Strengthening Community Cohesion in Cox’s Bazar

The project aims to build the economic resilience and social cohesion for persons living in the host communities affected by the influx of displaced Rohingya people into Cox’s Bazar. Cox’s Bazar is one of Bangladesh’s poorest and most vulnerable districts with poverty well above the country’s national average. The influx of over 740 000 Rohingya since August 2017 has increased economic tensions and competition for scarce resources including for jobs and income among the Rohingya and the host communities as well as having a serious impact on local infrastructure and services. This situation poses a threat to peace and stability in the area raising concerns about potential inter-communal or extremist violence which could have catastrophic implications especially for women and children who are the most vulnerable. The project aims to reduce the drivers of conflict and violence in Cox’s Bazar by providing skills training employment support for women and young men in the host communities and quick-impact community development projects to rehabilitate infrastructure and improve the safety and security of women and girls. To strengthen community cohesion the project builds local capacity to address and defuse conflicts including empowering women as community mediators and champions of peace. Project activities are: (1) providing livelihood skills training for an estimated 1 000 women and 2 000 young men; (2) providing cash-for-work for an estimated 3 000 people to carry out quick impact community development projects such as repairing infrastructure rehabilitating public spaces and installing solar lighting to improve safety; (3) establishing a multi-purpose women’s centre for skills training for women and adolescent girls in the camps where Rohingya people have settled; (4) providing information on sexual and gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health and rights human trafficking and child marriage to reach an estimated 6 000 women per year;

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved economic resilience of affected host communities in Cox’s Bazar including women and girls; and (2) enhanced social cohesion within the affected host communities in Cox’s Bazar with a focus on empowering women as community mediators and champions of peace.