Bangladesh Women’s National Cricket Team Celebrates International Women’s Day in Cox’s Bazaar

Towards a #BalaceforBetter World

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh organised a photographic exhibition and a cooking competition to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme “Balance for Better”.

The events depicted how WFP is contributing toward a gender-balanced world where both men and women have equal representation, opportunity, rewards and decision-making power in the social, economic, cultural and political contexts of our lives.

A Visual Display Projecting a Women’s Odyssey

Cox’s Bazar is home to one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises and a photographic exhibition in the WFP offices visually represented the stories of persecution, torture, arson and heart-breaking gender-based violence people experienced as they fled across the border into Bangladesh, an event that had the world discussing the darkest side of human nature.

The exhibit then projected how the Rohingya people started to collect the shredded pieces of their lives and build a new one Bangladesh, with support from WFP and its partners. Today, food assistance reaches more than 880,000 refugees through general food distributions and the e-voucher intervention.

Women and girls account for 52 percent of the refugees we feed. More than 99,000 girls receive micro-nutrient fortified biscuits in more than 2,000 learning centres in the camps, helping them learn and grow as best as they can. Approximately, 32,000 pregnant and lactating women receive nutritional support so their babies can thrive. More than 4,200 women received vocational training to help them build their financial and social independence.

Multiple forms of vulnerability and insecurity faced by Rohingya women and girls is juxtaposed by their strength and capabilities, which is also reflected in the welcoming and entrepreneurial spirit of host community women.

It’s been almost two years since the influx and Rohingya women, once considered capable of nothing more than being homemakers, are increasingly taking up leadership responsibilities and working alongside men to serve their community. Today, they are proud of their involvement in various activities such as overseeing food and nutrition supplement distributions, managing e-voucher outlets, participating in skills development training, establishing vegetable gardens and building infrastructure around the camps. Behind the scenes in the world’s largest refugee camp are the female staff who have worked around the camp to provide much needed assistance to close to one million refugees.

Currently, women speak of a hope that keeps them motivated, the hope that their joint efforts will ultimately build a better and violence free future for the next generations of women.

In celebrating International Women’s Day, we recognize the odyssey of these women through their experiences of struggle, survival and success.

Men Cooking Under a Common Umbrella

Male heads of different UN Agencies (FAO, IOM, UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP) participated in a cooking completion inside WFP Cox’s Bazar premises.

Each participant received a surprise food basket with ingredients that they used to cook a speciality dish.

The captain of the Bangladesh National Women’s Team tasted all the dishes made by respective male staff and the chef behind the most delicious dish was declared the winner and it was FAO.

Event Participation

Members of Cox’s Bazar humanitarian community including donors, UN Agencies, INGO’s, NGO’s, partners and the media visited the exhibit. Last but not the least, the Bangladesh Women’s Cricket Team also joined the celebrations.

Read more about WFP’s work in Bangladesh