Luxembourg Announces Additional €250k WFP Contribution during Bangladesh Visit

Luxembourg's Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Franz Fayot, paid a working visit to Bangladesh from Friday 28 April to 1 May 2023.

The purpose of this trip, according to the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of Luxembourg's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, was to visit several cooperation projects implemented by the Luxembourg NGOs Friendship International and Caritas Luxembourg, as well as humanitarian initiatives of the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the benefit of Rohingya refugees in the refugee camps around Cox's Bazar.

In Cox's Bazar, Minister Fayot visited the humanitarian support activities of WFP and UNHCR, including a data registration service to identify people with specific needs or vulnerabilities, as well as a e-vouchers, through which WFP provides food assistance to nearly one million Rohingya refugees each month. In addition, UNHCR runs community centres serving as a meeting point for refugee communities, climate activities aimed at rehabilitating the environment and cleaning up and preventing pollution of waterways, as well as a hospital, which provides specialised treatment for camp populations. In order to strengthen Luxembourg's support for these humanitarian activities in the Rohingya refugee camps, Minister Fayot announced during his visit an additional contribution of €250,000 for WFP, which brings Luxembourg's total contribution to WFP for 2023 to €500,000.

Pursuing the objective of strengthening the autonomy and resilience of the marginalised and most remote communities of Bangladesh, Friendship International, supported by the Luxembourg development cooperation programme, is active in many areas, including health, water and sanitation, education, vocational training and food security. Minister Fayot visited the Friendship Hospital, a floating hospital which provides health care services to the most vulnerable "chars" (nomadic islands) in the north of the country and which has been able to reach more than one million people since its inauguration in 2008. He also visited a school as part of the primary education project of Friendship, which allows the reception of a total of more than 3,000 children through 43 schools, as well as a project in favour of the disabled, aiming in particular to raise awareness of disability and to combat the stigma associated with it. Finally, on the Goynar Potol char, Minister Fayot paid a visit to the Friendship weaving training centre, which enables teenage girls and women to improve their skills in sewing, weaving, dyeing and printing fabrics.

In Jamgora, Minister Fayot visited a creche, which, as part of the Ankur project of the NGO Caritas Luxembourg, contributes to improving access to stable income for vulnerable households in urban and semi-urban areas through the availability of childcare services and thus offers parents the possibility to work. He also met the beneficiaries of the Uddyam project, the objective of which is to increase food security and food diversity for disadvantaged populations by improving their nutrition through economic and social integration and by strengthening their knowledge of nutrition. During a visit to a textile factory, Minister Fayot was also able to get an idea of the working environment in the textile sector, as well as the challenges it faces in Bangladesh.

Finally, in Dhaka, Minister Fayot had a working lunch with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, Mohammad Shahriar Alam.