Photo Credit: Avalon / Photoshot
As seen in The Times Christmas Appeal
Helping Rohingya refugee children - The Situation
In August 2017, a catastrophic rise of violence and ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State, Myanmar forced an additional 700,000 Rohingya people across the border in into Bangladesh. Refugees fled into into the makeshift refugee camps along the border; who were ill-equipped to host thousands of traumatised new arrivals. Hundreds of thousands ended up in the Kutupalong area, where we had been providing education for Rohingya children for seven years.
From September 2017, Children on the Edge appealed for donations, which provided humanitarian support, including clean water, latrines, solar lighting, lentils and rehydration sachets for Rohingya refugee families in Bangladesh. We are now focussing on providing longer term education and stability for Rohingya children in the Kutupalong camp. Your donations will go directly to where they are needed most.
As an organisation we are uniquely placed to respond to meet the needs of the most vulnerable refugees. We have over eight years of experience working with local partners and within the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh, enabling us to act quickly and relationally.
From September 2017, Children on the Edge appealed for donations, which provided humanitarian support, including clean water, latrines, solar lighting, lentils and rehydration sachets for Rohingya refugee families in Bangladesh. We are now focussing on providing longer term education and stability for Rohingya children in the Kutupalong camp. Your donations will go directly to where they are needed most.
As an organisation we are uniquely placed to respond to meet the needs of the most vulnerable refugees. We have over eight years of experience working with local partners and within the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh, enabling us to act quickly and relationally.
What are we doing to help?
|
Phase 1: EMERGENCY RESPONSE - September 2017 – April 2018 Having a long-established presence, with staff already familiar with the nuances of the situation, we were able to respond effectively, respectfully and relationally. Providing humanitarian aid for families and safe spaces for newly arrived children, we:
|
|
Phase 2: BUILDING SCHOOLS & NAVIGATING BUREAUCRACY - April to July 2018 By April, we turned our efforts to providing consistent education to newly arrived children. Having transitioned our 45 established refugee schools to UNICEF, our next phase of research showed that the needs of children in the camps and communities vastly outstripped available resources. We then focussed on ensuring consistent support for children as the world's attention turned elsewhere. Despite the bureaucratic challenges and the lack of physical space, we built 75 Learning Centres within the Kutupalong Camp for 7,500 Rohingya children. |
|
|
Phase 3: ESTABLISHING CLASSROOMS IN THREE UNIQUE COMMUNITIES - August to December 2018
In the camp: After constructing the classrooms and hiring and training 150 Rohingya refugee and local Bangladeshi teachers, the final months of the year were dedicated to developing the classroom spaces and trialling new initiatives. In Cox's Bazar community: Giving extra support to the over burdened host communities, which also are home to many Rohingya refugees, 18 classrooms provide education for 900 children. We have been providing these since 2010. In the Doharazi Rohingya Enclaves: Situated approximately 3.5 hours from the border, these areas host some of the most vulnerable Rohingya refugees, who enjoy none of the services available to their counterparts in the refugee camps. We have established 10 classrooms here, providing education and health services to 500 children. |
Why support Children on the Edge?
We have been working on the ground in Bangladesh for over eight years, gaining valuable experience in working within the Rohingya refugee communities. Since 2011, we provided low profile education to 2,700 children through 45 classrooms in the unregistered Kutupalong camp.
Our original work was been highlighted as a ‘Promising Practice for Refugee Education’ by UNHCR, Save the Children and Pearson who sought to highlight models of best practice for the sector. Our current work was selected for the HundrED 2019 Global Collection.
For more in depth information, read our situation reports:
November 2017 Field update
February 2018 Field update
June 2018 Field update
2018 Rohingya Refugee Crisis Field Report - (written Jan 2019)
Our original work was been highlighted as a ‘Promising Practice for Refugee Education’ by UNHCR, Save the Children and Pearson who sought to highlight models of best practice for the sector. Our current work was selected for the HundrED 2019 Global Collection.
For more in depth information, read our situation reports:
November 2017 Field update
February 2018 Field update
June 2018 Field update
2018 Rohingya Refugee Crisis Field Report - (written Jan 2019)
Get in touch
For more information about our Rohingya response, or for details of how to donate by BACs transfer or cheque please contact us on +44 (0) 1243 538530 or email [email protected].
For press and communications enquiries contact [email protected].
For grants and trusts enquiries contact [email protected]
For press and communications enquiries contact [email protected].
For grants and trusts enquiries contact [email protected]
Who are the Rohingya?The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group in Rakhine State, on the western coast of Myanmar. More than one million people in Myanmar identified as Rohingya but faced continual anti- muslim persecution from the government of Myanmar who claim they are not a genuine ethnic group but are Bengali immigrants, whose presence is a legacy of colonial times.
Since the government passed the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya people have been denied access to citizenship and subjected to grave human rights abuses at the hands of the authorities and local population in Myanmar. Many groups have described the treatment of the Rohingya as genocidal, yet the international community have largely ignored their plight for many years. To escape this treatment over the decades, Rohingya refugees have made perilous journeys at sea or fled across borders, often to countries that are already impoverished and over populated, including Bangladesh. There is currently an estimated 902,000 Rohingya refugees in camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and an additional 7,000 in the host communities. |
|
