Turkey and Syria Earthquake Emergency Response
Walking with the Rohingya
Last Update：2023/05/09Tags：
In late August 2017, conflict broke out in Rakhine State, Myanmar. To date, more than 900,000 Rohingya—more than half of whom are children—are still living in limbo in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Their future remains uncertain at best.
As the refugee crisis becomes protracted, the Rohingya remain highly dependent on humanitarian assistance. Reduced global funding for emergencies—due in part to COVID-19-related economic havoc—threatens to further deteriorate the already dire access to services for these vulnerable children and their families. The poor living conditions in the camp, plus the frequent fire and other disasters that occur, make lives extremely challenging for the Rohingya.
Educational opportunities have always been limited for Rohingya children. Without work, parents are forced to turn to negative coping strategies, such as marrying their children off or sending them out to work. Child marriage is on the rise and reportedly children as young as age 7 are working in some camps.
In the past few years, World Vision has been working with Rohingya parents, imams and local leaders to strengthen community-based child protection. In view of the threats brought by the challenging circumstances and different disasters, we remain committed to support the affected families, as they enter yet another year of exile.
World Vision's Response
In 2017-2022, World Vision reached over 584,700 refugees through the following interventions:
Food Assistance
- Provide food packages and food vouchers for refugees and host communities
- Provide malnutrition screening and treatment for children under the age of five
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
- Construct latrines and install handwashing facilities and bathing spaces
- Construct or rehabilitate wells to increase water supply
Livelihoods
- Distribute farm and non-farm assets, such as seeds and fruit tree saplings, to host communities
- Provide life skills training for adolescents to equip them for the future
Protection
- Establish women and girls’ safe spaces so they can find support and referral services
- Provide psychosocial support for families and training on preventing gender-based violence
- Provide emergency assistance to children and families in cases of fire, flood or other disasters, including providing hot meals, temporary shelters, and repairing destroyed water facilities
Child Friendly Spaces and learning centres protect children from violence and exploitation. Children learn English, Science, Life Skills, Maths, and Burmese, according to their grade levels. They spend safe and quality time in the centres.
Refugee families receive e-vouchers to buy nutritious food of their own choice.
In a Child Friendly Space, children can enjoy a rare moment of happiness by taking part in activities such as singing and drawing.
Women and adolescent girls receive dignity kits which contain a cloth napkin, laundry soap, underwear and a torch, etc. They also learn about feminine hygiene to keep personal hygiene in the adverse living condition.
A group of adolescent refugees attend solar panel repair class in the camp. They learn numeracy, literacy, and pre-vocational training at 20 World Vision centres which benefit up to 3,530 adolescents each month.
Mazeda, 25, showing off her embroidery handiwork, which she learned to do at a safe space for women and girls. The skill enables them to earn some money while staying at home.
