The SHIFT Asia Humanitarian Fund
When crises hit, women-led organization are often the first to respond: ensuring families are fed, creating safe spaces, and helping communities recover with care, dignity, and deep local knowledge. And yet, despite their essential role, they receive less than 2% of global humanitarian funding.
This is a moment for women leaders to stand with women leaders--to back those already on the frontlines and ensure they have the resources, trust, and power to act. Together, we are rallying around a simple but urgent belief: when women leaders are trusted and resourced, entire communities are stronger.
Oxfam is working with women leaders in Asia to channel fast, flexible funding through the SHIFT Asia Humanitarian Fund. Putting resources directly in the hands of local women’s organizations so they can prepare for, respond to, and recover from crises on their own terms. By shifting decision-making power to these leaders and supporting holistic, community-driven solutions, we can build a more equitable and effective humanitarian system.
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Quick overview
Duration: 2 years (August 1, 2026 - August 1, 2028)
Goal: $250,000
Focus: Rapid emergency response and long-term community resilience
How it works:
- Micro-grants ($1,000–$10,000) that strengthen organizational resilience by covering essentials such as insurance, mental health and psychosocial support, financial literacy, and preparedness.
- Macro-grants ($10,000–$20,000) that support anticipatory humanitarian action and rapid emergency response.
Our collective goal
Together, Sisters are helping Oxfam raise $250,000 to grow and sustain this initiative.
One Sister on the Planet has already made a $25,000 leadership gift to help launch this effort: an inspiring invitation to build this collective impact together.
Why this matters now
- Women leaders remain underfunded and excluded from decision-making even when they show up first, and stay longest.
- Flexible funding for grassroots organizations is increasingly scarce
- Climate crises across Asia are intensifying
This fund is part of a broader shift toward a more just, effective humanitarian system: one that trusts local leadership and centers women’s expertise.
At its heart, this effort is about what becomes possible when we move together. It centers collective leadership and a deep belief in women who are already responding first in times of crisis, leading with courage, care, and lived experience. Grounded in trust and real impact, this approach offers a different path forward: one that is more flexible, more equitable, and more responsive. By giving or sharing, each of us becomes part of that shift, helping ensure support reaches those closest to the crisis and building a more just humanitarian system together.
Alejandra Schrader, Sister on the Planet
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What we are building together
The Sisters on the Planet are coming together around a shared effort to support Oxfam’s SHIFT Asia Humanitarian Fund. This is a fast, flexible fund designed to get resources directly into the hands of women-led organizations across Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines
These are the leaders already responding on the frontlines. This fund exists to ensure they have the resources, trust, and decision-making power to act quickly when it matters most.
How Decisions Are Made
Funding priorities are determined through a steering committee that includes women-led organizations themselves, ensuring accountability, transparency, and decisions grounded in real community needs. Oxfam plays a supporting role by providing resources, safeguarding, and coordination while intentionally shifting decision-making power to local women leaders.
What your support makes possible
Your contribution helps women-led organizations:
- Respond immediately when disaster strikes
- Prepare communities for future climate shocks
- Provide care, safety, and dignity for women and families
- Lead recovery efforts in ways that reflect local realities
We realize that we cannot be experts in everything, but by moving together, we can achieve so much more. This is the essence of 'Power With': a collective strength born from solidarity and working together for humanity. We used the SHIFT Asia Fund to cover what other donors couldn't, like the small but vital costs that keep the team moving.
Riswati (Riri), Executive Director, Flower Aceh
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From funding to frontline impact (a case study)
When severe floods hit West and North Sumatera in Indonesia, entire communities were cut off from aid.
Through the SHIFT Asia Humanitarian Fund, the women-led organization Flower Aceh was able to respond right away:
- Setting up communal kitchens run by women survivors
- Creating safe, supportive spaces for women and children
- Distributing dignity kits
- Conducting rapid assessments to ensure the response reflected real needs
This is what becomes possible when women leaders have access to timely, flexible funding and the trust to act.
Staying Connected
All donors will be invited to a virtual funders briefing with Oxfam colleagues at the one- to two-year mark. This will be an opportunity to hear directly about how funds were used, the impact achieved, and the lessons learned along the way. It is also a space to ask questions and engage more deeply with the humanitarian leaders helping to guide this work.
Funding should be liberating. It should give civil society the freedom and capability to choose how to tackle the problems that they have decided are most important to them. Flexible funding at its best provides that freedom.
Peace Direct
Join Us!
This is a collective effort. Whether you give, share, or invite others into this work, you are helping to:
- Move resources where they are needed most
- Support women leading on the frontlines
- Help build a more equitable model of humanitarian response
Every contribution matters and every act of solidarity helps strengthen this movement.