Abstract

This report is the first output in a body of work undertaken to identify operationally feasible suggestions to improve risk communication and community engagement efforts (RCCE) with displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar. Specifically, these should seek to improve healthcare seeking behaviour and acceptance of essential health services in the camps where the Rohingya reside. It was developed by the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) at the request of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in Bangladesh. As a first step in this process, this review paper synthesises and assesses the quality of evidence landscape available in Cox’s Bazar and how the Rohingya seek and access healthcare services in Cox’s Bazar and presents the findings from key informant interviews on the topic. Findings are structured in five discussion sections: (1) evidence quality; (2) major themes and variations in the evidence; (3) learnings drawn and recommendations commonly made; (4) persistent bottlenecks; and (5) areas for further research. This synthesis will inform a roundtable discussion with key actors working for the Rohingya refugees to identify next steps for RCCE and research efforts in Cox’s Bazar to improve health outcomes among the Rohingya.

Highlights

  • Communication, community engagement and accountability face particular challenges in Cox’s Bazar because of the Rohingya’s long history of persecution and low levels of trust of authorities or outsiders, the need to communicate in the Rohingya language, their low levels of literacy and the lack of an international recognised script for the Rohingya language, and their limited access to radios, mobile phones and Internet (Buchanan-Smith & Islam, 2018)

  • The Communicating with Communities (CwC) coordination structure was established in early September 2017, shortly after the large influx of Rohingya that year

  • Different Technical Working Groups (TWG) focusing on specific areas are formed under the CwC Working Group (CwC WG) and are disbanded when no longer relevant

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Summary

Introduction

Since 2017, more than 742,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine State in Myanmar. The Communicating with Communities (CwC) coordination structure was established in early September 2017, shortly after the large influx of Rohingya that year This built upon earlier work at the national level, with the creation of the Shongjog platform in 2015 (Buchanan-Smith & Islam, 2018). Different Technical Working Groups (TWG) focusing on specific areas are formed under the CwC WG and are disbanded when no longer relevant One of these is the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) TWG, which has a primary focus on health issues, and is composed of a small group of partners with specific RCCE expertise. The RCCE TWG coordinates with a community health WG, chaired by UNHCR and an NGO, to develop health messages The functioning of these structures is critical to the effectiveness of the RCCE work in Cox’s Bazar

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