Bangladesh adopts Early Warnings For All National Roadmap

The Roadmap - developed through the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) contribution to the EW4All inter-pillar project in Bangladesh - provides a strategic framework for establishing a people-centred, end-to-end Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS).

The document outlines coordinated actions to enhance risk knowledge and information database, monitoring and forecasts of multiple hazards, improve last-mile communication, and expand community preparedness nationwide.

The roadmap is not just a plan, but a commitment to safeguarding vulnerable communities.

Mr Faruk E. Azam, Adviser to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Bangladesh

This is a significant step toward ensuring that every person in Bangladesh is protected by timely, actionable early warning information.

The Roadmap is the result of a highly inclusive process that started in November 2023 with a high-level launch workshop. Since then, extensive consultations were conducted to identify gaps, needs, activities, budgets, and potential funding sources in ensuring effective and timely early warnings for potentially impacted populations. These included three further inter-pillar workshops and one workshop each for the individual pillars.

The EW4All roll-out process was made possible through the generous financial contributions of the Government of Sweden and the unwavering support of national partners, the EW4All leads - United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) - the World Food Programme (WFP), the IFRC in Bangladesh, and many more.

The National Workshop

This event brought together more than 100 government officials and representatives from international organizations, including the EW4All leads, development partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, academia, and the private sector.

During the workshop, participants emphasized strong inter-agency collaboration and investment in technology as key to achieving EW4All targets by 2027. The workshop concluded with commitments to initiate implementation of the Roadmap priority activities at the earliest, with the identification of financial resources from the government's national budget, international financing mechanisms, and support from development partners.

Following the adoption of the Roadmap, the representatives of EW4All national pillar leads  - Department of Disaster Management (DDM), Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Flood Forecasting & Warning Centre (FFWC), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BRCS) - and international leads (WMO, UNDRR, ITU, and IFRC) met on 1 December 2025 to identify key priority activities for implementation to be supported by ongoing and future projects (e.g., CREWS South Asia). Participants agreed to develop a new national EW4All project to implement different activities presented in the Roadmap, especially those currently lacking funding.

To learn more, visit:

·         Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) contribution to the EW4All inter-pillar project

·         CREWS South Asia