In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar and settled in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The scale of displacement brought obvious changes to their living conditions and changed family dynamics in the camps. One such change has been the increase in the practice of polygamy.

Legal frameworks prevented the widespread practice of polygamy among the Rohingya in Myanmar. On the other hand, based on recent reports by NGOs and UN agencies operating in the response, the practice has been increasing over the past four years in the camps. Some reasons behind the increase include changes that resulted from the sudden movement to Bangladesh, such as economic factors, gender norms, and the legal frameworks and rules and regulations applicable in the camps.

In the Rohingya refugee camps, where protection concerns are already very high, the increase in polygamy likely contributes to aggravating different forms of sexual and gender-based violence.

In late 2021, ACAPS’ Cox’s Bazar Analysis Hub embarked on research to understand the development of humanitarian needs in the Rohingya refugee crisis. The research was mainly based on the comparison of findings from four consecutive years (2018–2021) of Multi Sector Needs Assessments (MSNAs). The report titled Needs and Priorities of Rohingya and Host Communities in Cox’s Bazar since 2017 was published on 30 August 2022.

The 2019 Rohingya MSNA aimed to “provide an analysis of how refugees’ population and host communities’ needs have changed in 2019”, while the 2020 and 2021 Rohingya MSNAs aimed “to facilitate an understanding of the evolution of needs and service gaps across time” (ISCG 05/2019, 06/05/2021, and 08/08/2022). Despite the similarity, direct comparisons of the yearly situations still proved challenging.

This technical note outlines the key challenges the ACAPS team faced while analysing and comparing data across multiple MSNAs. To develop an understanding of the Rohingya crisis over time, the team included other sources of information, such as the WFP Rohingya Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessments (REVAs), especially for food and livelihood needs, and information supplied specifically from the sectors. On that note, similar comparability issues were also observed with these other assessments and information sources.

This note aims to highlight how assessment design, data collection, and results presentation enable (or prevent) trends analysis. It also aims to encourage assessment designers and coordinators to consider the future use of their data with the immediate requirements, even as they seek to improve data collection or overcome changes based on the context of the people in need.

August 2017 and the months that followed saw the influx of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This influx brought the Rohingya refugee population in Cox’s Bazar to over 900,000 (IOM 31/03/2022). While there has been continuous humanitarian support for the refugees, restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19 interrupted some humanitarian activities and forced the scaling down of others. Humanitarian activities had fully resumed by mid-2021, but the negative impacts of COVID-19 restrictions persist (ISCG 04/11/2021).

Since 2017, the refugees’ prioritisation of their needs has changed. In the first months after arriving in Cox’s Bazar, the focus was almost entirely on basic needs, such as food, water, shelter, and safety and security. As the situation stabilised, income-generating activities and education became increasingly important. The effect of COVID-19 and increased government restrictions that reduced livelihood opportunities and access to education reinforced the prioritisation of these needs for the Rohingya. For people living in host communities, there is a similar trend regarding priority needs.

Data collection in humanitarian response is based on established standards, guidelines, and good practices that have evolved over time. While these practices give a general structure for data collection processes, they need to be adaptable to any specific response context. This learning document highlights the lessons learnt from five years of data collection in the Rohingya camps in the form of assessments, monitoring, and evaluation activities whether rapid or comprehensive, sectoral or multisectoral, joint or standalone, and other types of studies. This document aims to help adapt data collection processes to the Rohingya response in Cox’s Bazar based on collated experiences and learning. The methods used to collect data include surveys, group discussions (GDs) including focus group discussions, interviews including key informant interviews (KIIs), and direct observations. The terms ‘data collectors’ and ‘participants’ or ‘respondents’ are used for the main stakeholders involved in data collection exercises.

During an emergency and time of displacement, the psychosocial implications of displaced people are affected and the breakdown of the usual protective institutions such as the family, community, government, law enforcement structures, etc. increase the intensity of different protection issues. Since people have a lack of awareness about their rights and entitlements in an unfamiliar environment, the risk of exploitation and abuse increase. Although Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by humanitarian workers (“SEA”) can occur in any humanitarian or development context, it is a specific risk in emergency contexts as it brings a rapid increase in the number of partners for the humanitarian response, rapid recruitments and staff turnover, high work pressures, and challenges to ensuring effective coordination and oversight, thus expanding the risks of all forms of misconduct, including SEA.

It has been six years since Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh and the humanitarian response remains focused on meeting humanitarian needs. A PSEA network was established in 2017 to prevent SEA risks and respond to allegations reported. IOM-NPM in coordination with the PSEA Network conducted an assessment to understand the perception of Rohingya refugees on existing complaints and feedback mechanisms (CFMs) in the camps, especially focusing on reporting sensitive issues, namely Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA). Until now, the NPM and the PSEA Network conducted 3 surveys. The first survey2 was conducted from December 2021 to January 2022 in 4 Camps, the second survey3 was conducted from August 2022 to September 2022 in 6 camps, and most recently, the third one, has been conducted in May-June 2023 in 7 camps.

During the reporting period, between 1 July and 30 September 2023, IOM Yemen DTM tracked 1,089 households (HHs) (6,534 individuals) who experienced displacement at least once. This compares to 1,016 households (6,096 individuals) in the second quarter 2023 representing an seven per cent increase.

Since the beginning of April 2022, the number of tracked new instances of displacement has been declining with a truce held between conflicting parties until October 2022. However, the number began to light rise in the first quarter of the year 2023 (2,495 HHs) due to the renewed conflict in Harib (Ma’rib) and heavy rains and floods in Shabwah governorate.

The monthly average of household displacements in 2023 so far has been 511 with a high of 1,079 in January 2023 compared to an average of 845 in 2022 with a maximum of 2,453 in January 2022. 

The governorates with the highest number of new displacements are Ma’rib (494 HHs), Ta’iz (282 HHs), and Al Hodeida (218 HHs). These governorates are all located in areas that have been heavily affected by the conflict in Yemen.

Safety and security concerns as a result of the conflict were the main reason for displacement, accounting for 77 per cent (836 HHs) of the total, followed by economic reasons related to conflict, accounting for 23 per cent (248 HHs).

While displacement due to  other reasons and natural disaster reasons represented less than one per cent (5 HHs).

Between 27 September and 02 October, fear of attacks by Non-State Armed Groups in Mocimboa da Praia, Marere (Aldeia Marere, Nazimodja, Clugu, Luexete) triggered 4,695 individual displacements within the district. Reported families have taken shelter within transit shelters on the school grounds of Bairo 30, Mocimboa da Praia Sede.

An estimate of 190 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been identified with vulnerabilities. All reported displaced families walked approximately 30 KM from Marere villages to Bairro 30. An estimated 2,661 were children under 18 years old. Owing to prevailing security concerns reported by displaced families, intentions on duration of their stay in Bairro 30 remains uncertain. Movements in the region continue to be dynamic between Mocimboa da Praia host communities and
neighbouring district of Mueda (Mueda Sede and Awasse). Additional arrivals continue to be recorded in Bairro Ntende, Mocimboa da Praia Sede. Updates will be circulated to partners as soon as available.

The objective of the Emergency Tracking Tool (ETT) - Movement Alert is to collect information on large and sudden population movements, and to provide support to humanitarian response partners by disseminating data on IDPs to support effective humanitarian response to the affected population. Information is collected through key informant interviews or direct observation. The dashboard provides basic information on displacements, and additional information can be shared upon request.

La DTM a identifié 2 878 personnes affectées dont 190 personnes déplacées par les vents violents et des pluies torrentielles dans les provinces de Makamba, Ngozi et Cibitoke. 

To gain a better understanding of the presence of migrants, IOM initiated mobility tracking activities in provinces along Thailand’s border with Myanmar. Mobility tracking is designed to estimate the number of people living in communities in border provinces, including the number of non-Thai individuals, predominantly Myanmar nationals, who arrived postmilitary takeover. The activity provides critical baseline information regarding the locations and volume of Myanmar nationals in Thailand, allowing for better targeted programming and response. Mobility tracking is conducted by interviewing key informants over the phone or in-person. Key informants are usually officially recognized village leaders or similar authority figures who provide information on the demographics of their respective communities. IOM conducts this activity on a regular basis, aiming for bi-monthly updates, to maintain upto-date data on migrant presence in assessed communities. This report provides a snapshot as of August 2023. Highlighted districts in the map to the left represent areas in which IOM has collected data. Sometimes coverage is only partial. Across 641 assessed locations in 115 sub-districts and 44 districts, there are an estimated 263,000 non-Thai individuals. For reference, the overall estimated population in the assessed locations is 920,000 individuals. A quarter of the non-Thai population (60,000 individuals) are reported to have arrived since the military takeover in Myanmar. The three districts with the highest presence of non-Thai individuals identified are Mae Sot (74,000 ind.) in Tak province as well as Mueang Ranong (57,000 ind.) and Kra Buri (20,000 ind.), both in Ranong province.