HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMECOX’S BAZAR | BANGLADESH | FEBRUARY 2020

BRAC has been working in Cox’s Bazar for the last 37 years with the host communities of the region and the Rohingya community from previous influxes. BRAC Humanitarian Crisis Management Programme (HCMP) was initiated in August 2017 to provide emergency services to the people affected by the recent influx.

BRAC’s work started with a focus on life-saving interventions. As the situation evolved, we incorporated interventions to support everyone affected by the crisis in both the camps and host communities to enhance skills, build resilience and share knowledge. We are currently serving more than 700,000 people in Cox’s Bazar, with the broadest programming portfolio of any responder.

ACTIVITY UPDATE

● Honourable Minister, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), Dr Md Enamur Rahaman, Chairman of MoDMR, AB Tajul Islam, Refugee Relief And Repatriation Commissioner Md Mahbub Alam Talukder, UNHCR, UNICEF representatives and other government officials visited newly the constructed two-storeyed learning centre on 5 February at Camp 4 Ext. The Honourable Minister expressed that BRAC’s learning centres will benefit Rohingya children with educational opportunities through joyful learning.

● OneSight and BRAC partnered to provide free vision care to more than 1,800 people from both the host and Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar from 10-13 February. 20 specialists from 7 countries provided special services for free.

● Nearly 259,000 patients were served through BRAC’s primary healthcare services and health posts under the ‘Comprehensive Integrated Health Services for the Displaced Rohingyas in the Cox’s Bazar’ project.

● HCMP agriculture team organised a project inception workshop in Ukhiya under the 3rd phase of WFP’s self- reliance project on 23 February. 74 people including local government officials and representatives of other development organisations participated in the workshop.

Leslie MacLean, Deputy Minister of Global Affairs Canada, visited the women’s empowerment project implemented for the host communities in Cox’s Bazar on 11

February. Photo: Mahmudul Karim

Sherrie Westin, President of Social Impact and Philanthropy, Sesame Workshop, visited

BRAC Humanitarian Play Lab on 17 February.

Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC, visited BRAC Nursery along with the senior

management of HCMP on 27 February.

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The inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of distinguished guests and officials from government agencies, donors and BRAC. Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), Mr Mahbub Alam Talukder, spoke as the chief guest at the event.

Md Fukrul Karim, regional director of Bangladesh Betar, Ms Fahmida Begum, deputy director of Islamic Foundation, Mr Mohammed Abdus Salam, head of BRAC HCMP, and Ms Aarunima Bhatnagar, team lead of communication for development (C4D), UNICEF, shared their insights at the event. The session kicked off with a welcome speech from Mr Md Shah Alam, technical head of BRAC HCMP.

The social cohesion project, designed by BRAC and funded by UNICEF, aims to reach 90,000 people from 22,000 households of both host and Rohingya communities, including 2,000 religious and community leaders. 150 religious leaders from 10 camps were selected by ReLnet to disseminate life-saving messages about health, hygiene, nutrition, WaSH, child protection, gender-based violence and disaster preparedness through daily community-based, interpersonal communication sessions. These include talim (preaching) sessions, advocacy meetings, community consultations, communicating with communities (CwC) activities, school orientations, dialogue sessions with host and Rohingya community religious leaders and advocacy meeting for the host community. The project will work in 10 camps under Ukhiya and Teknaf.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Building harmony through religious leadersInception workshop of ReLNet project

Funded by UNICEF, BRAC initiated a project titled 'Engaging Communities through Religious Leaders Network (ReLNet)' on 16 February to enhance social cohesion and peace-building between host and Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar through Rohingya religious leaders.

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Inception workshop of RelNet project


Strategy for 2020 finalisedThe strategic vision of BRAC HCMP for 2020 was finalised. The strategy prioritises the following five areas in line with the Joint Response Plan: 1. Enhance social cohesion among Rohingya and the host communities, 2. Strengthen the humanitarian and development nexus, 3. Ensure social inclusion through mainstreaming gender and disability, 4. Build community resilience to prepare for and respond to the effects of natural and man-made disasters, 5. Promote the rights and elevate the voices of Rohingya refugees and host communities through evidence generation and advocacy.

(left) Facilitated by IRC, SMS arranged a dialogue at Camp 6 for the stakeholders. Different sectors and SMS answered their questions.

(RIght) Refreshers’ training for POs, Community Health Workers & Counselors held on 18 February. Additional RRRC Mohammad Mizanur Rahman attended the event.






A blissful collaborationAn integrated community centre to bring people together in Kutupalong

Hindupara in Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp has a slightly different story than the other camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf.

The relationship between the FDMN and host communities in Bangladesh has not always been easy. Growing fears, insecurities and unwanted incidents have led to a lack of trust between the groups.

In collaboration with BRAC, UNHCR is providing psychosocial and community support to strengthen social cohesion and create aspirations about their surroundings. The aim is to work on establishing relationships and trust between Hindupara community members and host communities to strengthen means of communication. An integrated community centre to create a common platform was established.

The centre is a common platform, providing psychosocial support, training, case management and knowledge sharing between communities. They designed patterns, painted the centre together and laid the path for communal cohesion. Mr Kamal and his team of masons and craftsmen designed the beautiful floor patterns and civil works, and Mr Rubel’s team did a tremendous job setting up the steel structure within schedule. School-going teenagers also joined in to paint.

Sharing stories and landscaping together broke the ice among participants in the very first day at the centre. A member of the Hindupara community and her team selected all the trees and plants that can be planted in the surrounding areas in the camps. Various flower and medicinal plants have been planted for emergency use by the community.

It is crucial to understand the on-site scenario and context of particular groups, especially those living in densely populated camps so near to their host communities, in order to develop effective and sustainable solutions.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME | 03


Integrated Community Centre in Hindupara







3,129 children and adolescents learning in February

100 learning centre operational

49,098 household hygiene sessions conducted

1,221referral services for immunisation for mothers and children

465 mental health services provided in February

4,828households visited and provided with coaching and awareness(with recurrence)

1,538 Total maternal health services

Our support to host communities consists of targeted, multi-sectoral assistance to vulnerable households, including:

• Learning centres offering non-formal education programmes. We are also developing the capacity of mainstream schools through engagement with teachers, students and community leaders.• Child-friendly spaces implementing our Humanitarian Play Lab model.• WaSH interventions supporting over 80,000 households, including construction and maintenance of deep tube wells, piped water supply networks, and latrines, hygiene sessions conducted with men, women, boys and girls in schools, tea stalls, and formation of village WASH committees.• Diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases, including TB and malaria.• Disaster risk reduction, including quick evacuation schemes, retrofitting, renovating and repairing cyclone shelters.• Agriculture and environment rehabilitation including planting trees to mitigate deforestation, and improving agricultural practices and home gardening, and vocational skills through distribution of agricultural inputs. • Ultra-poor graduation programmes providing assets through interest-free loans and grants, combined with coaching, mentoring and enterprise development training to create pathways out of poverty. • Alternative learning programmes providing apprenticeship-based training and life skills to out-of-school youth. • Customised microfinance products, including loans for women and small enterprise loans. • Cash-based interventions supporting families with cash distributions per household every month for four months.


SECTOR-WISE SNAPSHOT: Host communities







Water, sanitation and hygiene

Education

Agriculture and environment

3,963 homestead gardening trainings conducted

1 Vetiver nursery established

HCMP’s agriculture and environment project works to restore the living environment and promote sustainable agricultural practices across camps and host communities. This includes the planting and distribution of agricultural input packages, and training on seeds and tools.

We are serving as the largest provider of educational opportunities in the response, with over 60,000 children (53% girls) enrolled in almost 840 BRAC facilities. With the support from UNICEF, BRAC is developing learning competency framework and approach (LCFA) materials, focused on early grade learning, basic literacy, numeracy, life-saving information, psychosocial support and life skills. We have trained 765 Burmese language instructors (from camps) and 840 teachers from host communities to provide quality learning in safe, dignified environments. 21 multipurpose centres and 8 adolescent centres are being used to deliver pre-vocational courses, life skills training, and literacy and numeracy skills to 1800 and 430 adolescents respectively with a total of 2230 adolescents.

60,000+ children and adolescents registered in learning centres

765 learning centres operating

13,007community meetings conducted by learning centre management committees

Shelter and non-food items

We support 167,000 people with secure shelters in camps, continual site improvements such as bridges and roads, and distribution of non-food items. Our work also includes gas-equipped community kitchens, transitional shelter options and the first large scale bamboo treatment plant in Cox’s Bazar.Our bamboo treatment facility, the first large scale plant in Cox’s Bazar, ensures bamboo viability for 10-12 years.

38,426 shelter material distributed

12,179 shelters maintenance

70,996 metres of drainage built

We support almost 700,000 people through integrated WaSH interventions in camps. This includes construction and maintenance of deep tube wells, piped water supply networks, latrines and handwashing stations and hygiene promotion. BRAC was the first to form WaSH committees to establish ownership of facilities, and continuing to pioneer in sustainability through community maintenance team development, WaSH corridor and water pumps by hybrid power.

Learn more: response.brac.net

SECTOR-WISE SNAPSHOT: Camps

21,142 latrines constructed

6,774 bathing cubicles built

5,399 hand wash stations built







Protection

Child protection

Communication for Development

HCMP is supporting 50,000 vulnerable Rohingya women, girls, men and boys through psychotherapeutic activities, skills development, legal aid, awareness training, dignity kit distribution, referral services and leadership training, livelihood and community-based protection in camps. Services are offered through 15 women-friendly spaces, 10 community centres, 8 information points, a skills development centre and a community outreach network.

342 radio listener groups created

21,127 total legal counselling conducted

317 successful legal dispute mediation sessions

We support over 100,000 children through child-friendly spaces (CFSs) implementing BRAC’s Humanitarian Play Lab model. We also reach adolescent boys and girls through 900 pocket-based interventions.

325

2 M

child-friendly spaces functioning

packs of High Energy Biscuits distributed

18,744 average attendance in child-friendly spaces

We bring information to 100,000 households in 34 camps through 800 Rohingya volunteers (84% women). In emergencies, we intensify our efforts to reach 500,000 people. Messages are reinforced through 3,000 community and religious leaders and 3,000 adolescent boys and girls, and 1,440 community action plans ensure access to services for all.

500 advocacy meetings with community leaders

1,982 adolescent radio listener club meetings conducted

3.5 Minterpersonal communication sessions conducted in households

Health and communicable diseasesBRAC is the largest primary healthcare provider in the camps, providing essential and life-saving health and nutrition services, including prevention and treatment of communicable diseases. We have provided more than 1 million basic health services in the community via our health network of 24/7 primary healthcare centres, health posts, community health outlets and community health workers. Social mobilisation and awareness raising programmes regarding malaria are being run in the camps. Out of 3,486 presumptive tests, 293 identified TB cases in February.

1.3 M outpatient screenings in community health outlet

174,347 malaria tests conducted

122,023 TB presumptive tests conducted








Site management

Livelihoods & food security

1,951community awareness meetings held in February

142 CiC coordination meeting conducted

168 protection cases referred in February

We support more than 165,000 people in 7 camps with site management support focusing on 8 key areas; support to government officials in charge of camps, community governance and participation mechanisms, protection mainstreaming, care and maintenance, information management, emergency preparedness and response, relocations, and capacity building.

23,195 MT food assistance-in-kind

297,063 households reached through e-voucher

We provide technical and life skill trainings that enhance confidence, and increase capacities and opportunities. Training manuals and flip charts of poultry rearing were completed. Trainings on homestead gardening were completed, with vegetable seeds, tools, manure and stationeries distributed among the participants during the training period.


Nutrition

37,791

supplementary food delivered to pregnant and lactating women via the blanket supplementary feeding programme

9,625

children, pregnant and lactating women reached with supplementary food in the targeted supplementary feeding programme

We provide knowledge and nutrition supplements for women and children in the camps through a community-based approach. Members of the community are engaged in awareness sessions to improve their understanding about the importance of nutrition, their nutrition sources and how to preserve nutrition during cooking processes. They are then provided with supplements as needed.

Ayesha Abed Foundation

We provide training to women from the Rohingya camps and host communities in artisanal skills through sub-centres and a production centre in Cox’s Bazar. The trainees receive a monthly stipend. After graduation they get the opportunity to join AAF on a longer-term basis to support themselves and their families.

319 trainees enrolled in camps

437 trainees enrolled in host communities

177 trainees enrolled in main production centre







2,556 total BRAC staff providing critical services in camps and host communities

5,054 BRAC volunteers from both host and Rohingya communities

53% of BRAC staff are women

PROFILE ON THE GROUND

PROGRAMME DIRECTORSajedul Hasan

[email protected] +88 02 9881265 Ext 3530

PROGRAMME HEAD Mohammed Abdus Salam

[email protected]+88 017-0964-7506

MEDIA/COMMUNICATIONSQuazi Mustafizur Rahman

[email protected]+88 017-38937985

mailto:[email protected]



Documents

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME