In the 2022 Pakistan floods, the UN estimated that "80% of the people displaced by climate change were women. Any discussion on climate action is tokenistic in nature and futile in structure, unless it addresses the plight of women in climate crises."

Women are affected much more by climate change disasters than men. Our project decided to take action and change the lives of millions of women by rebuilding the homes and social fabric that protect women, provide necessary income, and extended to them land rights.

On 25 August 2022, Pakistan declared a state of emergency because of the world's deadliest flood since the 2020 South Asian floods, and the worst in the country's history. It was also recorded as one of the costliest natural disasters in world history.

Over 33 million people were affected, with thousands dead or missing. The Minister of Climate Change stated that a "third" of the country was underwater - overnight a 100km lake had emerged in Sindh province. Officials estimated at least $30 billion of reconstruction costs and economic damage, equivalent to about 10% of GDP.

The Government of Sindh began the rebuilding process, but there always has been a massive funding gap.

In the aftermath of Pakistan’s devastating flooding that destroyed or damaged 2 million homes, the Government of Sindh through SPHF set out to rebuild the lives of flood victims, with a focus on helping the millions of women who were now homeless and living in camps and were affected disproportionately more than men.

Our brief was to raise donations for the rebuilding efforts on a global level to enable the world's largest rehabilitation program and rebuilding of the social fabric that protects women. The immediate task was to raise awareness of not only the donation website, but also of the efforts of SPHF and the Government.

The brief was to produce an activation that would move potential donors (governments, agencies, and individuals) at COP28, and beyond.

How do you make a donation website famous? In order to raise funds to rebuild the lives of the women affected, we did something that has never been done before.

We officially named one rebuilt town after the government's donation website URL: ClimateChangeTown.pk

By default this ensured that anytime anyone searches, mentions or shares the new town name – the donation link is automatically shared as well.

Given the amount of devastation climate-change induced flooding wrecked on Pakistan and the alarming rise in violence towards women in the aftermath, SPHF’s scope amounts to the biggest rehabilitation project in the world.

As such, we needed to raise as much awareness and donations as possible, whileing cast the widest net possible in terms of our target audience. Our goal was not tied to location or demographics, but instead to reach as many people as possible anywhere in the world.

The strategy that propelled our idea was to create a simple high-profile mechanic that ensured high global awareness and reach, especially at COP28 where we would be presenting this idea to the biggest donors.

We started with a legal process to rename the town to the donation website URL. This was authorized through approvals granted by official Government of Sindh channels and provincial land departments.

Once approved, we then installed official road signs, directing people to climatechangetown.pk. These were put up on main highways, country roads, and at the entrance to the town.

We then got the town name recognized by Google Maps, complete with a hyperlink to the donation website.

All of the activation was covered by a film which was launched at COP 28, marking the first time a functioning town on Planet Earth had been named after a donation website to counter the effects of climate change. Social media and PR further pushed our powerful message to individuals, corporations and aid agencies.

By officially naming the new town ClimateChangeTown.pk, we successfully created a world-first mechanic that simply and effectively spread the donation website to help SPHF in what is now the world's largest rehabilitation program ensuring women’s equality in the rebuilding effort and corresponding land rights.

Through various donors, SPHF has successfully raised in excess of $200 million since COP28.

Thousands of sustainable future-proof homes have already been built, with a total of 2.1 million homes to be constructed.

The funds raised also provide necessary income to flood victims, particularly women who are actively involved in the effort to rebuild their lives. The initiative has paved the way for women’s land rights in Pakistan with a total of 10,000 land titles already awarded to women for the houses they helped build, with 800,000 constructions being led by women – a truly remarkable moment for Pakistan.