Knowledge as a tool for empowerment for Rohingya refugee women and girls

Radio Listener Clubs and Information and Feedback Centers empower Rohingya Women and Girls with valuable knowledge.

by Kettie Jean / UNICEF

Sofira is a bright and outspoken seventeen-year-old girl blessed with a charismatic presence. She dreams of becoming a teacher one day. A few months ago, she started attending radio listener clubs with girls her age in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. At the club, she learned about a wide range of topics such as child marriage, cyclone preparation, hygiene promotion and how to protect her family from COVID-19 infection.

She says she was really scared when she first heard about the virus because she didn’t have much information about it.

“Earlier, I knew little about the coronavirus. Now, I have more knowledge, and I feel safer because I know what to do and what not to do,” adds Sofira. 

Back in May, when the third flag was hoisted in her camp, Sofira knew exactly what it meant and how to react. She had learned about the cyclone warning system and how to prepare at the radio listener club. One flag means a storm is approaching, a second one indicates a cyclone will hit in 24 hours and the third one is raised approximately 10 hours before the cyclone strikes.

Malnourished Rohingya children at heightened risk during pandemic

Community nutrition volunteers push through to prevent the COVID-19 crisis from spiraling into a nutrition crisis

by Kettie Jean / UNICEF

On a normal day the nutrition centre set on a dusty road in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is teeming with people. It is one of 27 facilities supported by UNICEF that offers life-saving treatment to children suffering from severe and moderate acute malnutrition

The countrywide lockdown measures, in place in Bangladesh since the end of March to reduce the spread of COVID-19, have impacted operations at UNICEF nutrition facilities. To reduce crowds and facilitate physical distancing, many services have been scaled down, reducing humanitarian access for UNICEF and partners.

The impact of COVID-19 has specialists such as Dr. Karanveer Singh, UNICEF Nutrition Manager, Cox’s Bazar, worried. 

The level of food insecurity is high. The camps are overcrowded and there is poor sanitation. These factors place malnourished children at high risk when there is a disease outbreak in the camps, further spiraling the vicious cycle of malnutrition and infection,” says Dr. Singh.

Rohingya and Bangladeshi girls bond in UNICEF Safe Spaces

It is much more than just a structure. It is a place where women and girls from different communities find peace and make friendships

by Kettie Jean / UNICEF

The striking bamboo structure sits in a vast field, which is part of a Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district. It is a UNICEF Safe Space for women and girls.

Inaugurated in October 2019, the Safe Space was originally intended to offer services to Rohingya women and girls who fled violence in Myanmar in 2017. However, upon request from the host community, the centre now welcomes Bangladeshi women and girls as well.

“While we were surveying Rohingya people to collect opinions on how to build a centre they could enjoy, women and girls from the Bangladeshi community who lived close by showed a lot of interest,” says Rivzi, one of the architects from UNICEF’s partner BRAC that designed the Safe Space.