How Bangladesh’s youth-led climate organisations battle funding gaps

When the Shurjodoy Youth Society in Dhaka began its campaign to make schools "green", the idea was simple: Ban single-use plastics and plant trees. But turning conviction into action quickly ran into an all-too-familiar problem — money.

"Most embassies or donors already have their own circles," said Raihan Noman Nurunabi, director of the group. "If you don't know someone on the inside, it's hard to even reach the application stage. We've often had to fund our projects from our own pockets or collect small contributions from members."

Shurjodoy is one of the dozens of youth-led organisations (YLOs) working on climate change across Bangladesh. From Khulna's mangrove edges to the crowded alleys of Dhaka, they are taking up adaptation, tree planting, awareness, and education projects — often without institutional support.  

In Khulna, Nushrath Jahan Juhi, founder of Towards Sustainability Youth Foundation, described how her team built its climate education project almost entirely on the back of volunteer energy.

"We go to schools, hold interactive sessions on climate change, and let students plant and care for trees under a guardianship model. It's about building ownership," she said.

Juhi and her 65-member team ran their activities for two years without registration or formal funding.

"We faced countless challenges with paperwork and recognition," she recalled. "Without registration, no government office or NGO can formally collaborate. We finally got registered this April."

These young activists operate in a paradox. They are the faces of a generation that climate policies often claim to empower, yet in practice, they remain outside formal funding streams. Donors tend to favour large, or well-connected NGOs, while small youth-led groups depend on membership fees or in rare cases private partnerships or crowdfunding.

"We raised small amounts by taking students on museum trips and saving a part of the fees," said Nurunabi. "Sometimes a few thousand taka becomes the seed of an entire project. Our first external funding was only Tk20,000."

Even with such meagre resources, youth networks have managed to create visible local impact — from awareness campaigns on air pollution and energy transition to flash mobs and street plays addressing environmental damage.

"YLOs possess the inherent drive and are actively engaged with the communities most vulnerable to climate change," said Korvi Rakshand, founder and executive director of JAAGO Foundation. "But their operational sustainability is compromised without adequate funding. There is a critical need for capacity development in management, project design and partnership building."

JAAGO recently hosted 'Voices of Climate: Our Climate, Our Future', a national advocacy event in Dhaka that brought together 16 youth-led organisations from across the country. 

Supported by Gildan and ActionAid Bangladesh, the event launched Climate Capsule, a publication compiling grassroots climate concerns and youth recommendations for COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

Among the recommendations put forward were extreme salinity and limited water access in the coastal belt, urban heat and waterlogging, climate-induced migration, gaps in just transition, a crisis in female reproductive health, flash floods, ecosystem degradation, and extreme heatwaves and droughts across eight divisions in Bangladesh.

For many young organisers, the program offered their first opportunity to engage directly with policymakers, development partners and journalists.

"It gave us visibility," Juhi said. "For years we worked quietly in our communities. Now people are finally listening."

Government officials attending the event acknowledged the need to formalise and fund youth initiatives. 

"We value volunteerism and have fund allocations to support such groups," said Asim Chandra Banik, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. "But we lack a comprehensive registry of these organisations. Enhanced coordination is vital for effective partnerships."

Despite these gaps, Bangladesh's youth climate movement continues to grow. Groups like Towards Sustainability and Shurjodoy Youth Society are proof that conviction can sometimes outlast funding fatigue.

"We started with nothing but ideas," said Juhi. "Now, with every workshop, every planted tree, we see that we're slowly changing our city's mindset."

Nurunabi echoes the sentiment. "Yes, the money is scarce, and often unfairly distributed," he said. "But we are here because it matters. Climate change is not waiting for us to get funded — so neither are we."