SDS Executive Director Ms. Rabeya Begum attended and delivered a speech at the event titled “Stepping Forward: The Inauguration of RAISE-2,” organized by PKSF with the vision of promoting democratization of the economy and inclusive development.

The Honorable Minister of Finance and Planning, Mr. Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, attended the event as the Chief Guest. In his speech, he stated that the democratization of the economy is one of the government’s key commitments. He emphasized that the government remains determined to ensure sustainable, participatory, and inclusive development by integrating marginalized and disadvantaged communities into the mainstream of economic activities.

The event was chaired by PKSF Chairman Mr. Zakir Ahmed Khan. Special Guest at the event was Ms. Nazma Mobarek, Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division. Dr. Gayle H. Martin, Acting Division Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan at the World Bank, attended as the Guest of Honor. The welcome speech was delivered by PKSF Managing Director Mr. Md. Fazlul Kader.

From 14 to 17 April 2026, the Annual Congress of Early Child Care Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur, bringing together global stakeholders in early childhood development. Ms. Rabeya Begum, Executive Director of Shariatpur Development Society (SDS), participated in the congress and delivered a keynote presentation.

In her presentation, she highlighted the realities of the education system in the charlands of Shariatpur district, which is increasingly affected by climate change vulnerabilities—particularly riverbank erosion and forced displacement. Communities in these areas face continuous uncertainty due to loss of homes and relocation, which directly impacts children’s access to education.

The presentation was co-delivered by Manjusree Mitra, National Volunteer of Bangladesh at the World Forum Foundation.

Ms. Rabeya Begum also participated in a panel discussion, where she shared field-based evidence on how erosion and displacement extend beyond immediate impacts and contribute to long-term challenges such as increased school dropout rates, rising child labour, and higher incidence of child marriage. These issues directly hinder early childhood development (ECD) and education, particularly for girls.

The intersection of climate change and early childhood development (ECD) in the charlands of Shariatpur remains a critical yet often overlooked issue. SDS’s participation and evidence-based presentation at this international platform are expected to contribute to raising global awareness about the challenges faced by char communities.

The National Coastal Conference 2025 was held on 13–14 December 2025, focusing on sustainable development in Bangladesh’s coastal regions, disaster preparedness, and adaptation to climate change. The conference took place at the Bangladesh Military Museum Auditorium in Dhaka. It was attended by policymakers, climate experts, researchers, representatives of coastal communities, volunteers, and delegates from various development organizations. Participants engaged in in-depth discussions and productive exchanges on coastal livelihoods, environmental conservation, and community-based sustainable development.

The conference was inaugurated by Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Adviser on Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. In her inaugural address, she stated that Bangladesh’s coastal regions are among the most vulnerable areas in the country due to the adverse impacts of climate change. She emphasized that there is no alternative to adopting integrated, effective, and long-term plans to ensure the protection and development of these regions.

On behalf of SDS, Mr. Gowhar Nayeem Wahra, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Ms. Rabeya Begum, Executive Director, were present at the conference, reflecting SDS’s active role and strong commitment to coastal development and climate adaptation initiatives.

Key issues discussed at the conference included sustainable coastal development, disaster risk reduction, addressing the impacts of climate change, prevention of river encroachment and pollution, expansion of afforestation, and the protection of agriculture and livelihoods. It was reported that 10 project proposals have already been submitted to prevent river encroachment and pollution. On the concluding day of the conference, a declaration was issued aimed at ensuring sustainable coastal management, placing special emphasis on coordinated and participatory efforts among the government, non-governmental organizations, and local communities.

The impact of climate change has now become the biggest challenging issue in the world. Due to this, global temperatures are rising and countries are facing various disasters. But the necessary financial and technical support is not available to deal with this disaster. Historically, countries that have become developed or rich countries through the industrial revolution and have emitted a lot of carbon are mainly responsible for this climate change. Therefore, to address the challenges of climate change, the Conference of Parties (COP) has been held every year since 1995 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The main objective of which is to help the rich or carbon emission countries to reduce the damage caused by climate change by providing financial assistance to the least developed and vulnerable countries due to climate change. This time, the 29th COP conference is being held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a country on the Caspian Sea. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to the interim government, participated in this global conference as the representative of Bangladesh.
Although the rich or industrialized countries are supposed to provide money to the LDC countries or least developed countries to alleviate their misery, they have repeatedly broken their promises. Most of what they have given is loan money. Although it is supposed to be given as grants. This year is no exception. Where the least developed countries gave their demand of 1.3 trillion, but they have set a limit within 300 billion. They have not promised to give the entire amount as grants.
Representatives from 198 countries of the world attend this conference every year. They come to inform the world about their misery due to climate change. They put pressure on policymakers in various ways.
SDS attends this conference as an accredited institution of UNFCCC. Mr. Rabeya Begum (Executive Director, SDS) and Mr. BM Kamrul Hasan (Director, MF, SDS) participated in the conference this year. They organized two side events to highlight the damage caused by the recent floods in Bangladesh and the other to highlight the displacement & migration in Bangladesh due to river erosion and the resulting economic & non-economic losses. During this event, she presented the results of a study on women and adolescents affected by erosion in Naria and Jajira upazilas of Shariatpur district, Bangladesh. CANSA, CPRD and SDS jointly conducted the research in 2020.
In addition, DIU, CPRD, YPSA and SDS jointly discussed the displacement and migration caused by climate change in Bangladesh at the side event, so that donor countries come forward to address the crisis and continue economic cooperation.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries, leaders of business and finance, and representatives of civil society has gather in Dubai from November 30 to December 12 for the COP28 climate conference with the aim of fast-tracking the transition to a clean-energy future.

Whereas Mr. Rabeya Begum (Executive Director, SDS) spoke at a panel discussion on ‘Climate-Induced Migrant Resilient Communities’, a side-event at COP 28.

She highlighted vulnerabilities of the disaster risk exposed people and communities living in the river basin areas who are at the forefront of being displaced and migrated by flooding and riverbank erosion that already became frequent and intense with the rise of global average temperature.

She also discussed limits and limitations of humanitarian assistance, which is far short of requirement and only support short-term emergency needs. Displacement and migration involves secondary and tertiary risks resulting from the residual impacts of both sudden slow onset event.

We need to think beyond the existing scope of Humanitarian Assistance so that issues related to displacement and migration, including rights of the displaced and migrated people and communities could be protected.

SDS Executive Director Mrs. Rabeya Begum stayed in Colombo, Sri Lanka from August 19 to August 23 to attend the Annual General Session of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA). The main session was held from 20 to 22 August. He attended the session as the Chair of the Steering Committee of CANSA Bangladesh. Representatives of 75 organizations from South Asia Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan attended the session.

The CANSA Board is elected every two years. Following this, the Executive Director of SDS Mrs. Rabeya Begum elected as a member of the (CANSA) Board for the next two years.

It should be noted that a total of 13 people from five South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka have been elected as members of the new committee.

We (SDS) are delighted to have been selected as board members of CANSA, a network working intensively on climate. In future we want to work more intensively in this arena and stand by the victims. We wish good health and long life to our Executive Director.