Working with the Rohingyas refugees through the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) in Bangladesh

In 2017, at the height of the Rohingya refugee crisis, I was a key member of a research project that had analysed its fiscal implications on Bangladesh’s economy which received extensive media coverage at a national dialogue and steered new directions towards addressing the crisis. Two years later, I again had the opportunity to work on this issue through a summer internship at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), a centre of research and academic which focuses in the areas of governance, economic growth, political economy, urbanisation, gender issues, sustainable development, and regional studies.

I worked with BIGD’s economic research cluster to implement a large-scale impact evaluation of the Humanitarian Play Lab (HPL), a play-based curriculum for Rohingya children developed by BRAC, the largest NGO in the world. The curriculum aims to provide learning and healing through play to Rohingya children, particularly those who have been traumatized by the severe persecution by their government.

The multi-year research project involves interacting with 6,000 Rohingya refugee children and is aimed at evaluating the impact of the overall curriculum on early child development of these children and the psychosocial wellbeing of their parents and caregivers regarding stress, trauma and anxiety because of the persecution they had faced. Upon project completion, the research findings will help BRAC to further improve their disaster responsiveness and humanitarian management projects which will ultimately contribute in transforming the lives of young Rohingyas forcefully displaced from Myanmar and separated from their families.

As a key member of the research team, I was involved in research design, questionnaire development, enumerator training and supervision, respondent list compilation and finalization, communicating with BRAC’s local staff, and field investigation at the Rohingya camps. I also participated in BIGD’s research seminars and engaging discussions on heterodox issues including gender, poverty, politics and experimental research designs.

After conducting extensive fieldwork at multiple refugee camps and having interacted with numerous Rohingya adults and children, and individuals involved in emergency humanitarian response, I gained a deeper understanding of the complexity of the humanitarian assistance situation, and the economic, socio-political, gender, environmental, and psychological challenges faced by the Rohingya refugees. Moreover, I received first-hand experience of witnessing various improvised strategies used by the Rohingya people during monsoon to survive in the mountainous terrains.

These experiences have allowed me to bridge my academic knowledge with ground reality. I believe this will help me in improvising policy and advocacy tools to improve the lives of over a million Rohingya refugees currently residing in Bangladesh. In the future, I intend on capitalizing on this experience to collaborate with countries and institutions that harbour and serve them. The overall internship experience will also facilitate my pursuit of becoming a leading policy expert by equipping me with cutting-edge academic and practical knowledge, skills, network and exposure needed to address sustainable development challenges especially in the arena of global human rights and humanitarian interventions.

Over the course of the internship, I had the opportunity to connect with the wonderful people at BIGD. I would like to sincerely acknowledge the contributions of all the colleagues at BIGD who have assisted me throughout internship period. Their advice, support and confidence have been a source of encouragement. I am thankful for their constant support.

Internship story by Md Kamruzzaman, MPP Class of 2020