Transforming lives

We work in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Since we were founded, we have positively impacted the lives of almost 13 million people.

Latest updates

  • News & events

    British Asian Trust celebrates empowering 1,500 young people through the Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress initiative

    Citi Event Nov 2024
  • Gallery

    Winter Drinks at Carlton House Terrace 2024

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  • Gallery

    Celebrating 8 years of partnership with Citi Foundation

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  • Blogs

    Promoting sensitivity for Media Reporting on Mental Health

    Whatsapp Image 2024 10 31 At 12.01.12 A574d371 (1)
  • News & events

    Building the Future of Outcomes-Based Financing in India: Launching the Outcomes Readiness Framework

    Screenshot 2024 11 20 133120

Social Finance

Exploring new ways of working to fundamentally improve the way philanthropy and development are done.

"The British Asian Trust has always been focussed on innovative ways of giving, especially impact investing, based on the principle that you measure outcomes - how much you achieve - rather than how much you spend." 

Lord Jitesh Gadhia, Chair, British Asian Trust. 

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Empowering Women in South Asia

We are supporting thousands of marginalised women to build resilience against poverty. With our support they are gaining economic empowerment through increased access to finance, learning about financial management and seeking control of resources. Our Women’s Economic Empowerment programme, supported by the UK Government, has had great results and made a real change in the lives of almost 10,000 women. Read more about our work.

WEE Kaarvan Shahbana

Pioneering innovation in international development

We believe that the problems of the world will not be solved by philanthropy and traditional development approaches alone.

We are pioneers in “social finance”, which focusses on outcomes and results and unlocks new capital to address the most urgent issues of South Asia.

Through our award-winning Social Finance Unit we have already established the world’s largest Education Development Impact Bond and are now developing a range of other innovative initiatives across the region.

We believe that social finance has the potential to fundamentally improve philanthropy and development and we are proud to be global pioneers in this exciting space.

Read the latest updates about our social finance work.