throughout the webinar, demonstrating the urgency and importance of addressing gendered climate impacts. 

About CSO Conversations

CSO Conversations is an ADB webinar series showcasing effective and meaningful CSO engagement in development projects. Initiated in 2023, the series is organized by ADB’s NGO and Civil Society Center under the Fragility and Engagement Division of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department.