Self- Reliance for Rohingya refugees It has been more than 5 years since 1 million (approx.) Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) are living in the world’s largest refugee settlement in the Cox’s Bazar and 52% of them are children, 52% female, 4% elderly and 1% people with disabilities. For all the past years, the FDMNs have been fully dependent on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs like food, shelter, water, education, health care, and protection. According to the Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment (REVA-5) report, 95% of the households are living in moderate to highly vulnerable situations in the camps. Prolonged lockdown due to covid -19 in the last two years has interrupted humanitarian activities. In addition, frequent natural disasters including heavy rain, flood, landslides, fire outbreak and Cyclone have jeopardized their life in the camps.
Livelihood and income-generating opportunities in the camps are extremely limited. According to the Bangladesh Government policies, no formal livelihood is allowed among the camp population. Due to the policy, around half of FDMN households are not engaged in any income-generating activities. The average monthly income for FDMNs who are engaged in daily labor/ cash-for work activities is worth BDT 2,436 only. As the situation has turned into a protracted crisis and the amount of humanitarian assistance is decreasing day by day, access to livelihood activities is becoming crucial for the FDMNs, forcing them to adopt many harmful coping strategies. For example, although food distributions by humanitarian agencies and e-voucher shops are the only source to access food in the camps, 38% of the FDMN households sell, exchange, or share food with others as part of their livelihood coping strategy. This leaves around half of the Rohingya households with inadequate food consumptions.  In worst cases, households (3%) in the FDMN community marries off their children as part of their livelihood coping strategy.

Along with the challenges associated with basic needs and livelihoods, the FDMNs also experience environment related challenges while living in camps. Bangladesh is among the ten most climate change affected countries across the world and Cox’s Bazar district, where these FDMNs are hosted, is among the most climate vulnerable districts. Degradation of approximately 7,000 hectares of forest to provide firewood for the FDMNs and host communities has further worsened the situation. The continuous pressure on natural resources to fulfill the needs of the FDMNs have degraded watersheds and negatively affected the ecosystems. Due to the highly concentrated population and no proper waste disposal system, most of the waste in the camps is thrown away in the drains. These often results in poor drainage systems and solid waste management became one of the overlooked challenges in the camps. It was estimated that on average, one person generates 0.550 liter/day of waste, but no more than 5% of the total residual waste generated per camp reaches designated places for waste disposal. To support economic empowerment and increased household resources, focusing on the demand created within the camp itself. 

The specific objectives of the project are to:
●	Develop portable skills of 1,000 FDMNs though Technical and Vocational Education and Training to engage in different cash for work opportunities as skilled labor in camps (project 3)
●	Solid waste management in the camps by engaging 1,200 FDMNs volunteers in collecting and up-cycling WFP generated food waste, through a related business model (project 4)
●	Improve food security and nutritional status of 2200 FDMNs though increasing their access to cash-based transfer (CBT) (both project 3 and 4) Project 2.2 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Skills Development

Target Beneficiary : 1000 FDMNs ( 50% female & 15% person with disabilities)

Project 4 Circular food assistance and waste management

Target Beneficiary : 1200 FDMNs ( 40% female & 10% person with disabilities)