Empress Shōken Fund announces 2026 funding decisions

Disaster preparedness and early warning

Costa Rica: Resilient Indigenous Territories
Indigenous communities often face delays in emergency response due to their geographic isolation and limited access to services. This initiative strengthens local preparedness by training and equipping Indigenous volunteers as first responders, combining modern emergency practices with traditional knowledge. Its culturally grounded, community-led model improves response times while offering a replicable approach for other remote and marginalized communities.

Sao Tome and Principe: Aqua-Alert
Coastal communities face increasing risks from flooding, erosion and climate-related hazards but have limited early warning capacity. Aqua-Alert introduces enhanced digital monitoring and early warning systems to improve anticipation and response. By combining local data collection with accessible communication tools, it strengthens community resilience and offers a scalable model for small island contexts.

Indonesia: Aldebaran
Many hazard-prone communities lack continuous access to preparedness information. Aldebaran addresses this gap through an AI-powered platform paired with youth-led “agents of change” who provide ongoing localized support. By combining technology with human engagement, it ensures accessible, real-time guidance and builds a sustainable, youth-driven preparedness ecosystem.

Botswana: Circular Solutions for Resilience
Poor waste management contributes to environmental degradation and increased flood risks in vulnerable areas. This initiative establishes a recycling hub that transforms automotive waste into usable products, reducing environmental hazards while creating income opportunities. Its circular economy approach links climate resilience and livelihoods in a model that can be replicated in similar contexts.

First aid and rescue

Latvia: First Aid for Every Child
Children often lack access to appropriate first-aid education despite being key actors in emergencies. This initiative develops an accessible, child-friendly training system tailored to different age groups. By making first-aid learning engaging and inclusive, it builds life-saving skills early and creates a foundation for long-term community resilience.

Egypt: The Creative Rescuer
Traditional disaster preparedness approaches often fail to engage young people effectively. This initiative introduces creative, experiential learning methods to make preparedness more engaging and practical. By testing alternative education formats, it aims to improve retention and behaviour change, offering strong potential for adaptation across other National Societies.

Health and well-being

Denmark: Y2Y-VOICES
Youth perspectives are often underrepresented in mental health discussions and programming. Y2Y-VOICES addresses this gap through a peer-to-peer learning and mentoring model where young volunteers co-create advocacy campaigns. By combining storytelling, communication skills and psychosocial support, it empowers young people to shape mental health narratives while strengthening their own well-being and connectedness.

Chile: Caring for Caregivers
Volunteers face increasing psychosocial pressure, and this and the lack of structured support systems leads to burnout and attrition. This initiative pilots a preventive psychosocial support model across multiple branches, including peer support spaces, self-care training and psychological first aid. By institutionalizing volunteer care, it strengthens both individual well-being and overall organizational resilience.

Social welfare and inclusion

Iceland: Project Samflétta
Refugee women often face isolation and barriers to accessing services and employment. Project Samflétta addresses this through an adaptive support model combining practical assistance, skills development and improved service navigation. Its iterative approach allows for continuous learning and adjustment, supporting long-term inclusion and empowerment.

North Macedonia: House of Opportunities
People experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty often struggle to navigate fragmented support systems. This initiative creates a multifunctional service hub that brings together essential services in one place, supported by a simplified mapping approach. By improving access and coordination, it offers a practical, replicable model for inclusive service delivery.

Youth engagement and climate/environmental action

Pakistan: YOUR-CAP
Urban youth are often under-engaged in climate resilience efforts despite being key agents of change. YOUR-CAP supports youth teams in designing and testing local climate solutions through training, mentoring and small grants. With the addition of a Youth Wellness Corner, it provides light psychosocial support, recognizing the link between climate action and well-being.

Lao PDR: Youth Engagement & Leadership Strengthening
Youth engagement is often informal and lacks continuity. This initiative builds a structured pathway from recruitment to leadership through orientations, camps, clubs and small grants. By systematizing youth engagement, it creates a sustainable model for long-term volunteer development.

Tanzania: Youth-Led Climate Resilience Innovation Labs
Communities need locally adapted, low-cost climate solutions. This initiative establishes youth-led innovation labs where young people co-create and test practical adaptation measures with communities. By linking innovation and preparedness, it strengthens both local resilience and youth leadership.

Guatemala: Blue Guardians
While water ecosystems are under increasing pressure, youth engagement in environmental action remains limited. Blue Guardians establishes a Youth Water Observatory and supports youth-led monitoring, clean-ups, reforestation and awareness campaigns. Its built-in learning design compares approaches to identify the most effective models for scale.

Congo: J-INNOV
Communities affected by recurrent crises often lack access to affordable and repairable tools. J‑INNOV establishes humanitarian fab labs to train youth innovators and develop locally produced solutions. By combining innovation, skills development and micro-enterprise incubation, it creates sustainable, locally driven responses to recurring challenges.

The Joint Commission of the Empress Shōken Fund warmly congratulates all the 2026 ESF grantees and looks forward to learning with them as they bring these initiatives to life across the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.