Bangladesh

Our Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026 reinforces WFP’s commitment to working with the Government to improve the food security, nutrition and resilience of vulnerable communities, while also providing emergency food assistance to people affected by disasters.

For the past 20 years, WFP has supported the national school meals programme, reaching 3 million children through fortified biscuits and, in some ultra-poor places, hot meals. We are again assisting the Government in developing the next National School Feeding Programme, to be launched in 2023.

Under social protection, WFP has partnered with the  Government in improving national social safety nets, with a special focus on women and children living in extreme poverty. Through innovative tools such as forecast-based financing and climate risk insurance, we help build the resilience of families and improve the Government’s ability to respond to major shocks.

Since 2017, WFP has provided life-saving food and nutrition assistance to the Rohingya in Bangladesh, along with life-skills training, disaster risk reduction, and common logistics services and emergency telecommunications to humanitarian partners – all part of the Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis.

WFP’s response also reaches host communities in Cox’s Bazar – a highly disaster-prone area and one of the poorest districts in Bangladesh – with nutrition, school feeding, livelihoods and disaster risk reduction assistance, to improve their food security and nutrition, and build resilience.

Since late 2021, WFP, along with UN and humanitarian partners, has supported Rohingya refugees relocated to Bhasan Char Island, with WFP providing the entire population of nearly 30,000 people with food assistance, along with nutrition services for women and children.

Despite concerted efforts, the humanitarian situation facing the Rohingya remains dire. In March 2023, due to shrinking donor funding, WFP had to cut the food-voucher value from US$12 to US$10. In June, it was again reduced to US$8, or less than 9 cents per meal.

It is imperative that we restore the rations to the full amount, to ensure the very survival of the Rohingya, who, six years into the crisis, have no livelihood opportunities and rely entirely on humanitarian assistance, to meet their essential needs.

In May 2023, Cyclone Mocha caused considerable destruction to homes and facilities in all camps in Cox’s Bazar, and in local Bangladeshi communities. More than 28,000 Bangladeshis in the host community received forecast-based cash assistance just days before the cyclone, and 14,000 Rohingya received WFP emergency food assistance. WFP has joined the UN and humanitarian partners in appealing for a collective US$42 million to support the Rohingya and Bangladeshis affected by this latest disaster.