The forgotten ROHINGYA children - 10 Early Childhood Development Centres, Cox's Bazar

After 25th August 2017, as many as 700,000 forcibly displaced Rohingya people entered Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh, from the Rakhine State in Myanmar; these displaced people were added to the total 213,000 members of the Rohingya community who were residing in Bangladesh prior to the influx. Currently, with nearly a million Rohingya people living in Cox’s Bazar District, particularly in Teknaf and Ukhiya upazillas, multi‐faceted needs have emerged for both the displaced Rohingya and their host communities in Cox’s Bazar District, with Teknaf and Ukhiya bearing the brunt. In the camps, the needs are compounded by limitations of space and capacities.

For early childhood services, attendance rates in camp learning facilities widely vary across the 0‐5 age range, starting from around 40% for three‐year‐olds and peaking at close to 90% for five‐year‐old. For out‐of‐school children in this age range, the most common reason for non‐attendance reported for both genders is that it is “not appropriate for this child to go to school.” With formal education in Myanmar starting at age five and very few opportunities in Rakhine state for early childhood programs, it is a preference among caregivers to keep children out of education until towards their fifth birthday. There is also a need to structure the learning of children in their early years (0 to 36 months).

The goal of the Early Childhood Health Education and Awareness Programme thus is to develop a framework of essential knowledge and skills for the children, parents and the public that reflects contemporary knowledge on the development of early childhood i.e., physical, mental, emotional and behavioral development of the children in order to motivate them to improve and maintain their health, hygiene practices, prevent disease and reduce risky and harmful health behaviours.

This project aims to promote a healthy and ideal environment for children at home, school and community at large, to improve access to learning opportunities in a safe and protective learning environment for crisis affected children aged 0 – 5 years, to promote positive behaviours among caregivers and their children around nutritional needs and supplements for the target children and to encourage community people against Gender Based Violence (GBV) issues and to promote respect and understanding towards women and children in the society.