WFP Bangladesh Country Brief, January 2024

In Numbers

• 976.3 mt food distributed
• US$ 10.7 million distributed in cash-based transfers
• US$ 32.91 million net funding requirements under the country strategic plan (February – July 2024)
• 1 million people assisted

Operational Updates

• This year started with some uplifting news with the partial restoration of the food rations from US$8 per person per month to US$10 for the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar. For the first time in the response, fortified rice became available in WFP’s food basket. However, WFP urgently needs US$37 million to restore the full US$12.50 ration for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar for the whole year.

• A total of 912,300 Rohingya refugees1 were reached through general food assistance (GFA) and 220,855 most vulnerable households also received additional US$3 for fresh foods. Malnutrition prevention and treatment services were provided at 177 sites in the camps and Bangladeshi communities with 190,400 pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls and children aged 6-59 months assisted. Meanwhile, school feeding activities reached 303,280 refugee and Bangladeshi children.

• In response to the large fire in camp 5 in Cox’s Bazar on 7 January, WFP provided 770 affected households with fortified biscuits, followed by hot meals for lunch and dinner for 15 days until families were reintegrated into the regular food assistance. WFP also supported through Rohingya volunteers in fire control, debris clearance and improve access in the affected areas through its disaster risk reduction (DRR) programme.

• On Bhasan Char, the entire Rohingya population (31,1812 ) received WFP general food assistance, with 58 percent using commodity vouchers and the rest using e-vouchers. About 80 households utilized the alternative collector system which allows refugees to collect another household’s entitlement upon prior mutual consent. WFP will maintain a GFA ration size at US$15 per person per month for the first quarter of 2024 to facilitate market assessment and other preparations before introducing the new ration of US$13, following an analysis of the minimum expenditure basket (MEB).

• Through the livelihoods programme in Cox’s Bazar, WFP engages Bangladeshi women in self-help groups with monthly subsistence allowances and income generating activities.