Caritas India Showcases Grassroots Resilience and Women in Leadership at Bangkok Humanitarian Forum

Caritas India placed grassroots climate adaptation and women’s leadership at the centre of regional disaster policy during the Caritas Asia Regional Humanitarian Forum held in Bangkok from October 5 to 8, 2026. The four-day convention united humanitarian focal points from Caritas member organisations across Asia, along with global confederation partners including Caritas Austria, Caritas Australia, Catholic Relief Services, and Caritas Internationalis, to advance emergency preparedness and strengthen localized response capabilities across the continent.

Organised as part of the learning review for the Caritas Austria-supported initiative, Strengthening Humanitarian Partnership and Exchange in Asia, the gathering directly advanced Strategic Priority 2 of the Caritas Asia Strategic Framework 2026 to 2030, focusing on institutional adaptability and operational readiness.

Representing Caritas India, Dr. Dileesh Varghese, Lead for Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning, and Ms. Monisha Majumdar, In-charge for Humanitarian Aid & Disaster Risk Reduction, and Resilience, presented two flagship operational breakthroughs from the field.

Monisha unveiled the outcomes of We4Resilience, a targeted six-month initiative backed by Caritas Asia that mobilised four regional working groups and twenty diocesan social service partners across Assam, Bihar, Odisha, and Kerala. The project successfully replaced isolated interventions with a shared, multi-hazard Climate Resilience Framework tailored to local disaster realities.

By equipping over one hundred field staff and volunteers as certified community educators and developing multilingual campaign modules, the project carried out immersive three-day grassroots campaigns. Village days rallied women self-help groups, farmers, and persons with disabilities, school sessions engaged students and educators, and community dialogues, known as Samvad, united residents and local Panchayat leaders to agree on binding safety strategies.

The campaign exceeded initial targets, reaching 135 villages compared to an expected 100, engaging over 12,500 people, and generating 169 community-led action plans that are currently being presented to Gram Sabhas and District Disaster Management Authorities. To build on this momentum, Caritas India urged regional delegates to formalise resilience frameworks into ongoing diocesan strategies, maintain dedicated funding for community dialogues, and register trained volunteers under the national Apda Mitra scheme.

Broadening the technical discussion, Dr. Dileesh shared critical evidence from a joint study examining women’s participation in local disaster governance across high-risk field sites in India and the Philippines. The field assessment revealed that while women participate actively in community-level response and relief, traditional household responsibilities, restrictive cultural expectations, mobility risks, and structural barriers keep them largely excluded from formal leadership councils. The study emphasized that humanitarian agencies must transition from measuring simple attendance to ensuring women hold real decision-making power, calling on partners to deliver targeted leadership training, engage family networks, and restructure local disaster committees.

The forum concluded with high-level dialogues featuring United Nations humanitarian agencies and European civil protection representatives on navigating shifting global donor resources. By sharing ground-tested Indian frameworks alongside hard data on inclusive governance, Caritas India reinforced how community-driven ownership transforms regional emergency readiness.