Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) of Brac University has launched two separate projects in response to Rohingya humanitarian crisis management in Cox’s Bazar namely Community Based Learning for Peace (CBLP) project and Civic Outreach Project (COP) which is exclusively designed for the potential youths of Rohingya and Bangladeshi host community in collaborating with BRAC and Obirodh – Road to Tolerance project, USAID. The projects aimed to promote peace and civic learning activities for peace, tolerance and social cohesion through engaging youth in separate activities in the Rohingya camps and host communities. An initial pilot phase will run from 02 May to 31 October 2019.
The Community-Based Learning for Peace Project (CBLPP) promotes peace building in the Rohingya camps and in the Host community of Cox’s Bazar. The project will work through increasing utilization of community gathering points as community learning centers for peace learning and activities that promote peace and tolerance. 28 volunteers will be trained as trainers to engage over 420 vulnerable youth, who will gain exposure to peace education by joining trainings and activities at community learning centers.
The Civic Outreach Project (COP) has been developed to promote civic knowledge and understanding in the Rohingya camps and host community of Cox’s Bazar. The COP will strengthen capacities and create opportunities for civic engagement in Rohingya camps and host communities through increasing community openness to the positive values that underpin an engaged and tolerant civil society. The project will recruit 28 socially active youth as volunteers who will then train more than 192 community members from the Rohingya camps and Host Community.
As the inaugural activity, CPJ organized a project orientation program in the project office, Cox’s Bazar from 6th of May to 15th of May 2019, where CPJ’s newly recruited staffs were trained on diverse concepts of peace and civic learning, and its impacts in the society, the socio-culture affairs of Myanmar and the Rohingya people. Alongside they developed different strategic plans for project execution. They then began networking with different community stakeholders, and institutions, aiming to enhance their leadership capacity and boost their buoyancy.
The 7 days long staff training was conducted by Jessica Olney, the visiting researcher of CPJ-Brac University, who is currently working as a technical advisor to the projects. Elsewhere, Md. Mofaq Kharul Islam, project manager of COP and CBLP project, coordinated the event and supervised the team. Mr. Mohammad Azizul Hoque discussed how to make aware of the CPJ-BRAC project and its activities among the staffs. Project Officer Sukesh Kumar Sharker, Finance & Admin Officer M. Hasan Shahid Azadi and two Project Assistants participated in the project orientation workshop. After finishing the Staff Training, the project team will recruit active young people from the Rohingya and host communities who will undertake intensive training as trainers in both projects throughout June and July.