ADDITIONAL FINANCING TO REACHING OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN II PROJECT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISPLACED ROHINGYA CHILDREN APPROVAL DATE: END DATE: TOTAL COMMITMENT: IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES: BASIC INFORMATION September 18 December 31 $25 million Ministry of Primary and Mass Education 2018 2020 OVERVIEW Since August 2017, more than 745,000 Rohingya fled violence in Myanmar and took shelter in the Teknaf and Ukhia Upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, according to UN estimates. More than half of them are women and are children. They join around 300,000 people displaced from Myanmar in previous years. This has placed an immense strain on an already resource-constrained service delivery system. The Government of Bangladesh continues to deliver humanitarian aid directly and through UN agencies and local/ international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Cox’s Bazar is one of the poorest and among the lowest performing districts in the country in terms of education indicators. Recent influx has further exacerbated the education uptake. The World Bank is helping Bangladesh provide informal education and psycho-social support to Rohingya children through an Additional Financing to the Reaching Out-of- School Children (ROSC) II project on grant terms. The grant will support the response to the immediate education needs of the Rohingya children and adolescents while helping to strengthen the service delivery system of GoB in Cox’s Bazar. Implementation of this of the additional financing is planned for a period of two years till December 2020. 120 CHALLENGE TOWARDS THE FUTURE Most of the displaced Rohingya population (DRP) are living in congested camps; the mega camps are currently the Additional Financing of ROSC II will provide world’s largest refugee settlements. Around 55 percent of the them are under 18 years of age with very little or, for three informal education to 150,000 primary-aged quarters of the population, with no literacy skills. BRAC estimates that as many as 73 percent of the displaced Rohingya DRP children and psycho-social support to population have no literacy skills. The education centric response strategy described in the Joint Response Plan (JRP), 300,000 children and adolescents through an prepared jointly by GoB and Development Partners estimates around 625,000 children and youth are in need of access additional financing in grants terms in next two to learning opportunities. years (2019-2020) along with completing its original targets. The youth of host community in Cox’s Bazar district will receive pre- APPROACH vocational skills training through the original ROSC II project. The second of a series of supports to help Bangladesh deal with the crisis, the additional financing on grant terms to the Reaching Out of School Children Project II (ROSC II) will help Rohingya children and adolescents avail basic education in Learning Centers. Informal education to the DRP children and adolescents will be delivered following the guidelines of the GoB’s guideline regarding DRP response. This intervention will be aligned with the JRP and follow the MoPME approved guideline for DRP informal education. During 2019-2020, 150,000 primary-aged DRP children will be supported with immediate access to learning opportunities in a safe and protected environment. Informal education activities will be provided in new and makeshift Learning Centers (LCs) in the camps. The DRP children will learn basic English, Myanmar language and basic numeracy skills through informal LCs while life skills and psycho-social activities will be a part of informal education which will teach children to care for themselves, their family, community and the environment and support then have a sense of normalcy. These LCs will have a safe structure for children following environmental safeguards standards. LCs will be strategically placed to benefit majority of Rohingya children. Around 300,000 DRP children and adolescents will receive psycho-social support to recover from the shock and to protected from exploitation. The activities will include cultural events, sports, homestead gardening, home-making, tree plantation, arts and crafts etc. EXPECTED RESULTS 150,000 primary-aged DRP children will be 300,000 DRP children and 2,000 teachers and facilitators will enrolled in 1,500 informal LCs in DRP camps in Cox’s adolescents will receive psycho-social be deployed and at least 50% of them Bazar district support will be female 100 Government Primary Schools Capacity enhancement of offices and officials Overall strengthening of the service delivery (GPS) will be repaired to facilitate of 8 upazila offices and 1 district office of system will be supported through capacity informal education teachers’ training primary education will be supported building of the local and central administration THE WORLD BANK IN BANGLADESH | 121