From insurance to ‘digital twins’, innovation to cut heat risks is warming up
Gitaben Rawal, headloader
HERA: Focused on protecting the health, income, and dignity of women on the frontlines of extreme heat.
We are a women-led climate adaptation NGO, delivering tangible, innovative solutions with local community partners.
A burning problem
In low-income communities, extreme heat is devastating women’s health and livelihoods, deepening existing inequalities.
1+ billion
Over a billion women globally face extreme heat at work in jobs such as garment and factory work, street vending, domestic work, agricultural labor, and more.
Heat is predatory
Women battle infections, burns, fainting, headaches, and sleepless nights. Yet they must keep working.
Earning a living should not cost you your health.
Our approach
Informal women workers gather at Mahila Housing Trust in Ahmedabad, India, to learn how extreme heat is impacting their work and how to protect themselves. HERA/Supratim Bhattacharjee
Janet Nge'no picks tea leaves in Chemorir, Kericho County, Kenya, working through intensifying extreme heat that threatens her health and livelihood. HERA/Silas Oduor Otieno
Replicate
Build the field
Farmer Jashodaben Ravjibhai Parmar works under punishing temperatures in Sanjaya village, India, battling severe headaches and high blood pressure caused by extreme heat. HERA/Rameshwar Bhatt
Pioneering solutions for scorching temperatures
Act Now and Innovate
Informal women workers gather at Mahila Housing Trust in Ahmedabad, India, to learn how extreme heat is impacting their work and how to protect themselves. HERA/Supratim Bhattacharjee
We co-create women-centered solutions, from innovative heat insurance to market shade infrastructure, cooling and health centers.
Janet Nge'no picks tea leaves in Chemorir, Kericho County, Kenya, working through intensifying extreme heat that threatens her health and livelihood. HERA/Silas Oduor Otieno
Replicate
success
We improve and scale what works, sharing flexible solutions across cities and countries so women everywhere can face heat with dignity.
Build the field
of extreme heat
Farmer Jashodaben Ravjibhai Parmar works under punishing temperatures in Sanjaya village, India, battling severe headaches and high blood pressure caused by extreme heat. HERA/Rameshwar Bhatt
We're shaping a new field, creating tools, data, and heat literacy rooted in lived experiences. We act as a catalyst to inspire effective heat action everywhere.
"I have never seen such heat in my life. I felt like I was cooking inside the fire."Read our Blazing Realities from the Frontlines series
From the frontlines
HERA around the globe
We work where people feel the heat the most: In India, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, Ghana, Pakistan, Thailand, and in California.
HERA CEO Kathy Baughman McLeod and strategic partners advance heat-resilience solutions at Bangkok Climate Week 2025 in Thailand. HERA/Patipat Janthong
HERA: Built on partnerships
We are growing our reach with global and local partners such as the Self Employed Women’s Association, Khwendo Kor, HomeNet, the Green Africa Youth Organization, SwissRe, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
Listening to women
Our work starts with a conversation. Women are often invisible because of their socio-economic status or the culture they live in.
Together we build and deliver solutions that reflect their needs and help grow their opportunities.
Indian Anchor rope recycler Shantuben Parmer is affected by extreme heat, with growing health impacts, slowing productivity, and cutting into already fragile incomes. HERA
Hope and action
"We need both hope and action in equal parts to support women and communities from the grasp of extreme heat."
- Kathy Baughman McLeod, CEO
