Backgrounder
Today, the Government of Canada announced humanitarian and development initiatives to help address the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh.
Humanitarian assistance
Canada announced $32.15 million in humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh.
Humanitarian Response in Bangladesh - $29.5 million over two years
This funding will be implemented by multiple humanitarian partners. It includes initiatives to meet basic food and shelter needs, mitigate the impact of the monsoon and cyclone seasons, provide sexual and reproductive health services, address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and rehabilitate facilities to help safeguard the protection and dignity of women and girls.
Humanitarian Response in Bangladesh - $2.65 million over three years
This programming seeks to reinforce the adoption of gender-responsive humanitarian action by improving leadership, capacity and accountability within the sector. It includes research, policy and training initiatives to engage civil society partners, including local ones, and affected communities in the implementation of gender-responsive humanitarian action on the ground in Bangladesh.
Development assistance
Canada announced $67.7 million in development assistance to support host communities in Cox's Bazar.
Livelihood Support and Women's Empowerment in Cox's Bazar - $8.7 million over three years
This project-to be implemented by Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC)-aims to empower the poorest women and youth living in host communities in Cox's Bazar by increasing their ability to earn a living. Activities will include providing grants to help women purchase what they need for income-generating activities, such as home gardening and poultry rearing; providing skills training for out-of-school youth and adolescents; facilitating the production and retailing of traditional clothing materials by women artisans; and training community health workers and midwives to better address the essential health needs of the most vulnerable. The project is expected to directly benefit more than 10,000 women and young adults.
Strengthening Community Cohesion in Cox's Bazar - $6 million over three years
The project-to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme-aims to reduce the drivers of conflict and violence in Cox's Bazar. Activities will include providing skills training and employment support for women and youth in the host communities; information sessions on ending gender-based violence (GBV), human trafficking and child marriage; quick-impact community development projects to rehabilitate infrastructure and improve the safety and security of women and girls; and training for local officials, traditional leaders, women's groups and media on dispute resolution and peacebuilding from a gender perspective.
Strengthening Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-Based Violence Services in Cox's Bazar - $11 million over three years
The project-to be implemented by the United Nations Population Fund -aims to increase access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services and respond to GBV in refugee host communities. The project will support Bangladesh's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to provide high-quality midwifery and emergency obstetric care, and to increase the availability of SRHR services, including family planning, contraception and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV. The project will also improve the accessibility of psychosocial services in public health facilities and programming addressing SGBV.
Strengthening Resilience in Cox's Bazar - $4 million over two years
This project-to be implemented by the International Organization for Migration and UNICEF-aims to strengthen the resilience of the host communities in the Cox's Bazar district. Activities will include improving health infrastructure in target facilities; conducting community outreach to encourage the use of sexual and reproductive health and primary health-care facilities; creating and enhancing women-friendly spaces for survivors of GBV; creating and enhancing child-friendly spaces where children may play and learn in a safe environment; setting up adolescent clubs for recreation, sports and life skills education; creating learning centres where children can set up reading clubs or do homework; training teachers; and building the capacity of local organizations. More than 116,000 people will benefit from this initiative.
Strengthening Quality Education in Cox's Bazar - $5 million over three years
The project-to be implemented by UNICEF-aims to provide quality gender-equitable education for pre-primary, primary and out-of-school girls and boys living in the host communities. The project provides a comprehensive gender-sensitive school-effectiveness package for 102,000 children, which includes 54,000 girls. It builds the capacity of teachers, school leaders and community members in the host communities. The initiative also aims to make schools safer for girls and boys while improving gender sensitivity in teaching and assessment practices.
Environmental Rehabilitation and Improving Livelihoods in Cox's Bazar - $20 million over three years
The project-to be implemented by the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization-aims to secure a safe and healthy environment for the affected host community population in Cox's Bazar by addressing their urgent cooking fuel needs, improving their economic livelihoods and food security, and rehabilitating the natural resource base while preventing further environmental degradation in the region.
Food Security and Empowerment of Women in Cox's Bazar - $13 million over three years
The project-to be implemented by the World Food Programme-focuses on increasing the financial security and resilience of the host communities affected by the Rohingya influx in Cox's Bazar with a particular focus on extremely poor women and children. This project has two components designed to address the immediate and underlying causes of the prevailing food insecurity and malnutrition in this region. The first component will benefit 12,500 ultra-poor host community women and their families through training in technical skills and other support for income generation, as well as life skills training. The second component includes the provision of supplementary food assistance and social and behaviour change communication on topics such as feeding practices, child and maternal health and hygiene.
