Attachments
What you need to know
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626,000 people have arrived since 25 August
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1,622 crossed the border in the past week
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1.2 million require immediate humanitarian assistance, including earlier arriving Myanmar nationals and vulnerable members of host communities
Over the last one hundred days, 626,000 forcibly displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) have arrived in Bangladesh from the Rakhine state of Myanmar escaping violence. National and international NGOs, humanitarian actors, government, the Bangladesh Army and volunteers combined strength to help meet the needs of the FDMN. Organisations are playing key roles in their areas of expertise delivering services to ensure that the FDMNs have access to safe water, sanitation, food, health support while protection and dignity of these populations are addressed.
More concentration is now being given to households led by children. Cash-based incentives are being worked into place for foster families who are willing to take care of child-led households. Door- to-door protection volunteers and community mobilisers are starting to work closely to ensure proper support is given to these households.
As protection work reaches deeper into the community, the mental distress that these individuals carried from Myanmar is surfacing. Often their current fears are getting mixed and compounded with the unpleasant memories of the past. Protection workers and counselors are having to pay very close attention to these cases and a robust plan is being set into place to help people move past these dark corners of their minds.
Water supply is still a concern in some of the settlements, including Unchiprang. This is affecting day-to-day lives of the people who have sheltered there as many are not able to secure enough water for their daily household usage. The topography of these locations are often not favorable for tube-wells to draw out water and innovative solutions are needed to assure access to safe water.
As the humanitarian response plan moves ahead, closer coordination and planning by humanitarian actors are being set. Many first responders are wrapping up their scattered activities. Responsible handover process in coordination with each other to ensure continued delivery and maintenance of quality life saving services need to be in place for all.
Host community is still in a strained position with higher prices to pay for transportation and food. Need for development organisations to enter with interventions to serve the host community is becoming crucial. Many young men and women from the host community are also increasingly becoming interested in working for humanitarian causes. Learning english and computer skills are two of their asks which can be easily met if skills development initiatives are taken up by humanitarian actors working with host community.
Winter is here. The mornings and nights are cool and the afternoons still hot. Newborn babies have little clothing available after birth. And warm clothing for all is still a large necessity - a place where many Bangladeshi citizens can step forward to help.
The dedicated work is going on full force. Better management of sites to building larger primary health care clinics are keeping everyone busy who have extended active arms to serve. But there still remains a space for more individuals, donors and implementers to come forward with commitment and solutions.