The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh: an analysis of the involvement of local humanitarian actors

Abstract

Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh from neighbouring Myanmar, resulting in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. A significant endeavour is taking place involving various humanitarian actors for the provision and overall management of the humanitarian activities in Rohingya refugee camps. The article studies the configuration and evolution of the humanitarian operations with the aim of identifying the extent of localisation, ie the involvement of the Bangladeshi actors in the management of the camps in the early stage (1–2 years) of the crisis. It employs a quantitative method by analysing the 4W data of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Segregation of humanitarian operators by national and international non-governmental organisations and a network analysis suggest that the humanitarian operations are dominated by international actors, and localisation was not achieved in the early stage of the crisis. Additionally, the article provides a profile of the humanitarian operation along with the context and background of the crisis; as such, it can be utilised by both academic and non-academic audiences.

Keywords:

• Rohingya
• Bangladesh
• humanitarian operations
• 4W data
• localisation

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to all who directly and indirectly supported this research. We specifically mention Professor Gour Goswami, North South University, Bangladesh, for his support during the research. The authors also acknowledge the support received from the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner; Inter Sector Coordination Group; Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, GoB; and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GoB.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The research in this paper belongs to a wider range of studies that also employ field visits, telephone interviews, face to face interviews and field surveys. The field visits took place during July and August in 2018 and 2019. Ethical approval was obtained from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Ethics Panel of Bournemouth University (Ethics ID 26485). Our current paper focuses on the results of the quantitative analysis.

2 This point was made by several referees. The authors are thankful to them for providing this direction for future research.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Bournemouth University’s Global Challenges Research Fund.

Notes on contributors

Mehdi Chowdhury

Mehdi Chowdhury is Deputy Head of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Bournemouth University, UK. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Nottingham, UK. His current research focuses on international migration and remittances, management and economics of refugee camps, and education and human capital development.

Nigel L. Williams

Nigel Williams is a reader in project management at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and is the cofounder of Responsible Project Management (www.ResponsiblePM.com). He obtained his PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK. His current research focuses on the evolution of project-based organisations, social network analysis in projects, project management in post-conflict countries and project management in the context of refugee camps.

Karen Thompson

Karen Thompson is a fellow of The Schumacher Institute and Co-Director of Responsible Project Management. She obtained her PhD in Project Management from Bournemouth University, UK. Her current research focuses on project management for sustainable development, social value in projects, and project management in the context of refugee camps. She was a Senior Lecturer in project management at Bournemouth University before her retirement in 2022.

Georgina Ferdous

Georgina Ferdous obtained her Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She worked as a researcher under various research projects at Bournemouth University, UK. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Bournemouth University.