Senior Advisor-Climate Change, DRR & Gender
Shaila Shahid based in Dhaka, Bangladesh is the Advisory board members of the Tomorrow’s Cities, the Urban Disaster Risk Hub of the UKRI and GCRF initiative, working globally to reduce the climate and disaster risks for the urban poor. Shaila, an environmental lawyer currently serving as the senior advisor of the Pitachara Forest and Biodiversity Initiatives and National Alliance on Drowning Prevention. She is also one of the board of Directors of GenderCC, global network of women for climate justice. With an impressive background as the immediate former Chief Operating Officer of the Disaster Climate Change Unit (DCCSU) within the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) of the Bangladesh Government, and as a Senior Advisor at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Shaila brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on building community resilience and influencing institutional framework towards a risk informed governance mechanism.
Shaila Shahid has been dedicated to reducing disaster risk for more than 20 years, both in technical roles and in advisory and managerial capacities. She has been instrumental in shaping key disaster risk reduction policies, such as the Disaster Management Act 2012 and risk reduction action plan for climate change for different ministries, thereby strengthened the legal and institutional frameworks for disaster resilience in Bangladesh. She has also played a pivotal role in capacity building and engaging diverse stakeholders in DRR, empowering government agencies, local communities and civil society organizations with the knowledge and skills to effectively address disaster risks and adapt to climate change impacts.