An IKI Small Grants project empowered Mongolian herders – especially women – on sustainable livestock and climate adaptation and was honored with the Energy Globe Award for the project.
Arkhangai province, located in central Mongolia, is characterised by a diverse natural landscape with rugged terrain and high peaks. Its numerous rivers and lakes contribute to the region’s lush greenery and fertile valleys. For local communities, the picturesque landscape is also a key source of income: a large share work as herders, producing goods such as dairy products and cashmere wool.
However, Mongolia faces serious climate-related challenges that undermine the livelihoods of herders. These include frequent natural disasters and desertification. Increasing livestock numbers accelerate land degradation. A project by the local non-governmental organisation Mongolian Women’s Fund (MONES) addressed these challenges with a special focus on supporting women herders. They are adapting their livestock practices to better cope with climate change challenges and to safeguard their income base. Sustainable pastoralism contributes to the conservation of the Mongolian steppe, one of the largest remaining grassland ecosystems.
Sustainable herding to strengthen incomes and environment
Supported by the IKI Small Grants programme, the organisation trained herders on sustainable livestock management, animal welfare, and responsible cashmere production to enhance their knowledge, leadership capabilities, and climate adaptation skills. By improving productivity, securing more stable income sources and focusing on livestock quality over quantity, the project reduces vulnerability to climate change while promoting responsible use of natural resources.
Empowering women to lead
The project specifically empowered women to take leadership roles in cooperatives and participate in community decision-making. By supporting women to assume leadership positions, this approach helps them achieve greater financial independence while building resilience to climate change. Of the 351 herders trained, 185 were women.
Participating herders applied animal-friendly, hygienic standards and improved the quality and yield of livestock products. Two cooperatives – comprising 103 households – earned the “Responsible Nomads” certification, enabling them to establish direct supply agreements with major national companies.
International recognition for local action
The impactful work on local climate change adaptation has already been recognised internationally. In 2025, MONES was awarded by an international jury of energy and environmental experts with the Energy Globe National Award Mongolia for their climate action project. Established in 1999, the Energy Globe Award highlights and recognises projects focused on sustainable and innovative solutions to global environmental challenges.
IKI Small Grants, implemented by the German federal enterprise Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), funds local actors which are the driving force for change and essential for effective climate and biodiversity action worldwide. The programme is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), which is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). IKI Small Grants fosters bottom-up solutions while strengthening capacities of local actors.
In Bangladesh’s flood-prone Haor region, where flash floods threaten homes and livelihoods each monsoon, a project implemented by national financial institution Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) supported by Germany’s IKI Small Grants offers communities new tools and knowledge for adapting to the effects of climate change.
Almost 3,000 residents are experiencing increased security and stability in their everyday lives, thanks to over 1.5 kilometres of flood protection walls, tree buffer zones, and maintenance training. “Before, we lived in panic and anxiety,” says Kalpana Devi from Jarulia Village in Bangladesh’s Haor Region. “We had to build lofts to keep animals safe. We’d carry bamboo and tie up our cows when the floodwater came. It was exhausting, and still nothing ever felt secure.” The region is a unique wetland ecosystem in the northeast of the country, seasonal flooding is a part of life. Locally called Afal, flash floods have a significant effect on the region, one of the country’s four vulnerable climate hotspot areas.
In recent years, climate change has intensified rainfall and erosion of the villages through the afal waves, leaving low-income communities with fewer options and increasingly vulnerable. As more than 70 per cent of houses are made of mud, they are affected by rain and storm waters that damage homes and other buildings. Each year, families like Kalpana’s spend the equivalent of hundreds of euros on flood repairs, relying on temporary solutions like sandbags and bamboo fencing. Each year, the water returns and puts pressure on the villages and villagers once again.
International backing for local purpose
Launched by the Government of Bangladesh in the late 1980s, the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) is tasked with financing the country’s development projects as part of its vision to bring an end to poverty. Between 2023-2025, with support from the German government’s IKI Small Grants programme, PKSF ran a pilot project to test long-term, climate-resilient infrastructure in some of the region’s most flood-exposed “hatis” – small, isolated village-islands in the Sunamganj district in the country’s northeast. For PKSF, the project offered a chance to pilot new methods in a region often overlooked. “Our role at PKSF is to bring climate-smart development to places where traditional support doesn’t reach,” says AKM Nuruzzaman, General Manager for Environment and Climate Change at PKSF.
“The Haor region is difficult to access, but we believed in testing solutions here because the need is real – and so is the community’s resilience.” Partnering with the three local NGOs Thengamara Mahila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS), Friends In Village Development Bangladesh (FIVDB), and Padakhep Manobik Unnayan Kendra (Padakhep), the project involved constructing over 1.5 kilometres of wave-resistant flood retention walls, planting 1,300+ flood-tolerant indigenous trees, and elevating schoolyards and community grounds to serve as safe spaces during floods. “The living space is safe and protected, women like Kalpana can now build and expand their own home,” Nuruzzaman outlines.
Funding funders to disburse resources in the Haor region
Working with the IKI Small Grants “fund the funder” approach allowed PKSF to select organisations on the ground with deep ties to the local communities. Using this method, IKI Small Grants channels funding and technical support through intermediaries like PKSF in Bangladesh who then identify, finance, and support local organisations and community-based initiatives. Led by PKSF, the advantage of the selection process through the institution lies in the fact that it can engage local organisations for climate and biodiversity action in their own language and context – directly and effectively.
This model strengthens local ownership, builds long-term capacity for entities like PKSF, and ensures that climate and biodiversity solutions are suited to their context and can grow and be adopted elsewhere. It’s a strategy that lends partners more responsibility to disburse funds and resources themselves and empowers countries to take the lead in driving their own climate resilience and adaptation.
Challenging work leading to local ownership
From the outset, the work came with challenges. The three villages are very remote. “Just moving materials to the sites was a major hurdle,” Nuruzzaman recalls. “In dry season, there are no waterways. In rainy season, there’s no dry land to store construction supplies. Technical staff didn’t want to stay in such remote areas. We had to build temporary shelters and work with local labour wherever possible.” To make the impact last, PKSF built the project to ensure ownership could remain local. “If anything goes wrong in the future,” he adds, “the villages can maintain things by themselves – without asking experts from the outside.”
Community members contributed labour, received training on maintenance, and participated in climate adaptation workshops. Women especially noted improvements in freedom of movement after dark, when the rains used to inundate living spaces, and sanitation. Elevated grounds and protection walls make daily life more secure. Boats can now dock properly, transporting people and goods in the region.
Engineer Sadananda Bhattacharya, who oversaw part of the project with local NGO FIVDB, observes: “These families are always in a state of panic when the monsoon season arrives. The residents used to spend 25,000 to 30,000 taka (between 170 and over 200 euros) every year just to hold back the water with bamboo and sandbags.”
Beyond infrastructure
Kalpana sees the benefits in everyday moments. “I no longer have to worry every time clouds gather. Now that the wall protects us, it is easier. I can save the money we used to spend on repairs – and now I use it for my child’s education. That’s the change.” The project now protects some 2,700 residents across three hatis, with interest from neighbouring communities growing.
PKSF is preparing larger-scale proposals based on lessons learned to expand these models to other vulnerable regions – from drought-prone areas to cyclone-exposed coastlines. “We are trying to scale up this project,” Nuruzzaman explains. “We are approaching different development partners, and we are also talking with the government so to replicate this kind of project.” For now, the Haor villages have something they didn’t before: a greater sense of safety, a new level of flood protection, and the tools to safeguard their villages themselves.
Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) was established by the Government of Bangladesh in 1990 and registered under the Companies Act 1913/1994 as a ‘not for profit’ organization with the vision of ‘A Bangladesh where poverty has been eradicated; ruling development and governance paradigm in inclusive, people-cantered, equitable and sustainable; and all citizens live healthy, appropriately educated and empowered and humanly dignified life’.
