Bangladesh
We have been working for a long time in the Rohingya community in Rhakin State, Myanmar. The logical outcome was to expand our activities to the area around Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh, where the largest refugee camp in the world is located and where mostly Rohingyas from Myanmar have taken refuge.
With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, we have been working here since 2020 with RDRS Bangladesh, an organisation with long experience in development in different parts of the country. We strive to improve the living standards of both the host community and the Rohingya refugees while building social cohesion and peaceful coexistence between them.
This includes improving physical living conditions in refugee camps, improving the living standards of vulnerable refugees and host community residents in the surrounding area (people with disabilities, single mothers, children and the elderly), and increasing the income and profitability of smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs through access to financial inputs, technology, financial services and linkages to markets.
For example, we are also working to maintain the drainage pipes in the refugee camp to keep them clean and free of mosquitoes, thus contributing to the prevention of Dengue fever and malaria. We are restoring the natural environment in the refugee camps through planting fruit, fruit and medicinal trees according to the needs of the camp community.
We also conduct awareness sessions on menstrual hygiene and distribute relevant dignity kits among adolescent female secondary school students. We provide teaching materials to primary school students coming from poor families. And we create jobs for young people from host families.