Gender-Responsive Skills and Livelihoods in Cox’s Bazar

The project aims to address the livelihood challenges of host communities and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The project focuses on the challenges women youth persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups face. The project contributes to alleviating tensions between both communities. Also It seeks to identify strategies to implement and expand activities for Rohingya refugees particularly women to keep their hopes on a sustainable return to Myanmar while being productive and having a purpose in Bangladesh. The project consists of two different components: to improve the resilience and self-reliance of Rohingya refugees especially women youth and people with disabilities; and to strengthen the economic empowerment and economic participation of members of the host communities in Cox’s Bazar in particular adolescents and youths women and persons with disabilities. To enable a system change the project works with multi-level stakeholders including business owners management committees training service providers teachers parents trainers and community leaders among others. Project activities include: (1) increasing access to education and providing technical skills training based on needs assessments to Rohingya refugees especially women and youths; (2) providing and facilitating opportunities to skills training graduates; (3) providing pre-vocational training on literacy numeracy and life skills to refugee adolescents and youth with a specific focus on girls and women; (4) developing high potential tourism destinations in collaboration with government and market actors; (5) promoting self/wage-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in and around the selected tourists’ destinations with priority given to women’s economic opportunities; (6) building gender-responsive and eco-friendly community-based tourism developed including initiatives by local women and girls through improved competencies infrastructure and services; and (7)

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved transferable skills of Rohingya refugees in preparation for voluntary repatriation and sustainable reintegration through a gender-inclusive approach in alliance with Myanmar’s skills development system; (2) improved access to opportunities to utilize technical skills and enhance livelihoods and self-reliance of Rohingya refugees including women adolescents and youths; (3) improved expansion and growth of enterprises business and employment opportunities in growth-oriented employment-intensive sectors and value-chains in Cox’s Bazar; (4) ensured women people with disabilities and youth in Cox’s Bazar have quality-assured skills in demand on the labour market; and (5) ensured Cox’s Bazar District Administration Office in collaboration with the private sector and workers’ organisations effectively manages and monitors the district’s skills and livelihood programmes .