Q2 - Heat Wave Hydration Drive
Impact Targets
Crowdfunding Goal: $500
Timeline: Apr. 2024 - Jun. 2024
Target: 500 beneficiaries
Locations: Dhaka
SDG Alignment: SDG 13
In-kind support from our partners, including Drinkwell, has been instrumental in making the Heat Wave Hydration Drive a success. Your contributions play a crucial role in ensuring the well-being and safety of our community during this critical period.
Overview
Extreme heat poses significant risks, particularly in climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh. In 2024, the country experienced its highest recorded temperatures and longest heatwave in over 50 years. Low-income communities, especially informal workers, are severely affected due to limited access to cooling facilities and safe drinking water, a crucial necessity for coping with heat stress.
BL's initiative addresses this issue by improving water accessibility for low-income residents of Dhaka. Partnering with Drinkwell, the project will be providing 500 community members with water-ATM cards, each recharged with 50 BDT. This allows entire households to access filtered, safe drinking water at an affordable rate during the heat season, ensuring sustainability and long-term benefits beyond the project's duration. The intervention would allow the beneficiary’s entire household to get access to filtered, safe drinking water at 80 paisa per liter during Dhaka’s heat season.
Aligned with SDG 13: Climate Action, this initiative aims to strengthen resilience against climate hazards and enhance awareness on climate change adaptation. Key partners include BacharLorai; Drinkwell, a water treatment enterprise; and Light to Life, a youth-led non-profit organization focused on uplifting vulnerable communities. Support this crucial initiative to improve heat protection and bridge socio-economic gaps in Dhaka.
Activities
Volunteer Training: Collaborate with local grassroots organizations to identify and train volunteers to effectively distribute water ATM cards.
ATM Card Distribution: Community members receive free water - ATM cards to get access to filtered water.
Drinking Water: Distribute safe, filtered drinking water to vulnerable community members and their families.
Photo Gallery
SDG Alignment
The initiative primarily aligns with the following SDG 13 target:
Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries through subsidized water distribution
Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning through volunteer engagement and training.
Context
Extreme heat is among the world’s most dangerous climate hazards. As global warming worsens with every passing year, heat fragility in climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh has risen noticeably. Metropolitan cities like Dhaka are affected to a greater extent owing to the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’ - a condition caused by the rapid urbanization and unplanned reduction of natural spaces in cities.
In 2024, Bangladesh witnessed its highest temperature recorded in over 50 years and its longest heat wave till date. Low-income communities, with limited access to cooling facilities and adequate WASH services, are among the worst affected. Informal workers like day laborers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors, etc. depend on daily wages to sustain their lives and are unable to take days off even during dangerously hot days. Remaining constantly hydrated is a critical coping mechanism against heat stress, but safe drinking water can be relatively expensive and not readily available in Dhaka’s public spaces.
BL’s signature initiative is designed to help bridge this gap in water accessibility among low-income community members. Initially starting out as a bottled-water distribution drive, the initiative expanded to incorporate two key factors: one, sustainability within the project, i.e. discouraging plastic waste that contribute greatly to landfills and urban waterlogging, and second, sustainability beyond the project, i.e. the possibility of community members continuing to reap benefits even after project period ends.
The new phase of the initiative has been conceptualized in partnership with Drinkwell. Instead of distributing plastic bottles, 1000 community members will be provided with free water-ATM cards recharged with an additional 50 BDT. The intervention would allow the beneficiary’s entire household to get access to filtered, safe drinking water at 80 paisa per liter during Dhaka’s heat season.
Safe water is a human right. By targeting vulnerable community members, BL’s signature initiative this heat season will not only attempt to improve heat-protection but bring much-needed attention to the growing socio-economic divide among Dhaka’s residents - where what one takes for granted is another’s luxury.
Project Lead
Tasnia Khandaker, Program Manager, BacharLorai
