Moving from gender responsive to gender transformative action: What Canada achieved and missed in its Rohingya response strategy in Bangladesh

Abstract

Since 2018, Canada, through its Rohingya Response Strategy in Bangladesh, has been providing targeted assistance to the impoverished Bengali host communities and Rohingya refugees living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Under Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), gender equality and gender-responsive humanitarian action constitute some of the core priority areas for the Canadian government. In Cox's Bazar, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) funds programmes to empower women and girls through skill-based and livelihood training and to provide sexual and reproductive health services. However, scholars like Jennifer Cadesky and Rebecca Tiessen caution against the conflation of gender equality and empowerment, arguing that it often leads to short-term, quick-fix solutions without any long-term benefit to women. Canada needs to go beyond funding recovery assistance programmes at a surface level. Without understanding social norms and cultural practices that influence women's participation, mobility, and visibility in public spaces, gender equality in Canada's response strategy will be limited to only checklist goals.

Context: Canada's Rohingya response in Bangladesh

First phase (2018–2021): Policies and programmes

In August 2017, the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority community of Myanmar, fled to Bangladesh to escape the Myanmar military's brutal violence. The Rohingya currently live in overcrowded refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. In 2018, the Canadian government announced its three-year strategy to respond to the Rohingya crisis. The strategy is based on Canadian UN Ambassador Bob Rae's recommendation report, which identifies that the primary obligation in the government's crisis response should be to save lives. ¹ Centering the Rohingya and their needs in the crisis response should be the driving force behind Canada's advocacy. Due to the complex nature of the crisis, the report acknowledges that Canada's response strategy will demand continued commitment and effort over an extended period. Rae's report also acknowledges the precarious existence of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the need for coordinated and collaborative efforts between international organizations and Canada to address the crisis. The recommendations in the report include extensive humanitarian support and collaboration with international organizations, particularly the UN, to prevent the deportation and exploitation of Rohingya women and girls.

Rae's report also highlights the fraught relationship between the host communities and the refugee families in the Cox's Bazar region. The steady rise in the influx of refugees has resulted in employment and resource shortages, with many Bangladeshi families expressing concerns for their safety with the arrival of the refugees. The testimonies in Rae's report also indicate a sharp rise in forced prostitution and human trafficking within the camps, further increasing the vulnerability of the women and girls. In his report, Rae acknowledges sexual violence as a “weapon of war” and recommends “Canada's increased attention on sexual and reproductive health and rights and sexual and gender-based violence.” ² Rae's recommendations encourage the Canadian government to take necessary action to address the sexual violence-related trauma of Rohingya women and girls. Regarding recommendations, Rae's report focuses on the humanitarian issues in both Bangladesh and Myanmar, accountability for crimes, and practical and collaborative long-term action.

Brief overview of GAC-funded humanitarian and development projects in Cox's Bazar, 2017–2018

In 2022, the Canadian government published an official report on its website summarizing the promising results achieved during the first phase of its response to address the Rohingya crisis between 2018 and 2021. The Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) that prioritizes gender equality and safeguarding the rights of women and girls in fragile and post-conflict contexts influences Global Affairs Canada's (GAC) international humanitarian engagement—the department responsible for overseeing the Canadian government's international development and humanitarian assistance. The first phase, a response strategy for Bangladesh's refugee and host communities, provided food assistance, inclusive education facilities, and health services, including sexual and reproductive healthcare. The international assistance has benefited around 800,000 refugees and 400,000 host-community members. ³ The Canadian government also supported the facilitation of psycho-social support for women and girls in the form of safe spaces and the delivery of gender-based violence awareness programmes to almost 23,000 Rohingya women and 16,000 Rohingya men in the Cox's Bazar camps. In 2017, as a part of emergency relief, GAC, partnered with Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC) in Bangladesh to provide immediate relief response for the Rohingya refugees. The response programme included creating water and sanitation facilities within the refugee camps and providing access to life-saving health care, including maternity support like delivery assistance and prenatal and antenatal care. The healthcare service also included medical treatment for diarrhea and related illnesses. ⁴

GAC-funded humanitarian and development projects in Cox's Bazar, 2019–ongoing

Between 2019 and 2021, with GAC funding, the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) projects were designed to respond to gender-based violence (GBV) within the camps. The project implementation included setting up safe spaces for women and girls and sexual and reproductive health services, including obstetrics care and GBV case management. ⁵ With GAC's funding, Oxfam Canada implemented programmes to meet Rohingya refugees’ water, sanitation, and hygiene needs. The project included designing and establishing communal toilet facilities and increasing lighting in the toilets, considering the safety and needs of women and girls. The project objectives included training and awareness programmes on gender equality and women's rights with host community members and local leaders. ⁶ Some other ongoing projects with BRAC, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and International Labour Organization (ILO) focus on meeting the needs of host communities that remain disproportionately affected due to the refugee influx.

In one of its ongoing projects with BRAC, GAC is funding programmes to provide livelihood support and opportunities for women and girls in Cox's Bazar through skillbuilding and livelihood training. Of the host community families, 33 percent are below the poverty line, and 17 percent remain below the extreme poverty line. ⁷ As of March 2022, 2,652 female and male adolescents and other youth received skill-based training in tailoring, wood furniture-making, mobile and electric goods repairing, beauty parlours, traditional arts and crafts, and more. The programme also included training from local healthcare practitioners on preventing and reducing infection during the COVID-19 pandemic and providing necessary COVID-19 sanitation and healthcare kits to host communities. The project also provides host communities with weekly amounts of 1500 BDT ($20 CAD) in cash for immediate food support. Approximately 50 percent of women in host communities benefitted from the skill-based training and could participate in income-generating activities.

In partnership with the Global Network for Women Peacebuilders, GAC is funding projects to empower Rohingya, Burmese, and Bangladeshi women and girls to participate in grassroots peacebuilding initiatives. The training mechanism for the participants includes education and literacy programmes, leadership workshops, and awareness about the role of women in promoting and maintaining peace and security. The project also entails exchanging information between youth leaders on good practices for maintaining security in fragile contexts, focusing on improving the condition of women and girls. ⁸ Most of GAC's ongoing partnerships with agencies like UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Plan International Canada, ILO, and the International Development Association have been focused on livelihood and empowerment initiatives for women and girls, GBV skills training, food assistance, and sexual and reproductive health services.

What is Canada doing in its second phase response (2021–present)?

The Canadian government renewed its Rohingya Response Strategy for a second phase in 2021. This phase highlights the government's commitment to investing an additional $288.3 million CAD and addressing the unique needs of women and girls and GBV survivors through its programming. It emphasizes skill-building and economic empowerment in line with FIAP's objectives. ⁹ However, it is unclear how GAC plans to implement these activities. There is also ambiguity around what the government has identified as the unique needs of women and girls. The official reports on the Canadian government's website does not clarify whether the first phase adequately evaluated and addressed those needs. When designing empowerment programs, policymakers must consider the needs of the Rohingya and engage in regular consultation with them. GAC should ensure that Rohingya women, especially those in leadership positions across the camps and those who serve as community volunteers and leaders, have a seat at the table and participate in discussions leading to policy outcomes for their community. GAC should also identify opportunities that work for these women without adversely impacting their relationships with their families or jeopardizing their security within the camps. It is not reasonable to change norms that have historically dictated the social structure and identity of a community through short-term development projects; however, there is scope to engage with women and create space for them to decide the terms of their empowerment and participation without asking them to comply with Western standards of gender equality. Practitioner data shared by organizations like Oxfam, IMO, and UN Women indicate the success of women-only spaces, including multi-purpose spaces, in boosting participation and women's willingness to participate in decision-making processes. ¹⁰ Rohingya women and girls have shared concerns about living in overcrowded camps without privacy and how it affects their safety. Therefore, including them in designing mechanisms that address their safety needs while accessing shared public spaces is also necessary. Through funding programmes within women-only areas, GAC can increase women's mobility in places that they can access without any social or cultural barriers. GAC can integrate more Rohingya women into leadership roles by investing in spaces that help the women gather to exchange information, learn skills, and create a network of mutual support.

Challenges in providing international assistance to the Rohingya in Bangladesh: Gaps in implementation?

GAC funds projects that aim to empower women and girls, mainly skill-based and livelihood training and sexual and reproductive health services. However, as scholars like Jennifer Cadesky and Rebecca Tiessen have already observed, the conflation between gender equality and empowerment results in short-term, quick-fix solutions that hardly benefit women. Tiessen argues that although the FIAP demonstrates a commitment to promoting gender equality, with its primary focus on women, it pushes gender considerations to the back seat, overlooking how power and hierarchy operate within communities and other groups, especially between men and women. Her critique foregrounds one of the significant shortcomings of FIAP: its inability to fully contextualize how unequal power dynamics perpetuate gender inequality and structural issues, both of which lead to differential “development gains” for diverse groups and communities. ¹¹ Cadesky posits that if policies encourage investment in gender equality for the sole aim of empowering women and girls, then they shift attention from underlying structural inequalities and other social justice and economic issues. ¹² This conflation between gender equality and women empowerment results in the creation of subjects expected to benefit from the development policies for only a limited period. Once the project ends, these subjects become responsible for their welfare within the existing status quo. A three-year livelihood training programme could help Rohingya women in Cox's Bazar refugee camps acquire the relevant skills for income generation. However, it is not designed to change the existing norms or social conditions restricting their mobility and chances to apply such skills.

A collaborative report published by the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, International Organization for Migration (IOM), ACAPS Analysis Hub, UNHCR, and UN Women in Cox's Bazar found that although gender-sensitive training and capacity building has resulted in positive outcomes, Rohingya community members felt that the growing changes meant a “loss” of their tradition and culture. ¹³ The report also found that many Rohingya women found it difficult to reconcile the newly learnt concepts of gender equality and empowerment with their existing cultural and social practices. The report mentions that Rohingya women who experienced gender equality programming or training revealed that they had some degree of “inner conflict” about participating in livelihood and income generation programmes as well as “interacting with strangers” for their survival. ¹⁴ A review of the practitioner literature highlights the following as key challenges in the Rohingya humanitarian response:

Findings from the camp: A brief overview of practitioner data

Gendered inequities

Discussions with women of host communities and refugees in the camps pointed to the various social stigmas and difficulties that women and girls navigate while menstruating. For instance, after starting their period, young girls are forced to don the burqa or purdah and are prevented from going to school and interacting with boys. Women also reported experiencing restrictions on their mobility while on their periods. In some instances, their husbands and families would prevent women from leaving their houses for at least two days and not allow them in the kitchen. ¹⁵ Further, while Rohingya adolescent girls reportedly desired to be consulted on humanitarian issues by relevant NGOs and implementing partners, family restrictions often deterred their participation. ¹⁶ However, one should be cautious of blaming the social customs practiced within the Rohingya community. Having experienced horrific violence, including targeted sexual violence against women and girls in Myanmar, it is natural that many Rohingya families cite safety reasons in justifying restrictions on public participation and consultations. Due to the patrilineal nature of Rohingya families, men are considered the heads of the household and are responsible for providing for the family. Research indicates that these social norms in the camps discourage the integration of women into leadership roles. A report published by the IOM and UN found that many women are not allowed to work because that adversely impacts their marriage prospects, thus restricting their access to public spaces. ¹⁷ According to the IOM report, most women request areas that are segregated from men so as not to risk misplacing their purdah or compromising their honour. Practitioner data suggest that women must seek permission from husbands, senior family members, or imams (religious leaders) to work outside the home. ¹⁸

Gender-based violence against women

GBV is a reality for most women and girls living in overcrowded refugee camps. The IRC found that between July and December 2019, one in every four women in the nineteen refugee camps in which the organization operated reported experiencing GBV. ¹⁹ The data shows that 81 percent of all GBV was some form of intimate partner violence. Men are more likely to harass women who do not abide by socio-cultural norms and have public visibility in the camps. Further, many women shared experiences of harassment and abuse at night at the hands of local armed gangs and individual criminals. Local gangs also threaten women in camps who work with NGOs. Sometimes, those threats extend to the supportive spouses and family members who encourage women to work outside segregated spaces. ²⁰

Language barrier

In November 2017, the global non-profit Translators without Borders, in partnership with UNICEF, conducted a rapid language assessment in Cox's Bazar, which indicated that among those who newly arrived in Bangladesh, only 17 percent of males and six percent of females had basic reading and understanding competencies in Burmese. ²¹ One of the key recommendations from the report includes conducting participatory ethnographic research to understand the refugee perceptions of the linguistic obstacles in everyday camp life with a particular focus on young mothers, girls, persons with disabilities, and elderly people. In 2019, a thematic report published by ACAPS, a humanitarian non-profit, ²² also similarly found that language presents a significant barrier for the Rohingya in accessing resources. In Cox's Bazar, the humanitarian community functions on the operative assumption of similarities between the Rohingya language and the Chittagong dialect. However, there is a striking difference in the vocabulary used by the Rohingya who came and settled in Bangladesh in the 1990s and those coming since 2017. The Rohingya living in Bangladesh speak a dialect that is a mix of Chittagong and Bangla.

In contrast, those in the camps speak a dialect that is a mix of Rakhine and Burmese. ²³ The report recommends using extensive language training programmes for non-Rohingya interpreters and conducting interviews in the Rohingya language to avoid bias in the data. Including Rohingya interpreters in all programmes and research is essential to support the refugees.

Ideas lost in translation

Researchers have noted that using complicated humanitarian jargon while engaging the Rohingya is a barrier to providing humanitarian and development assistance. A report published by the Inter-Sector Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group found that humanitarian partners often use the suggestion box to collect feedback. However, many Rohingya do not have reading or writing skills. ²⁴ The ACAPS report also found that many Rohingya refugees and interpreters need help understanding complex humanitarian terms. For example, research by Oxfam and UNHCR found that Rohingya refugees may interpret humanitarian concepts like “safety” differently. ²⁵ The Rohingya term for safety is “hefazot”; however, Chittagonian interpreters use the word “nirafot,” derived from the Bengali term “nirapod.” ²⁶ This misinterpretation often results in misunderstanding people's needs. Additionally, due to the continuous translation of the data from local languages to English, nuances in meaning may be lost. Therefore, interpreters must provide as much context and clarity as possible when using specific humanitarian terms. Although the Rohingya generally can understand spoken Bengali due to their extended stay in Bangladesh, this is not always true for many Rohingya women. Many women who practice purdah mainly stay indoors and may not be proficient in the language. ²⁷

Policy recommendations: What next?

Engaging men and boys

While steps such as adding more lighting in toilets and creating women-friendly spaces are necessary, training men in gender-responsive action is also crucial for GBV prevention. Research from humanitarian practitioners indicates that many men feel disempowered due to their statelessness and loss of ability to earn for their families, which negatively impacts their sense of self and often translates to intimate-partner violence. ²⁸ Therefore, engaging men as community advocates alongside women will generate increased awareness and responsibility to address GBV and provide them with the opportunity to reclaim their masculinity in a meaningful and and positive way.

More focus on single-female households

Single-female households are particularly vulnerable within and outside the camps and navigate many additional obstacles while receiving aid. Researchers from BRAC found that women in such homes are more susceptible to economic and food insecurity and depression. Single mothers whose husbands are dead or have abandoned them head “one of six families in the camp.” ²⁹ Most of the time, they either sell their food or hire someone to carry food items for them. Households in host communities and the camps that are headed by single females often receive fewer rations and are more likely to run out of food. ³⁰ Research also indicates that being a single woman without a husband presents security concerns, and the likelihood of unemployment is much higher. The fact that aid supplies are not allocated by need adds an increased layer of difficulty in ensuring the sustenance of single-female households. The GAC has a substantial opportunity to support women-led organizations with resources and organizational capacity to work with these families, integrate them within skills development programmes, and offer work placements following the training.

Including transgender women in recovery efforts

The requirements and needs of transgender women in Rohingya communities are missing from the mainstream discourse on Rohingya refugee assistance. Gender minorities, especially transgender women called hijras, remain in deplorable conditions in the camps, often experiencing ridicule, mockery, and violence. ³¹ Feminist foreign policy and gender-sensitive humanitarian development responses need to be more attuned to the needs of transgender Rohingya women, which are missing from the first phase. The second phase allows the GAC to partner and engage with the hijra community within the camps to map out and include their needs and priorities within the response mechanism.

Localization

GAC should consider leading localization efforts in Bangladesh, and could partner with local research and community organizations to address operational challenges in the camps. As noted above, language continues to be a significant barrier impacting the Rohingya refugees’ access to aid. Recruiting Rohingya researchers who understand the cultural context and can communicate in the ethnic language can strengthen monitoring and evaluation processess. It can also mitigate misinformation and misunderstandings among the refugees living in the camps. Another major challenge in the Rohingya context is social cohesion. COVID-19 has magnified the tension between the host communities and the refugees. The Rohingya influx of 2017 has led to the impoverished host community experiencing the double burden of poverty through rising prices and the loss of livelihood opportunities. The GAC could address and somewhat mitigate this issue by funding and supporting development projects that benefit the Rohingya refugees and host population.

Conclusion: Towards transformative action

Although there are significant challenges and gaps in providing development assistance to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, there is also scope for addressing and reducing them. So far, GAC has partnered chiefly with international and national NGOs in Bangladesh. To facilitate increased participation of women from the grassroots and for a more effective development response, it is imperative that funding goes towards local women-led organizations. In the spirit of transformative feminist action, GAC, in consultations and partnership with grassroots women's organizations and local Rohingya women leaders, can facilitate meaningful social changes in the Rohingya camps. Gender-sensitive programming should also engage and include men in creating solutions to prevent GBV within and outside the camps.

The Canadian government's response to the Rohingya crisis is noteworthy. However, to deliver on its commitment to promote gender equality through its international assistance, Canada needs to engage in continuous dialogue and collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and local and grassroots women's organizations in Cox's Bazar. To operationalize FIAP and to integrate women in recovery efforts, Canada needs to do much more than increase the token representation of women. Not considering the social norms and cultural practices that influence women's participation, mobility, and visibility in public spaces limits their efforts to checklist deliverables meant for short-term engagements and ultimately fails to address the structural barriers that lead to social inequities. There is little doubt that existing social customs and norms present additional challenges for women and girls. GAC should consider a more proactive acknowledgment and understanding of such customs and find opportunities to support the ways in which Rohingya women and girls negotiate their identities and establish the terms of their empowerment inside the camps.