Creating a new generation of humanitarian leaders
Young Bangladeshi women have been on the forefront of the World Food Programme’s work in Cox’s Bazar after learning leadership skills at the Asian Women’s University.
The Asian University for Women opened 11 years ago in Chittagong, not too far from Cox’s Bazar. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of refugees started to flee across the border from Myanmar, in need of emergency food, medical care and protection. For many graduates, this crisis was a chance to apply their skills to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Many graduates are now working for UN Agencies and NGOs in the refugee camps, where they are motivated to learn and make a difference.
This week WFP welcomed Chancellor Cherie Blair, a renowned international human rights lawyer, campaigner for women’s equality, and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to see the work some of the graduates have been doing in the refugee camps.
“We’ve noticed that many of the women we’ve recruited to work on our response have been graduates from this university,” said Mr Peter Guest, Emergency Coordinator for the WFP Rohingya refugee response.
“They possess immense confidence and knowledge that has been an absolute asset to our work here and made us want to reach out to the university to find out more about what makes these graduates who they are.”
The university has students from all across the region and admits them based on merit. Almost all students receive a full scholarship. The aim of the school is to generate graduates who are ready to tackle the big issues in their respective countries and become leaders.
“AUW is enormously pleased to see so many of our graduates actively engaged in serving the needs of the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar,” said Kamal Ahmad, the founder of the Asian University for Women.
“This engagement shows in a powerful way the courage, the competencies and the values of service that AUW encourage in each student.”
Many of the students say they received more than an education at the university and their worldview has expanded, tolerance and empathy increased, and knowledge they gained goes beyond that which you can find in textbooks.
“Our graduates show leadership in many different ways … [including] through coming back and using what they’ve learned to assist in their own countries,” Mrs Blair told a roomful of AUW graduates working for the UN and NGOs.
Mrs Blair witnessed this during the visit to the refugee camps where she was taken on a tour of WFP’s work by the graduates themselves. They visited a WFP e-voucher outlet where she heard about the way food assistance is changing in the camps to a more dignified and choice-based approach that increases dietary diversity. With electronic, contactless cards refugees can now choose from a variety of items in the outlets including eggs, dried fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, spices, and the usual staples.
Graduates working in engineering and disaster risk reduction also highlighted the impact of their work on food security with a visit to some of WFP’s work that has opened access to food distribution points during the heaviest of rains. The final stop touched on WFP’s nutrition work in the camps with a visit to one of the camps’ learning centres where high energy biscuits are distributed to the students.
It isn’t always easy for women to forge a career in Bangladesh. In some regions, such as Cox’s Bazar, a conservative culture means many believe the women’s place is in the home, raising children. This is quickly changing though, an experience that was shared by a number of graduates who told stories of their supportive husbands.
Habiba Memi, who works on the WFP engineering team, told Mrs Blair that her husband looks after their children while she pursues her career with WFP and a Master’s degree at the same time. It was one of many examples that were shared of supportive families and partners making sure that tomorrow’s leaders get the support they need today.
You can support WFP’s work in the Rohingya refugee camps here.
