Multi Sector Needs Assessment: Cox’s Bazar, Rohingya Refugee Response – June 2019

In successive waves over four decades, Rohingya refugees have been fleeing to Bangladesh from Rakhine State, Myanmar, where they have suffered systematic ongoing persecution. Since August 2017, an estimated 745,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, increasing the total number of Rohingya refugees to more than 900,000.

Most of the newly-arrived refugees have settled in hilly, formerly-forested areas that are vulnerable to landslides and flash-flooding in monsoon season and rely heavily on humanitarian assistance to cover their basic needs. As the crisis moves beyond the initial emergency phase, comprehensive information on the needs and vulnerabilities of affected populations is needed in order to inform the design and implementation of effective inter-sectoral programming. To this aim, a Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (J-MSNA) was conducted across Rohingya refugee populations to support humanitarian planning and enhance operational and strategic decision-making. The J-MSNA was conducted in support of the mid-term review of the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP), with the specific objective of enabling the tracking of JRP 2019 indicators for monitoring and review purposes. A total of 876 households were surveyed across 33 refugee sites.

This J-MSNA was funded by UNHCR and coordinated through the MSNA Technical Working Group of the Information Management and Assessment Working Group (IMAWG), led by the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) and comprised of: UNHCR, IOM Needs and Population Monitoring (NPM), ACAPS, WFP VAM, Translators without Borders, and REACH.