Early Recovery Multi-Sector Assessment of Mrauk-U District
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Executive Summary
In June and October 2012, inter-communal violence across Rakhine State resulted in 8,6141 homes being destroyed, leaving thousands displaced and later resulting in restrictions on movement being imposed. Following the violence, the situation for displaced populations in Mrauk-U District was, on the whole, different from other conflict-affected areas of Rakhine. In these townships of Kyauktaw, Minbya and Mrauk-U, IDPs have been sheltered in temporary longhouses either in or near their villages. Launched in March 2015, the Rakhine State Government’s Resettlement Plan provides a pathway for many of these IDPs to return. Indeed many have now returned voluntarily to their villages, and some have been relocated to new sites over the course of the past year. This process is nearing completion across Mrauk-U District, which raises an important question as to how international assistance is delivered here in the future.
This assessment aims to inform that recalculation by comparing and contrasting the socio economic context and overall welfare of villages with IDPs and those without. Villages that have been directly affected by conflict have been receiving the majority of assistance while assistance to villages without IDPs has been more limited. In order to ensure that needs are not being overlooked, evaluating and comparing their contexts is vital.
This assessment is reliant on qualitative inputs that depict illustrative findings across a multitude of sectors. What is presented here is a broad snapshot of how these villages are fairing, the coping strategies they use, and the priorities they see for improving their lives going forward. While a key recommendation offered is the need for further research to deepen and add granular data to the analysis here, the following conclusions were drawn.
The core finding of this assessment is that all villages here are poor and have suffered from the broader economic stagnation of central Rakhine State over the past five years. While differences in the socio-economic contexts and welfare of villages exist, they are dependent more on the village’s ethnicity and, to a lesser extent, its geography than on whether or not it hosts IDPs. The economic decline of this district is first demonstrated by the significant negative shifts in livelihoods opportunities. The number of households reporting that they have no income or are engaged in migrant work/ dependent on remittances has increased significantly.
Reduced opportunities in fisheries and livestock rearing further underline the economic stagnation. The changes in livelihood opportunities for former IDP villages and non IDP Muslim villages have been similar and most likely point to the adverse effects stemming from the restrictions on movement imposed on the Muslim population. Livelihood challenges for Rakhine non-IDP villages are different, though also point to negative shifts in the economy, with those reliant on migration and remittances being much more commonplace.
Both ethnicities respond with pessimistic views of the future, foreseeing that the boys and girls in their villages would likely engage either in casual labor or migrant work. A significant minority of villages stated that the girls in the village will likely remain in the home engaging in housework – and this trend was higher in Muslim than in Rakhine villages.
The widespread poverty here is further underlined by all respondents identifying a lack of cash as the primary challenge to accessing social services and markets. Specifically, Muslim villages, both with and without IDPs, identify a lack of cash for transport as their primary challenge, rather than the restrictions on movement – a likely reflection of restrictions on movement here not being absolute, but can often be overcome with informal payments. The main expenditure for all communities is food, followed by healthcare and education. At the same time, reducing the intake of food is the most common coping strategy for Muslim villages, while Rakhine villagers turn to taking loans as their primary coping mechanism.
Access to emergency healthcare and birthing services is worst for Muslim non-IDP villages, followed by Muslim IDP villages – and is worryingly low for both of these groups. Access to these services is notably higher for Rakhine non-IDP villages but is still only around 50%. Most prevalent healthcare access challenge is a lack of cash for transport for Muslim villagers and a lack of cash for treatment for Rakhine communities. WASH facilities are more accessible for IDP villages, than for Muslim and Rakhine non-IDP villages, likely a reflection of international assistance. The differences in the availability of latrines across these realities also reflect the involvement of international organizations.
Rakhine villages have better education facilities in their villages as Muslim communities can no longer access many of the schools in the district. Muslim non IDPs seemingly have the poorest access to education facilities. Women largely feel safe in their own villages, though the location where they feel most unsafe is their access route to markets. Gender-based violence and child protection issues were reported in informant interviews but were not reflected in the survey component of this study – and is, therefore, an important focus area for further research.
The majority of social relationships between villages of different ethnicities here are improving, though respondents in Rakhine communities and former IDP villages were less likely to state improvements. In Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U the vast majority of respondents stated that relationships are improving; in Minbya that proportion was approximately 50%. Both types of Muslim communities, those with and without IDPs, state that they would like the government to prioritize the restoration of freedom of movement to improve their lives. An overwhelming proportion of Rakhine villages stated that they would like the government to prioritize job creation, and this community shows no interest in improving social relations with other communities.
Considering these conclusions, a set of recommendations has been developed pointing to a broadening of the international assistance agenda in Mrauk-U District. Any shift in assistance should be preceded by further thematic and specific geographical research, and the monitoring of protection challenges should be continued. Moreover, the political and inter communal dynamics that are at play need to be more carefully assessed and understood here, while the needs of the most vulnerable should be given particular attention if a broadened international assistance agenda is to be implemented.
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