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BACKGROUND
At the end of 2022, it was announced that the funds supporting the food assistance program for displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh would be cut short. The funding shortfalls forced WFP to cut food assistance from the full ration of US$12 a month per capita to US$10 in March 2023, and then to US$8 in June 2023. Rations were initially planned to be zeroed out in 2024, until USAID pledged a donation that would continue funding the program at US$10 a month. Nevertheless, the ration cuts have already hurt food security as the entire displaced Rohingya population is dependent on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs to survive.
The displaced Rohingya population, who mostly reside in camps in the upazilas of Ukhia and Teknaf, located in the Cox’s Bazar district, live in harsh conditions, experiencing acute food insecurity and deteriorating health. Moreover, Rohingyas cannot legally work outside the camps. Given work opportunities inside the camps are limited, they are increasingly dependent on humanitarian assistance programs to meet their basic needs. In 2023 the minimum expenditure basket (MEB) – an indicator that describes the average amount of money required for a household to meet their basic needs – for Rohingya households in Cox’s Bazar was 1,933 BDT (US$17.60 USD1 ) per capita per month for food needs; the MEB for non-food needs was 844 BDT (US$7.60 USD). This means that the majority of the funds required to meet their food needs was covered by WFP assistance programs. Households are already feeling the negative impact of the first round of ration cuts resulting from the funding shortfalls. Using survey data collected before and after the first round of assistance cuts in June 2023, we observed camp households reducing food consumption, becoming more food insecure, and resorting more often to extreme coping mechanisms.
Had the program funding not been renewed, there could have been even worse consequences.
This brief examines the impact of the first round of cuts on camp households in Cox’s Bazar. We use data from the sixth round of the Refugee-Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment (REVA), a comprehensive household survey of displaced Rohingyas living in camps, as well as Bangladeshi households in neighboring communities (or “host communities”); this survey was conducted between November and December 2022 before the first cuts were announced. This data is compared with survey data collected for a ration cut impact Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) survey conducted between May and June 2023, after the first ration cut.
This brief also makes comparisons between the MEB of these camp households and that of a smaller group of displaced people living in the Bhasan Char Island, which was not affected by the ration cuts. The key findings of our comparison are summarized below:
Food assistance made up approximately 70 percent of camp households’ food expenditures.
Since the first cuts went into effect, camp residents have reduced their food consumption and turned to risky coping strategies to support themselves.
In particular, food consumption score (FCS) indicating borderline ‘food insecure’ significantly increased from 39 percent (before ration cuts) to 65 percent which implies that more households are being pushed into hunger.
Households increased their borrowing habits. Before ration cuts, 55 percent of households bought food on credit which has increased to 68 percent following the ration cuts.
Before ration cuts, 25 percent of households borrowed money for essential needs which has increased to 52 percent following the ration cuts.
They also engaged in strategies with more long-term risks, such as withdrawing children from school.
In particular, about 13 percent of female-headed households withdrew a child from school following the cuts.