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Odd jobs, digital cards help Rohingya refugees navigate aid cut

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4 months ago

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Odd jobs, digital cards help Rohingya refugees navigate aid cut

Fatema Begum, who was just 15 when she moved to Bangladesh, now makes handicrafts for 50 taka (US$0.43) an hour.

Workers are employed for four-month stints to win extra income and learn new skills, she said.

“Thanks to this job, I can get better snacks in the evening for myself and my kids,” said the 22-year old as she cleaned and sliced aluminium packages to upcycle into bags.

Employed by international aid agencies, Rahima Khatun takes care of trees that were planted to restore a riverside forest destroyed during the Rohingya influx.

Given the small number of jobs available, along with the income they offer, candidates grab any opportunities offered – but proper, full time jobs are not allowed by the authorities.

Shops set up by refugees inside the camps have previously been bulldozed by the officials.

Many more Rohingya people sneak out of the camps and work in the economy informally for US$3 to US$5 a day – 25-30 per cent lower than Bangladeshi workers – stirring mixed feelings among locals.

“Our area has been tainted by Rohingya presence – as lots of trees have been chopped down to make room for the camps, while cheap Rohingya labour sometimes outcompetes local workers for farming jobs,” said local farmer Abdur Rahman.

Dignity with technology

Technology has also been used to help the refugees, bringing efficiency to the camp economy and some sense of ownership to people who lack life’s basics.

In 2017, the World Food Programme introduced the world’s largest blockchain-based cash distribution system in the Rohingya camps – an innovation it has since expanded to provide aid from Lebanon to Ukraine.

Under the system, refugees can buy food with the monthly cash allocated to them through a digital wallet – so they do not need a bank account or to wait in line for rations.

Nur Khatun, 24, came to buy rice, oil and fruit for her family at an e-voucher outlet, paying with her digital card.

“I come to buy my weekly groceries as and when needed – and we don’t have to line up for getting our monthly rations at one go,” she said.

Aid workers say the tech gives refugees greater autonomy.

“Shopping with cards like other people gives them a sense of normalcy and dignity,” said Clara Ogando, who heads digital solutions and innovation at the WFP.

But technology has been a two-edged sword for the Rohingya.

In Myanmar, the government had used biometric data and an enforced identity system to monitor and target the Rohingya.

So UN agencies are careful to protect their information, sharing data only when necessary to deliver services. 

WFP’s Bangladesh country director Dom Scalpelli told Context that the UN agencies try to ensure safe and fair use of the data – and their biometrics are not shared in the food distribution system.

Odd jobs and tech may well help – but they will not deliver a better future, according to Anas Ansar, senior researcher at Germany’s Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.

“None of these solve the question about the Rohingya people’s future – while the world’s attention keeps shifting to other contexts like Ukraine and Palestine,” he said.  

“Ultimately there needs to be a long-term solution that ensures safety and dignity for the Rohingya people,” said Ansar.

This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit https://www.context.news/. 

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