Highlights
-
Rohingya refugees continue to arrive at Cox’s Bazar from Myanmar, though the situation is stabilising. Verifications of the reported numbers in makeshift settlements are ongoing. The humanitarian community has access for discrete emergency assistance only, but more sustainable solutions are to be found by the Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh.
-
UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have allocated funding to support emergency assistance to the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar.
-
The Regional Protection Adviser visited the Cox’s Bazar sub-office and Dhaka country office to make recommendations on how to ensure ‘do no harm’ principles for the response.
WFP Assistance
Through its Country Programme (CP), WFP aims to assist 3.6 million people over five years in 15 prioritised districts. The CP is designed to improve the long-term food security of ultra-poor households and the nutritional conditions of women and children in the poorest and most food insecure rural areas and urban slums of Bangladesh. It has four components:
Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition (IMCN) aims to break the cycle of undernutrition by treating and preventing moderate acute malnutrition among pregnant and nursing women and children below five in especially vulnerable areas. WFP is also engaging in advocacy and technical assistance to influence relevant nutrition policies and strategies with a focus on enhancing nutrition Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) and making relevant social safety nets nutrition-sensitive.
School Feeding (SF) aims to contribute to the Government’s goal of achieving universal primary education. WFP aims to increase enrolment and attendance of pre-and primary schoolchildren by distributing fortified biscuits, delivering essential learning packages, and providing technical support.
Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters and the Effects of Climate Change (ER) aims to enhance the resilience and food security of particularly vulnerable people through the creation of community and household assets. It engages participants in community projects, provides training on disaster risk reduction and life skills, and gives women a cash grant for investment following the preparation of a business plan.