UNICEF-0407-0410
Sharif Akhtar, 22, works for the NGO Forum based in in Camp Two, Kutupalong camp. She is a Hygiene Promotion outreach worker in charge of 17 volunteers.
She is Posing for Photos.
Outreach workers supported by UNICEF play a critical role in the Rohingya refugee camps of south-eastern Bangladesh. Hundreds of such workers - many of them volunteers - venture into the camps to deliver key health messages and identify refugees who need medical attention. UNICEF-supported NGO Forum sends numerous volunteers into the camps to provide refugees with advice on better hygiene in general and better menstrual hygiene in particular. NGO Forum also employs about 10 Rohingya teenagers to make biodegradable sanitary towels in Camp Two, a project that is now being replicated by other aid agencies elsewhere in the camps.
Sharif Akhtar, 22, works for the NGO Forum based in in Camp Two, Kutupalong camp. She is a Hygiene Promotion outreach worker in charge of 17 volunteers.
What is your job in the camps? “I and the volunteers I lead go (all aged between 16-19) go out into the camps daily to promote our hygiene message. Every day each of us visit two households.
“We check whether the refugees are following the sanitary advice we have given them. If we think that that families are not being sufficiently hygienic, we will spend time giving advice to them and warning them of the dangers of getting sick because of bad hygiene.
“The hygiene promotion we provide is not gender or age-specific. It is given to men, women and children alike. We are especially concerned about maintaining basic sanitation and concentrate on persuading people regularly to wash their hands.
“We tailor our messages around five themes: 1) handwashing; 2) sanitation, 3) water safety; 4) MHM awareness and 5) Acute Watery Diahorrea (AWD) awareness.
“When I go to the households, I see the problems and I enjoy finding solutions. I feel proud because when I started this job more than a year ago we have seen the hygiene situation substantially improve in the camps. It’s all been done through teamwork.”
Is the volunteer outreach system the best way of getting the message across? “We know we cannot continue this system for ever. Ultimately the Rohingya community needs to take ownership of it. We are training them to do this, but it will take time.”
Have you experienced any form of hostility to the work you are doing in the camps? “At the beginning it was challenging, because the refugees were a little suspicious of us. But gradually their attitude has changed. So now, on the rare occasions we do experience hostility, there are lots of refugees on hand to support us.
Camp Two, Kutupalong camp.Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar.
Photo: b.a. sujaN / UNICEF / Map
