Cox’s Bazar is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 due to the high volume of displaced Rohingya population and an already impacted host communities. To prevent the worsening of the outbreak in this area, several UNDP projects have rolled out emergency COVID-19 response plans.

In the first phase of its emergency response,  Disaster Risk Management project in Cox’s Bazar, funded by ECHO and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has equipped DC and UNO offices in Teknaf and Cox’s Bazar with Hand washing stations and hygiene products. It has also installed disabled-friendly handwashing stations with the help of a team of volunteers working around the clock.

The project plans to distribute 10,000 COVID-19 awareness posters and provide IEC services for people with disabilities. During phase-II of the response, the project will cover DC Office – Cox’s Bazar, 8 UNO Offices, 4 Municipalities and 71 Unions in 8 Upazilas for an additional 3 months.

The Solid Waste Management Project, funded by Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has also joined hands in raising awareness and installed 15 handwashing stations kitted with hygiene products in Teknaf. They have provided COVID-19 safety orientation to solid waste workers in the refugee camps and have developed a response contingency plan for the next 3 months focusing on wide-scale awareness raising, “cash for food supports” and hygiene services distribution.

Community Cohesion in Cox’s Bazar Project (CCP) communicated with the donor, Global Affairs Canada for reprofiling of the project to extend its support to the community for COVID-19 response. A reprofiling of CAD 435,000 for emergency response was approved. UN Women will now establish washing facilities and distribute hygiene kits among Rohingya women and girls worth CAD 35000, and CAD 400,000 will be used by UNDP to provide emergency support to 2568 host community households in Teknaf and Ukhiya (selected from the cash for work list). As basic commodities are still available at the project location, CCP decided to provide 3500Tk per family for food expenses and will also provide hygiene kits for each household.

Projects are also focusing on the unique needs of the host communities. “Supporting Host Communities Affected by Rohingya Influx Project” (SHARIP project) supported by the Danish Embassy (Supported by DANIDA), is collecting data to provide emergency support to 2,333 beneficiaries. It is also finalizing a database on indigenous households in need of support, containing 659 households in Ramu and Ukhiya.  Its present activities focus on awareness raising in their existing beneficiary communities.

Aside from emergency response, monitoring of the economic impacts caused by COVID-19 is key to a successful recovery. Cox’s Bazar District Development Plan (DDP) team has taken steps to monitor volatile essential commodity prices in Cox’s Bazar due to COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown announced by the government to curtail it. A draft concept note has been shared with the authorities and to the coordination group for their opinion. They are currently disseminating district-level data required for disaster risk reduction. An A2i team has collaborated with the DDP team in developing methods, data input, and approaches for data mapping related to COVID-19

Following the market fallout of essential commodities, this weekly price monitoring intends to provide data-driven decision support during and after the crisis.