成人快手

More than one million Rohingya people live in camps in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, Bangladesh 鈥� one of the most concentrated humanitarian emergencies in decades. With so many people in this small area, both the refugees and their host communities face a multitude of challenges, including limited employment prospects, conflict and violence. And young people, especially women and girls, are amongst the most affected.

These young people have spent the majority of their lives in refugee camps, unable to access formal education or work, and governed by societal rules born out of marginalisation and instability. For host communities in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, it is difficult for young people, particularly women, to build a future for themselves and their loved ones. Most cannot afford further education and many struggle to find even basic financial stability with secure work.

But through the 成人快手 Media Action鈥檚 YouthRISE programme, young women in Cox鈥檚 Bazar were given hope by providing them with the life skills and training to set them up for their future.

Through the partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Shushilan and Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), more than 14,000 young men and women in the host communities were reached with life-skills training and counselling support, so they could become more self-reliant. Through this project we also produced an audio drama, Aaiyo Jani (I Know) to address social and gender norms, including tackling gender-based violence and child marriage.

As the project was funded by USAID, it has now been paused.

Stitching success

For young women like Firoza and Maimuna, the 鈥楲earn to Lead鈥� and 鈥楲earn to Earn鈥� training sessions run by the YouthRISE program have changed their and their family鈥檚 financial status.

and, at just 20, Firoza and her husband found they were no longer able to farm their land effectively, amid frequent and more extreme cyclones, flash flooding, landslides and extreme heat. Despite her husband taking work as a day labourer, the family struggled.

After attending these sessions, Firoza learned to make a Nakshi Kantha, a traditional Bangladeshi hand-stitched blanket that is in high demand in urban areas..

Firoza now gets regular orders, earning 20,000 BDT ($183) in the last three months. As well as contributing to the financial stability of her family, she now wants to pursue entrepreneurship 鈥� a lifelong dream.

Influx of orders

Maimuna, 19, also attended the 鈥楲earn to Earn鈥� sessions, and learned tailoring. Having already taught herself to hand-knit a tupi (prayer hat), the sessions provided Maimuna with a sewing machine, which enabled her to fulfil an influx of orders in advance of Eid Ul-Fitr in 2024. She also began teaching other girls in her community, such as Kaniz, her neighbour.

With her new-found earnings and reputation, Maimuna wants to contribute towards her family and invest in her own education, which her family cannot pay for.

The work done so far by the YouthRISE program has provided young women and girls in Cox's Bazar with the skills and equipment needed to gain their own financial stability, make a living for themselves and give them new hope in the future. With the help of the sessions provided, the broken dreams of these young women are just beginning to be stitched back together.