Zibon Sona is an 80 year old widow. She was forced to leave Myanmar in September 2017 and has sought refuge in an improvised refugee camp in Bangladesh. Due to a physical disability, she is unable to move from her canvas shelter and is reliant on her daughter for basic care.

More than 500,000 Rohingyas have crossed the Myanmar border and taken refuge in Bangladesh. New arrivals are seeking food and drinking water, access to health care, among other vital needs. Among them are Monowara and her family who have sought safety in a makeshift camp in Bangladesh.

Since the end of August, nearly 400,000 Rohingyas have crossed the Myanmar border and taken refuge in Bangladesh. Joining the estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas present in the country, the new arrivals need food and drinking water, access to sanitary facilities, health care, rehabilitation sessions, and other accommodations. Handicap International is responding to this emergency by supplying aid to families with acute needs.

As part of the Growing Together project, supported by the IKEA Foundation, Handicap International promotes early detection, stimulation, and rehabilitation sessions for children to prevent the onset of disabilities and improve their living conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Pakistan. Our teams teach parents, caregivers, and community volunteers how to stimulate young children and promote healthy habits through play and daily activities.

Humanity & Inclusion is committed to supporting people who are fleeing conflict and natural disaster. Whether they are sheltering within their own countries or residing in countries of first asylum as refugees, our teams are hard at work providing basic and specific aid to people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Read about our work with refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) as well as our other projects in the 11 countries below.

This life-saving work is possible thanks to the generous support of our donors, as well as key funding agencies such as the U.S. Department of State, IKEA Foundation, among others.

Humanity & Inclusion is an impartial, international aid organization, and we act where needs are greatest. We do not work on refugee resettlement.  

When I first met Abul, he was making the finishing touches on a beautiful headboard, sanding down the edges to ensure the finishing was smooth. Prior to working at a carpentry shop in Sitakunda Upazila, a sub-district in rural Bangladesh, Abul spent two hours each day commuting on public transportation to a carpentry shop where he worked as a carpenter.

Growing up in a refugee camp is incredibly difficult, especially if you're a child with a disability. Play is a fundamental right for all children, including refugees. That’s why the IKEA Foundation is supporting Growing Together, a new Handicap International project that gives displaced children in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand the right to be a child.

Handicap International is one of six partners for the new Let's Play for Change campaign, which begins on Children’s Rights Day, Nov. 20. For every children’s book and toy sold in IKEA stores between today and Dec. 24, the IKEA Foundation will donate $1 to support children’s right to play.

“Sadly, many refugee children don’t have the opportunity to be a child,” says Cheryl Shin-Hua Yeam, Handicap International’s regional technical coordinator of the new Growing Together project. "Their right to play is often undermined or not prioritized,” even though the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child should have the right to play.

Play is incredibly important. "Play makes children happy and healthy," Cheryl adds. "It allows them to learn, improves their self-esteem, and helps them to develop important life skills such as empathy, communication, and resilience to stress.”

Handicap International’s Growing Together project directly addresses this pressing issue. Over a four-year period, the project, financed by the IKEA Foundation, will empower children seeking refuge in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand. Staff will create inclusive playgrounds, where vulnerable refugee children can feel safe and develop through an approach that is natural to them: play.

“This will promote their well being and help their personal development to flourish,” Cheryl adds. “Child friendly spaces give refugee children the opportunity to share traumatizing experiences with a professional as well as with each other. Children feel safe. They can relax, smile, play, and just be a child again - essential elements for their mental and physical health.”                                                        

Play also helps refugee children address their reality in a productive manner. ”For refugee children, play is a basic need,” Cheryl says. ”What’s more, play is an important tool for them to deal with their difficult situation. Because being a child in a refugee camp doesn’t come easy. Having fled war and violence, refugee children have to deal with difficult backgrounds and face poor living conditions. Play can help them to work through some of their issues and to be a child.”

In Mae La Refugee Camp (Thailand), 40,000 refugees share just one soccer field. “We have no place to play,” says Eike, a ten-year-old who lives in the camp. “We play around the house or around the nearby temple, but that’s far from ideal. And we have no toys.”

Children with disabilities even more excluded from play                          

According to research from the IKEA Foundation, the funding partner of the Growing Together project, children with mental and physical disabilities are often the most likely to be excluded from play and learning activities. Handicap International, which has been working in refugee camps for 30 years, confirms this. “You don’t see children with disabilities play,” Cheryl says.

“Our safe spaces will be accessible and inclusive so that children of all kinds can come together and learn together: children with and without disabilities, children with learning disorders, mental problems, children who are chronically ill, so on.”

In Mae La Camp in Thailand, on the border of Myanmar, there’s one football field for 40,000 refugees. The narrow steep paths, filled with holes and loose rocks, make it extremely hard for children with disabilities to find a place to play.

MORE INFORMATION

The Growing Together project runs for four years, and will empower 13,000 vulnerable boys and girls (0-18 years old) and their families in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand.

Besides the creation of inclusive, educational playgrounds, the project will also pay attention to the youngest children who are at risk of developmental delays. Thanks to early detection and rehabilitation, some disabilities can be prevented, and the lives of children with long-term disabilities can be made more fulfilling. In a safe environment, parents and caregivers will learn how they can support their child to develop and be more independent.

At the same time, the project will engage with local child development service providers to be more responsive to the needs of disabled and vulnerable children, and it will help these organizations implement measures to facilitate the inclusion of these children in schools and communities. The collaboration with local organizations will help ensure the sustainability of the project.

WHERE: FORGOTTEN REFUGEE CAMPS

The refugee camps in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand remain largely forgotten by the world, despite their decades-old existence. Living conditions in the camps are alarming. In Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, stateless Rohingya refugees struggle to survive, while living in squalid conditions, vulnerable to disease and exploitation. They are categorically denied legal protection and humanitarian assistance. In the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan, people face harsh weather conditions, children suffer from poor health, and many people are depressed since they have little to do but stand in line for food distributions. Depression is also very common in the Karen refugee camps in Thailand (Myanmar border), where an estimated 111,000 people rely heavily on humanitarian assistance. Many people were born in the camps and have never set foot outside.

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL’S EXPERIENCE

Thanks to its work in refugee camps all over the world, Handicap International brings a wealth of experience to the Growing Together project and an extensive knowledge of the region.

Handicap International was founded in Thailand in 1982, to help Cambodian refugees that were injured by landmines. Two years later, our work expanded along the border with Myanmar. In Pakistan since the early 1980s, Handicap International first supported Afghan refugees – today, our work involves helping people who are vulnerable to natural and human disasters. Handicap International has been present in Bangladesh since 1997. Our past actions are an excellent starting point for the Growing Together project: providing community-based rehabilitation, empowering people with disabilities, and supporting their inclusion in local communities.

Also, play has always been an important element in our rehabilitation approach, for it stimulates children to do their exercises and helps them to improve their strength, flexibility, motor skills, and mobility.

FINANCED BY IKEA FOUNDATION  

The Growing Together project is financed by IKEA Foundation (the philanthropic arm of INGKA Foundation, the owner of the IKEA Group of companies), and supported by IKEA’s new good cause campaign: Let’s Play for Change. For every children’s book and toy sold in an IKEA store between November 20 and December 24, 2016, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to support the Growing Together project and the projects of five other partner organizations.
More info: www.ikeafoundation.org

Removing Barriers (2018)

Jordan report                 Lebanon report

With support from the Australian Government, this study was carried out between October 2017 and January 2018, in areas with high concentrations of Syrian refugees such as Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel governorates of Lebanon; and Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps, as well as Irbid in Jordan. We reached 1,665 households, including 1,159 (6,381 people) in Jordan and 506 (2,495 people) in Lebanon. Participants were randomly selected to join the study. The following fact sheets are available:

• Demographics and disability
• Access to services
• Livelihoods
• Education
  
  

Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (2017)

This policy paper defines the themes of inclusive disaster risk reduction and explains how these activities fit into our mandate. It also identifies the target population and defines modalities of intervention–standard expected outcomes, standard activities–as well as monitoring and evaluation indicators. 

Disability in humanitarian context: views from affected people and field organizations

This report is based on the results of a global consultation carried out in 2015, as a contribution to the World Humanitarian Summit and is intended to better identify the changes needed for a disability-inclusive humanitarian response. A total of 769 responses were collected through three online surveys targeting persons with disabilities, disabled people's organizations and humanitarian actors.

The responses show that persons with disabilities are strongly impacted when a crisis occurs: 54% of respondents with disabilities state they have experienced a direct physical impact, sometimes causing new impairments. 27% report that they have been psychologically, physically or sexually abused. Increased psychological stress and/or disorientation are other effects of the crisis for 38% of the respondents with disabilities. To read the full study, click here.

Syria: Equal Access Monitor examines durable solutions for Syrians with specific needs (with HelpAge)

Durable solutions – including local integration and resettlement - have the potential to transform the lives of individual refugees and their families, particularly those with specific needs whether due to disability or old age. Moreover, resettlement is a crucial way that “third countries” can stand in solidarity and assist the countries that are currently bearing the brunt of the economic and infrastructural demands of sheltering the refugees fleeing the ongoing war in Syria.

The Surgical and Rehabilitation Response to the Haiti Earthquake

The disaster response environment in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake represented a complex healthcare challenge. This study was designed to identify challenges during the Haiti disaster response.

Medical rehabilitation of spinal cord injury following earthquakes

This literature review examines epidemiological studies reporting data on spinal cord injury survivors of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Briefing paper — Humanitarian Response: how to include everyone?

Inclusion of persons with disabilities and the most vulnerable people in emergency response must be considered a core component of principled and effective humanitarian action. Field experience and observations indicate that persons with disabilities and most vulnerable people are often neglected in the contingency planning, assessment, collection of data, design and delivery of humanitarian relief, making them ‘invisible’ to relief operations.

Hidden victims of the Syrian crisis: disabled, injured and older refugees (2014)

Older, disabled, and injured Syrian refugees are being doubly victimized as a result of the Syria conflict, according to a new report by Humanity & Inclusion and HelpAge International. The new data show that these vulnerable individuals, as well as those suffering from chronic diseases, are being left in the shadows of the humanitarian responses. View report here.

Syria: Causes and types of injuries (2014)

Guidelines for Creating Barrier-free Emergency Shelters (2009)

This manual provides guidance on the design and building of barrier-free emergency shelters that are used within a community following a natural disaster, such as a flood or landslide. View report here.

Mainstreaming Disability into Disaster Risk Reduction: A Training Manual (2009)

This manual is intended to build actors' capacities to mainstream disability in disaster risk reduction. View report here.

How to Include Disability Issues in Disaster Management: Following Floods 2004 in Bangladesh (2005)

This publication provides practical ideas and concrete knowledge to include disability issues in disaster management. Although it is based on floods, ideas can be adapted to any type of disaster. View report here.

In Bangladesh, Humanity & Inclusion continues to run programs under the operating name "Handicap International." 

Humanity & Inclusion in Bangladesh  

Humanity & Inclusion has been working in Bangladesh since 1997 to promote inclusion of people with disabilities. Since 2017, Humanity & Inclusion has provided support to more than 30,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar.

One of the poorest countries in the world, it is estimated that more than half of Bangladesh's population lives below the poverty line. Facing monsoons, cyclones and devastating floods, between 50% and 70% of the land is submerged under water every year, destroying harvests, homes and livestock.

Situation Report: Rohingya Crisis (February 2022)

Areas of Intervention

• Rehabilitation, prosthetics and orthotics
• Fighting discrimination against people with disabilities 
• Inclusive employment
• Inclusive education

Responding to the influx of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing neighboring Myanmar since August 2017, Humanity & Inclusion's 286-person team provides emergency response to supply aid to people who are living in extremely difficult circumstances. The organization has provided rehabilitation care and psychological support to thousands of people. Humanity & Inclusion has made available storage centers and a fleet of trucks, transporting humanitarian equipment for Humanity & inclusion and other organizations. The team has also distributed hygiene kits, food rations and accommodation kits.

Humanity & Inclusion also works in Bangladesh to promote inclusion of people with disabilities, supporting their access to services such as rehabilitation and employment. The organization advocates alongside people with disabilities to ensure access to a source of income which gives them financial independence and means they are better accepted within their communities. 

The organization also improves access to education for all children, including children with disabilities, in camps for Rohingya refugees. Humanity & Inclusion trains teachers to include children with disabilities in schools, organizes rehabilitation sessions for children with disabilities and raises community awareness of the right of children to education. To improve the social inclusion and education of boys and girls with disabilities, Humanity & Inclusion organizes recreational activities, including in schools and sports clubs, to promote social inclusion and interaction with each other in a safe environment.

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Our Past Work

Humanity & Inclusion has been in Bangladesh since 1997, promoting an inclusive culture for ALL people with disabilities and who are vulnerable. Over time, our work has evolved to meet the dynamic needs of the communities where we serve.

Read on to learn more about our past work in Bangladesh and consider investing in our future. 

Growing Together

Children with disabilities remain one of the most marginalized groups in the country and very few attend school. As an invisible and stigmatized group, they are more exposed to abuse, exploitation and negligence. From 2016 to 2020, Humanity & Inclusion led the Growing Together project, supported by IKEA Foundation, which enabled thousands of children to learn by playing in secure environments in refugee camps in Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

Legal Assistance 

Partnering with Bangladesh Legal Aid Services (BLAST), Humanity & Inclusion built the capacities of national and local legal service providers in order to improve access to legal assistance for people with disabilities.  

Assistance to the Survivors of the Rana Plaza Collapse

As a result of the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza Building in Dhaka in 2013, Humanity & Inclusion provided physical therapy to people with disabilities who were affected by the incident. 

The organization has also put in place a sustainable socio-economic recovery project that facilitates employment for those who lost their jobs in as a result of the collapse. 

Disability Resource Center

The Dhaka Center for Services and Information on Disability (CSID) is providing people with disabilities internet access to promote the rights of people with disabilities. HI is working with CSID to ensure that some 2,500 people with disabilities can access the data and share it with decision-makers, program directors, researchers, students, and other people with disabilities.

Community Based Rehabilitation

Humanity & Inclusion launched a project in 2011 that aimed to strengthen the skills of community based rehabilitation professionals. 

In the county, 35 local community-based organizations have improved their knowledge of community-based rehabilitation.  

Maternal and Newborn Health

Humanity & Inclusion's team helped to ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth for mothers. The organization worked with fathers to raise awareness of their role in improving the health of mothers and children in refugee communities in Bangladesh.

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