Local NGO forum working in Cox's Bazar sought aid, transparency and participation of local NGOs in the Rohingya response in the district ahead of Joint Response Plan 2021 to be held tomorrow (Tuesday).
The Cox's Bazar CSO NGO Forum (CCNF), a network of 50 NGOs working in Cox's Bazar, has found that US$438 aid comes every month for each Rohingya family while only US$132 is provided to each household.
Meanwhile, only 4.0 per cent aid goes through local NGOs.
CCNF highlighted these at a virtual news conference titled "Joint Response Plan (JRP) 2021, Rohingya Response Management and Strategy, Hardly Fit for the Purpose and Futuristic".
It also suggested a certification-based education and income generating training for the Rohingya people as 65 per cent of the refugee population are youths in Cox's Bazar. They found the need so that they will not be lured by any terrorism and illegal activities and will not become threats to the ongoing Cox's Bazar development.
They made those demands on the eve of JRP 2021 launching on May 18, the plan was prepared by UN agencies in response to the Rohingya response.
The press conference was moderated by Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, CCNF's co-chair and also executive director of COAST.
Key presentations were given by Abu Morshed Chowdhury, CCNF's co-chair and executive director of PHALS, Arifur Rahman, chief executive of YPSA, Bimal Chandra Dey Sarker, chief executive of Mukti Cox's Bazar, and Mujibul Haque Munir, joint director of COAST.
At the outset of the press conference Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said that opinions of the locals had little reflection in the document.
He also mentioned in the last four years the ISCG (Inter Sectoral Coordination Group) led by UN expatriates has hardly been able to produce any statistics on how much fund has gone to host communities, how much money has been used for local procurement and how many local staff have been employed.
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