The European Union (EU) announced Euro 18 million to help improve resilience among Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar.
For the funding over 288,000 children and families will benefit as part of a three-year EU-supported UNICEF programme, building synergies across four key areas of nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene; education; and child protection, according to a UNISEF press release issued in this regard.
“The support from the European Union allows us to address the issue of resilience in a holistic manner, integrating and harmonizing services for the delivery of better results for Rohingya and Bangladeshi children, adolescents and families,” the press release quotes Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh as saying.
“We have substantially scaled up our humanitarian response over the past year and a half thanks to strong support from partners like the European Union. At the same time, the situation remains critical with 1.2 million people requiring humanitarian assistance in one of Bangladesh’s poorest and most vulnerable districts.”
Cox’s Bazar is home to 2.3 million people. Around 33 percent live below the poverty line. Education indicators are among the lowest in the country with the primary school completion rate standing at 55 percent. Over half of girls marry before the age of 18 years and close to 50,000 children are engaged in child labour, the press release adds.
