IHP at the center of coordination in Bangladesh

Published: 2017-11-14

The first coordination meetings have been held in the IHP established facilities in the coordination hub outside Cox's Bazar, in the area of Kutupalong, Bangladesh. The hub is located within the humanitarian logistics base.

IHP is delivering an emergency support facility project, comprising of office facilities, meeting rooms and other relevant facilities to improve the working conditions and practical means to coordinate effectively in the field. The project is implemented in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The facilities are constructed through a mix of prefabs, tents and fixed construction. The support will provide work and meeting space for around 50 humanitarians to support the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). The IHP Team Leader Morten Helge Hansen (DEMA) says "our aim is to deliver an emergency solution that is semi-permanent within a relatively short time frame. Our focus is to make sure that the coordination hub can be operational as soon as possible".  

In recent months a rapidly growing number of Rohingya refugees have been crossing the border into Bangladesh due to increased violence in Myanmar. An estimated 615 000 refugees, out of around 55 percent are children, have recently arrived in the area around Cox's Bazar in the south eastern parts of Bangladesh.

IOM has requested support from IHP, on behalf of the humanitarian community, in the early autumn of 2017 to improve access to the affected areas. The aim is to be able to plan, coordinate and implement the much needed humanitarian response more effectively in these areas. Based on the request IHP has conducted a joint needs assessment mission with IOM in order to assess the viability of supporting the humanitarian community with the urgent establishment of inter-agency facilities in the form of a coordination hub. The IHP support team arrived in country 31 October to start up the project. The project implementation started in late October and the majority of work is expected to take place within the coming weeks and full finalization of the project and handover to IOM is expected to take place in the early stages of 2018.

The project is support by the Government of Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, the UK and the European Union. The IHP operational lead agency is MSB Sweden.