Help build Common Shade
Come as you are.
Bring what you know.
Common Shade is being built by people who work on extreme heat in many different ways: in clinics and city offices, unions and community groups, laboratories, businesses and foundations, across South and Southeast Asia. There is room here for whatever you bring, and for however much time you have.
No membership, no fees, no commitment. Individuals are as welcome as organisations.
Why a collaborative
Extreme heat affects health, work, income, homes, food, water and essential services. These impacts connect, and our responses can too.
- A shaded workplace needs permission, maintenance and water.
- A heat warning needs someone able to act on it.
- Taking a break needs to be possible without losing the income a household depends on.
No single organisation holds all of these. Common Shade is a place to see the connections, find practical actions, and work on protection that lasts, together. It is early, and it will be shaped by the people who join it.
At your own pace
Three ways in
Choose the one that fits your time today. You can always move to another later.
What it looks like
A calm monthly note on where the field is moving: new plans, funding, evidence and open questions. Nothing else.
What you get back
The State of the field as it is written, and early sight of new tools.
Your next step
In the form, choose “Staying informed”. Nothing more is needed.
What it looks like
Test an approach in a real place, bring partners together, co-design a tool, or shape a joint initiative.
What you get back
Partners with complementary skills, and shared learning about what works, what does not, and why.
Your next step
In the form, describe what you would like to explore in the last question. A rough idea is a good start.
Go to the form Sketch a package or a portfolioSee who could hold each part
Select a way in to see what it looks like and what you get back.
Where you are coming from
What do you work on?
Select any that fit. We will show you what you could bring, and where on the site to start. You do not need to work only on heat: experience with one part of the problem can help others see what is missing.
Health and care
What you could bring: What clinics and care workers see each hot season, and what helps them cope.
The path for health workers · What the Lancet Countdown means for health
Workers and livelihoods
What you could bring: What members face at work, and what protects both their health and their income.
The path for worker and community organisations · Who holds up heat-safe work
Homes and cooling
What you could bring: What keeps homes cooler, who can afford it, and what it takes to keep it working.
Cooling options, place by place · Build protection for homes
Places and essential services
What you could bring: How a place plans for heat, and who has to say yes for protection to reach people.
Warnings and financial protection
What you could bring: How a warning becomes action, and how money can arrive in time.
Institutions and finance
What you could bring: Budgets, rules and funding that let protection last beyond a first grant.
Shared knowledge and tools
What you could bring: Evidence, translation, data and local knowledge that others can build on.
No surprises
What happens after you write
- 1You tell us a littleWho you are, what you work on, and what you might like to explore. Share only what you are comfortable sharing.
- 2A person reads itSomeone on the coordinating team reads every response. No automated replies, no sales.
- 3We write back when there is something to explorePerhaps people working on the same thing, a page that could help, or a conversation. We will not add you to any list you did not ask for.
- 4You decide what comes nextTaking part never commits you to a project, a fee or a formal partnership, and you can step back at any time.
What we might do together
We would like to explore
- Improving the platform’s evidence, tools and practical usefulness.
- Bringing community knowledge and worker experience into planning.
- Testing approaches in real places, and sharing what works, what does not and why.
- Connecting organisations with complementary capabilities.
- Developing joint initiatives and funding proposals.
- Helping effective protection become part of everyday services, budgets and institutional practice.
The question connecting this work is simple:
What would make it easier for people and institutions to protect one another from extreme heat?
What we hold ourselves to
Our promises to you
- No strings attachedExpressing interest does not commit you to a project or any financial contribution, and it does not create formal membership or partnership.
- Every kind of knowledge countsWhat people living and working with heat know is evidence too. Your contribution is credited on the site only if you would like it to be.
- Shaped togetherThe collaborative’s priorities, ways of working and governance are still being developed, with the people and organisations involved.
- Open to correctionWe will sometimes get things wrong. When we do, we say sorry and correct it in the open. See what we have corrected.
- Your answers stay with usThey are used only to reply to you about the collaborative, and never sold or passed on. How your answers are used.
When you are ready
Tell us a little about yourself
It takes a few minutes. Share as much or as little as you like; a rough idea is a good start.
Only want to stay informed? Choose “Staying informed” as your contribution. Want to share or build something? Describe it in the last question.
The registration form needs JavaScript, and opens in Microsoft Forms.
How your answers are used
The form runs on Microsoft Forms, so your answers are stored by Microsoft on behalf of the team coordinating the Common Shade collaborative, who read and manage them. We use them only to reply to you about the collaborative. We send general updates only if you tick the box that asks for them. We do not sell your answers or pass them to anyone else.
Not ready yet? That is fine.
Read this month’s State of the field · Follow a short path for your role · See how Common Shade sees heat