Representatives from DW Akademie and BMZ Germany made a two-day visit to the field activities of the project titled, “Community Communication Skills Development for Social Awareness in Cox’s Bazar (CCSDSA)” of YPSA at Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar on 25-26 October, 2023.
The visiting delegate included Ms. Ute Eckertz Kraushaar, Senior Policy Officer of the Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Dr. Ittenbach Karen Birgit, First Secretary and Deputy Head of German Development Cooperation, German Embassy in Bangladesh, Ms. Andrea Marshall, Program Director, Displacement & Dialogue, South Asia, DW Akademie, Ms. Nadine Helga Annemarie Jurrat-Khodabakhsh, Programme Coordinator, South Asia, DW Akademie and Mr. Mainul Islam Khan, Project Manager, DW Akademie, Bangladesh.
Throughout the visit, Mr. Mohammed Shahidull Islam, Head of Rohingya Response and Assistant Director of YPSA, Mr. Jishu Barua, Program Manager and Focal Person, and the YPSA CCSDSA team were present.
On 25th October they visited the Rohingya camp 13. They visited YPSA learning center and observed activities of YPSA’s Emergency in Education (EiE) Program and talked with little Rohingya learners and their parents at the learner centers.
After that, they met the members of a woman listener group of YPSA where they observed one Voice of Palong audio show narrowcast. After narrowcasting the show, they talked with the members of the listener group.
On that day, they observed the Community Screening (CS) video session on ‘Educational Content’ at Camp 1 East. The volunteers of YPSA shared the Community Screening system with the Rohingya community.
In both of those events, Rohingya community people spontaneously witnessed a community screening video session and listener club event and shared their opinions about the project activities and impact of the project. Also, they expressed their thoughts about the audio show and video screening. They said that they believe that this type of activity does help create social cohesion between the host and Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar. On that visit Voice of Palong team member told that, ‘It’s important to continue supporting and promoting initiatives that strengthen connections between diverse communities, as this plays a key role in building a more inclusive and compassionate society.’
On 26th October 2023, the visiting delegates held an exit meeting with the Sr. Management Officials of YPSA at YPSA HRDC – Cox’s Bazar Campus, Panerchara, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar. Mr. Mohammad Shahidull Islam, Assistant Director and Head of the Rohingya Response Programme, YPSA welcomed the guests to YPSA HRDC campus at Ramu and gave them an overview of YPSA through a PowerPoint Presentation. However, Mr. Jishu Barua, Program Manager, and Focal Person, YPSA briefed the visitors on the progress, lessons learned, and contributions of the phase related to YPSA’s CCSDSA activities. At that time, YPSA Finance Manager Mr. Enayet Mawla and the YPSA CCSDSA team were present here.
YPSA has been implementing the “Community Communication Skills Development for Social Awareness in Cox’s Bazar” project since last June, 2020 in collaboration with DW Akademie. This project is funded by the Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). However, under this project YPSA has been making efforts to create social cohesion between Rohingya and Host Community people in Cox’s Bazar through its different community communication related activities through Voice of Palong.
