Food Security and Empowerment of Women in Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh

This project focuses on increasing the financial security and resilience of the host communities affected by the Rohingya refugee influx in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh with a particular focus on ultra-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. Component one focuses on improving food security women’s empowerment and livelihoods benefiting 12 500ultra-poor host community women and their families. Project activities include: (1) training in technical skills for income generation; (2) a small cash subsistence allowance to improve food consumption and dietary diversity and to cover essential household consumption needs; (3) a business start-up fund; life skills training; and (4) social and behaviour change communication on topics such as child marriage gender discrimination gender-based violence disaster risk reduction nutrition child and maternal care and personal hygiene. Component two focuses on improving nutrition benefiting 7 500 children under the age of five and 2 500 pregnant and lactating women. Project activities include the provision of: supplementary food assistance; and social and behaviour change communication on topics such as feeding practices child and maternal health and hygiene.

The expected results of this project include: (1) ultra-poor women are empowered economically through income-generation activities; (2) ultra-poor women are empowered socially through enhanced life-skills and knowledge; and (3) improved nutrition of pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five and improved hygiene behaviours and practices of women and care-givers in ultra-poor households.