Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response is a series of six projects developed over 14 months to respond to the Rohingya crisis in the Ukhiya-Teknaf area of southeast Bangladesh. The projects were primarily developed in the post-emergency, transitional and development phases of the world’s largest refugee camps hosting the Rohingya refugees. Rohingyas are one of the Muslim ethnic minority communities in Myanmar. Since 25 August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh after what the United Nations has described as genocidal violence.

Aerial view of the Shantikhana Women Friendly Space in Camp 4. The construction started before the design was finalised, allowing the local Rohingya workers to express their artisanal skills and artistic freedom.
Aerial view of the Shantikhana Women Friendly Space in Camp 4. The construction started before the design was finalised, allowing the local Rohingya workers to express their artisanal skills and artistic freedom. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman

The interventions initiated by Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and ActionAid aimed to function as supporting platforms for collective and individual development in both the Rohingya refugee and the Bangladeshi host communities. According to the community needs to be assessed by BRAC and ActionAid, the centres provide different types of support, including psychosocial support, legal counselling, case management, gender-based empowerment, capacity building, skill training, awareness building and creative growth.

Aerial view of the Safe Space for Women and Girls in Camp 25. The activity areas and rooms are organised around an open courtyard, connecting them into one larger space. 
Aerial view of the Safe Space for Women and Girls in Camp 25. The activity areas and rooms are organised around an open courtyard, connecting them into one larger space. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman
The open courtyard of the Safe Space for Women and Girls in Camp 25 connects all the surrounding rooms. The shelter provides women of all age with sanitary facilities as well as a place for them to create and share.
The open courtyard of the Safe Space for Women and Girls in Camp 25 connects all the surrounding rooms. The shelter provides women of all age with sanitary facilities as well as a place for them to create and share. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman

The interventions took place sequentially, one after another, according to the needs of the specific community and context. The sequence can be summarised as responding in a short time, creating a dedicated space in a sterile environment, engaging community members to build healable spaces, breaking the gender stereotype in a conservative community, and developing sustainable schemes to reduce wastage in this unpredictable context.

The Safe Space for Rohingya Women and Girls was designed with basic materials.
The Safe Space for Rohingya Women and Girls was designed with basic materials. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman

The authorities allowed for only temporary structures given the non-permanent status of the refugee camps (no brick wall higher than 2 feet (61 centimetres), avoid any reinforcement of the floor concrete, no use of corrugated sheets, and use of low-cost materials). In the case of the Community Centre (Camp 3), the authorities allowed the use of industrial corrugated sheets after the recommendation of the structural engineer. These regulations were less restrictive for the interventions outside of the camps, including the Hindupara Integrated Community Centre and the Bhalukia Community Centre for Host Communities. The authorities allowed modular steel frames and segmented concrete flooring in these two centres.1

  • 1. All text sourced from 2022 On-Site Review Report by Kareem Ibrahim, Aga Khan Development Network
Hindupara Integrated Community Centre in Hindupara camp.
Hindupara Integrated Community Centre in Hindupara camp.: Members of the Hindupara community and the host communities came together to build the centre, which is comprised of two buildings, one serving men and the other women. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman
Bhalukia Community Centre: To fulfil the landlord’s wish to protect the betel nut trees on-site, the architects relocated some of the saplings and integrated the mature ones into the design.
Bhalukia Community Centre: To fulfil the landlord’s wish to protect the betel nut trees on-site, the architects relocated some of the saplings and integrated the mature ones into the design. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman
The Community Centre in Camp 03 has sizeable outdoor spaces used for waiting and meeting areas. 
The Community Centre in Camp 03 has sizeable outdoor spaces used for waiting and meeting areas.  © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman
The Bhalukia Community Centre is a one-storey building in which bamboo structures and mats are used for walls and partitions.
The Bhalukia Community Centre is a one-storey building in which bamboo structures and mats are used for walls and partitions. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman

This document is embedded in …