Learning Agenda
The SHIFT Asia Learning Agenda offers a structured series of regional learning sessions that bring together women humanitarian leaders, practitioners, researchers, and allies from across Asia and beyond. Each session is designed to generate evidence, share practice, and advance the Feminist Local Humanitarian Leadership (FLHL) Roadmap. Sessions move from conceptual framing to practical application, building a body of knowledge that is rooted in lived experience. Materials from each session are made freely available through the Oxfam resource platform.
Previous Session and Materials
Session 1: Amplifying Women’s Leadership and Local Knowledge 27 November 2025
Theme:Â Amplifying Women’s Leadership and Local Knowledge in Humanitarian Action.
Speakers:Â Shamin Ara Begum (Pollisree, Bangladesh), Khotimun Sutanti (Asosiasi LBH APIK, Indonesia), Zir Than Hnuni (HLDO, Myanmar), and John David L. S. Dayao (Bayi Inc, Philippines).
Summary of Discussion: This session highlighted that women-led organizations are often the first responders in crises, yet they remain under-recognized and under-funded. Speakers shared how feminist platforms, such as the BWHP in Bangladesh and the WLHL Consortium in Indonesia, are driving inclusive humanitarian action and navigating change in restricted environments like Myanmar’s Chin State. The discussion emphasized that local women leaders carry a disproportionate burden of unpaid care and humanitarian work, necessitating stronger capacity building and global advocacy to challenge patriarchal norms in the humanitarian system.
Resources:Â https://oxfam.box.com/s/os14cr7ynf17s6t8r13fxnm06zxr5tg5
Session 2: Strengthening Collaborative Networks, 18 December 2025
Theme:Â Strengthening Collaborative Networks: Advancing Local and Feminist Leadership in Asia’s Humanitarian Systems .
Speakers:Â Aisha Gul (UN Women), Syamsul Ardiansyah (NEAR APLL), and Holly Miller (Feminist Humanitarian Network) .
Summary of Discussion:Â The session focused on the political and structural transformation required to move beyond the rhetoric of “localization” and the Grand Bargain. Speakers presented concrete alternatives to hierarchical systems, such as the WE Respond Dashboard for mapping women-led organizations and non-hierarchical, collective governance models. A major point of consensus was that current humanitarian systems prioritize donor compliance over local knowledge, and true change requires a “new deal” grounded in cross-movement solidarity and the redistribution of power and resources.
Resources:Â https://oxfam.box.com/s/oag4niokqyf3znqiw03ywu21tga6672i
Session 3: The FLHL Roadmap in Action, 29 January 2026
Theme:Â The FLHL Roadmap in Action: Centering Women-Led Response and Grassroots Initiative.
Speakers:Â Gita Rani Adhikary (Oxfam Asia), Rismawati (Flower Aceh, Indonesia), and Akhyai Mong Marma (AKS, Bangladesh).
Summary of Discussion:Â This final session moved from conceptual alignment to the practical application of the Feminist Local Humanitarian Leadership (FLHL) Roadmap. Case studies from Aceh, Indonesia, and Bandarban, Bangladesh, illustrated how women-led and youth-led initiatives manage the full humanitarian cycle, from gender-responsive flood assessments to building the leadership capacity of adolescent girls. The discussion underscored that flexible, trust-based funding and “power-with” leadership models are essential enablers for scaling these grassroots initiatives and achieving a system-wide transformation by 2030
Resources:Â https://oxfam.box.com/s/tw0nmp2mj2sxgqgohlcjjvwyg307eo0m
Session 4: Dismantling the System: Shifting Power from "Reform" to a Localization (R)evolution, 1 April 2026
Theme:Â Dismantling the System: Shifting Power from “Reform” to a Localization (R)evolution
Speakers: Hannah Cooper (Oxfam International), Shahnaz Sumi (BNPS / BWHP, Bangladesh), and Dr. Avianto Amri (IHCP, Indonesia)
Summary of Discussion: This session moved beyond incremental system adjustments to advocate for a structural transformation of the humanitarian architecture. Drawing on global insights from the 10-year legacy of the Grand Bargain alongside frontline realities from Bangladesh and Indonesia, the discussion illustrated how local civil society is actively reclaiming power from traditional, top-down systems. Case studies demonstrated how women-led networks navigate compliance-heavy gatekeeping to drive gender-transformative responses, and how community-driven platforms can successfully replace UN-led Cluster systems to spearhead massive emergency operations like the Cyclone Senyar response. The discussion underscored that dismantling systemic barriers requires moving past restrictive bureaucracy to embrace feminist “power-with” leadership, localized coordination sovereignty, and flexible, trust-based funding models.
Resources:Â https://oxfam.box.com/s/2jaf1k2hze7y89tcq6ucohs0qhxgepel
Session 5: Shifting Power through Flexible Funding, 23 April 2026
Theme: 10 Year Grand Bargain Learning Series: Shifting Power through Flexible Funding
Speakers: Minal Singh (Oxfam Asia), Ishwar Datt Upadhyay (NEEDS Nepal), and Sierly Anita Gafar (LBH APIK Medan / WLHL Consortium, Indonesia)
Summary of Discussion:
This joint learning session between the SHIFT Asia and ACT II projects moved beyond the theoretical rhetoric of the Grand Bargain to evaluate how flexible funding models directly drive a localization revolution. Opening with a global funding landscape analysis, the discussion highlighted that despite a 10-year mandate for direct localization, local women-led organizations (WLOs) still receive less than 1% of gender-related aid, leaving them vulnerable to financial instability and top-down sub-contracting. To counter this structural barrier, case studies from Nepal and Indonesia demonstrated the power of community-controlled funding architecture. In Nepal, the implementation of localized Emergency Response Funds (ERFs)—led predominantly by women-led disaster management committees—enabled communities to mobilize immediate, autonomous aid within 12 hours of the devastating 2024 floods without waiting for external aid. Similarly, during the catastrophic 2025 Sumatra floods triggered by Cyclone Senyar, Indonesia’s Humanitarian Action Fund (HAF) proved that “frictionless” flexible funding allows frontline teams to bypass bureaucratic hurdles, execute rapid gender assessments, and pivot resources toward unseen survival needs like dignity kits and gender-based violence hotlines. The discussion underscored that genuine system transformation requires international donors to move past rigid compliance and risk-transfer mechanisms to embrace multi-year, flexible financing that establishes local women as strategic leaders rather than mere sub-grantees.
Resources: https://oxfam.box.com/s/hc2ksfcnw0gqfai75x6vq0i3wdq379xc
Session 6: At a Crossroads Humanitarian Reset, 17 June 2026
Theme: 10 Year Grand Bargain Learning Series: At a Crossroads — Protecting Quality, Equity, and Local Leadership Amidst the “Humanitarian Reset” in Asia
Speakers: Jermaine Baltazar Bayas (Oxfam Asia / AADMER Partnership Group), Hafsar Tameesuddin (Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network – APRRN), and Regina “Nanette” Salvador-Antequisa (ECOWEB / CLEARNet, Philippines)
Summary of Discussion:
This SHIFT Asia learning session examined how the “Humanitarian Reset”, a reform of the global aid system launched in response to shrinking budgets, threatens hard-won gains in quality, equity, and local leadership across Asia. With only 37% of the 2025 Asia-Pacific appeal funded and an estimated 200 million people set to go unreached, speakers warned that hyper-prioritization risks shrinking the system rather than solving its structural problems, devolving responsibility onto local actors without matching power or resources. The Rohingya case from Cox’s Bazar showed how a narrow definition of “life-saving” reduces the crisis to bare survival — a $7-per-month ration may keep a person alive but cannot protect a woman from violence or a young person from a future without education; the crisis, speakers argued, has not become less severe, only less visible. In contrast, ECOWEB’s survivor- and community-led response (SCLR) in the Philippines proved that when affected people define their own priorities and control flexible micro-grants, resources go further, and women emerge as sustained leaders. The session underscored that genuine transformation requires a power-shift, not a cost-cutting exercise: the real test of the Reset is whether it changes who decides, who controls resources, and who bears risk.
