Attachments
1. Introduction
1) Project Summary and Research Background
For decades, the Rohingyas have suffered from structural discrimination in society with their basic human rights neglected. In 2017, the Myanmar government launched a large-scale military operation against the Rohingyas who were the ethnic minority in the country. As a result, about 25,000 Rohingya civilians suffered from genocide which entailed gang rape, physical assaults, arbitrary arrest, detention, arson, and looting of properties. More than 115,000 homes were set on fire and about 800,000 refugees were displaced(Habib et al., 2018). As of December 2024, more than 1 million Rohingya were living in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, up from around 980,000 last year. Of these, 51% are women (UNHCR, 2024). Since May 2024, an estimated 45,000 Rohingya have fled to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, as fighting between Myanmar's military and rebel Arakanese forces has intensified in Rakhine State, Myanmar (Yonhap News Agency, 2024). Also, on August 12, 2024, more than 1,000 Rohingya traveling from Maungdaw, Rakhine State to Bangladesh were attacked by drone bombing, resulting in more than 200 deaths and 300 injuries (The Hankook Ilbo, 2024). Even though seven years have passed since the 2017 massacre, women living in the camp have been continuously exposed to gender-based violence and experienced feelings of anxiety, family loss, social isolation, difficulties in livelihood, and social discrimination In addition, natural disasters occurring annually, the Bangladesh government's immigration policy to Bashanchar Island, and the declining humanitarian aid funds had a negative effect on women's daily lives and became additional stress factors.
To alleviate such difficulties, the ADI-RWWS-MAISHA consortium has developed and implemented integrated support using community resources since 2018, which includes women’s self-help support groups, a space for women's psychological protection, community awareness raising, and livelihood skills support. The project was developed through a collaboration with a psychosocial support expert group, 'Peace to People' using the ‘Polyvagal Theory’ and ‘Integral Theory’. Steven W. Forges’ Polyvagal Theory is based on neuroscience and deals with the interaction in the 10th cranial nerve, which is between the vagus nerve and the central nervous system. The theory divides psychological states into 3 stages: the freeze stage, the fight-flight stage, and the social engagement stage. By activating the vagus nerve through the psychosocial support program, participants are expected to be psychologically stable and remain in the social engagement stage. Furthermore, based on Ken Wilbur’s Integral theory and its module, the ‘Multipurpose Women’s Healing Center’ was constructed as a space for women’s psychological protection.
This project was carried out in Camp 14 from 2018 to 2024 and some of the quantifiable achievements were 476 trained rohingya women psychological supporters-PSS-(cumulative), 950 self-help groups, 4,262 self-help group participants, 25,310 healing center visits(cumulative), 4,445 healing center users, 315 women who have completed literacy education, 143 women who have participated in open study classes (cumulative), 124 women who have completed community business program. In addition, through the baseline and endline survey, it was discovered that women's psychosocial well-being improved by 49% in 2020, and women's personal and interrelational resilience by 8% and 38% respectively(ADI, 2021). In 2021, women's psychological stability increased by 21%, and positive attitudes toward gender perception increased by 8% (ADI, 2022a). The 2022-2023 evaluation found that women in the multi-year psychosocial support groups had statistically significantly higher resilience than other women in Camp 14. This confirms the effectiveness of the multi-year program and the importance of livelihood activities for women. We also found a statistically significant increase in resilience among women in 2023 compared to 2022 (ADI, 2023). Furthermore, some qualitative assessments were made through 1:1 interviews, FGD, and observation records. Some of the noticeable achievements were the application of psychological support activities in participants’ daily life, improved stress coping strategy through interactions with others, social protection and support relationship between women, improved authority within family and community, expanded access to information, and improved mobility Following the 10-year master plan of the project, the fifth stage of the project began in 2022 and this year, 2024, the seventh phase of the project has been completed, wrapping up Chapter 2 of our master plan. This project ran for a total of three years from 2022 to 2024 and focused on the growth of community members by seeking sustainable space of protection for women's psychological stability and the expansion of social participation opportunities during prolonged camp life. For the next three years, Phases 8 through 10 will continue to operate with authority and responsibility handed over to a local partner organization, RW Welfare Society (RWWS).
The project goal(impact) for the past four years (2018~2021) has been to strengthen women's psychosocial resilience. This was adjusted to be the outcome, and women's resilience (recovery/ego-resilience) through the project was surveyed. As mentioned earlier, the 2022-2023 baseline and endline surveys confirmed that the resilience of women who participated in the project for multiple years was significantly higher than that of women who participated for a short period or who did not participate. In addition, starting with the 2022 endline evaluation, the analysis will focus on whether women's resilience has remained stable, rather than simply analyzing highs and lows, and will use qualitative data to identify factors that influence resilience. This allowed us to analyze the significant resilience outcomes for women who participated for multiple years and the importance of multi-year participation in securing livelihood opportunities and participation in livelihood activities for women in general. Through ongoing research, we aim to evaluate whether the project has a significant impact in the project sites to ensure that women have high resilience in prolonged camp life or any other situations and to feed back into the next phase of the project.