UN Women opens multipurpose Centre for Rohingya women

UN Women has launched its second multipurpose Women’s Centre, a one-stop hub for Rohingya women, to access information on health and protection issues, in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp.

The new Women’s Centre, built at ‘Block A, Camp 4’ is almost three times bigger than the one in Camp 18 and will provide a broader set of services, including cooking, meeting and training facilities in a safe and empowering environment for women. 

UN Women is running the centre and activities in partnership with Action Aid and YPSA, with technical assistance from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), UN Women said on Thursday. 

Speaking at the launching event, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said, “UN Women can prove that you’re different from others. Every step you’re taking, I can see your dedication, support and strong advocacy for Rohingya women.”

The centre is also a one-stop hub for women to access information on gender-based violence and participate in leadership, life-skills and livelihood trainings. 

The centre offers women referral to health and gender-based violence support services. It will also be used as a shelter centre in case of any disasters.

UN Women empowers Rohingya women and girls through life-skills training and supportive services. 

More than 15,000 women and girls have benefited from these services that have been provided through a similar multipurpose women’s centre in camp 18 in Balukhali since January 2018. 

“I joined [UN Women’s] training and now I can support my family. I feel that now I’ve more respect from my family. I’m encouraging friends and family to come to the centre,” said Hasina Khatun,  a Rohingya woman who has been coming to UN Women’s first Women’s Centre in Camp 18, speaking in front of the 180 guests present at the launching ceremony.

“I hope this place will eventually be managed by Rohingya women. It’s their place and it should run according to their needs and run by them. I would like this centre to be an integrator of services by various partners. We look forward to working with organisations with different expertise to bring in various skill-building and information sessions for the Rohingya women,” said Shoko Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative.

“The Swedish support to UN Women for this initiative is an example of alignment of our efforts to work on women rights, promote gender equality and women participation,” said Marcela Lizana Bobadilla, First Secretary, Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka.

Source: unb