ICMC’s flexible and innovative programs in Jordan, Malaysia, and Pakistan ensured that refugees and vulnerable members of host communities received a range of vital humanitarian services during the second year of the pandemic.
Providing Quality Health Care
ICMC’s 11 medical clinics provided inclusive health care for refugee and host communities in six districts of Pakistan’s remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, home to nearly half of the country’s registered 1.5 million Afghan refugees.
Over 114,050 patients received primary health care, among them 755 people with disabilities. These services included general medical consultations and antenatal and postnatal care. The ICMC team referred more than 1,670 patients for specialized and diagnostic services.
Our hospital and maternity home staff oversaw 3,745 deliveries, while 828 births were supported at ICMC-run labor rooms. Sixty women were referred for emergency services in specialized obstetrical units, and traditional birth attendants assisted 374 mothers to give birth in-clinic or at home. More than 6,720 pregnant women and caregivers benefitted from counseling on feeding infants and young children and on child immunization.
ICMC held over 2,570 sessions to promote better health and hygiene, reaching just under 24,100 community members.
As COVID-19 continued to impact communities in the region, we distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare staff, implemented preventive measures to protect patients and the medical team, and coordinated the distribution of informational materials. Some 13,000 refugees took part in our awareness-raising sessions about COVID-19.
In April, ICMC co-inaugurated a state-of-the-art COVID-19 ward with a 10-bed high dependency unit (HDU) and 4-bed intensive care unit (ICU) at the government-run hospital in Buner district. From 4 April to 31 August, nearly 260 people severely ill with COVID-19 received care in the ward, and more than 1,600 patients with milder symptoms accessed outpatient services.
ICMC Pakistan medical staff at the launch ceremony for the new COVID-19 ward.
[This new COVID-19 ward] will allow refugees, the host community and the population of adjacent districts to access comprehensive specialized care at their doorstep. Having these services close to home is a basic human right with the potential of saving many lives.
Afghan refugees and vulnerable Pakistanis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province received essential health care in 11 ICMC-run clinics
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births were supported through skilled healthcare workers in ICMC programs in northwestern Pakistan
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refugees and vulnerable Pakistanis received COVID-19 care through ICMC's dedicated hospital services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
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per cent of beds in the new ICMC-supported COVID-19 units in Pakistan’s Buner district were occupied from April to August
In Islamabad and Punjab province, ICMC Pakistan provided nearly 340 medical treatments—including consultation, medication, tests, and lactation counseling—to refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Somalia. Refugees also received medical advice regarding COVID-19 and precautionary measures via more than 500 phone consultations. To further protect the refugee community, we held informational sessions about pandemic regulations and ways to prevent the virus.
In Islamabad, ICMC’s Urban Cohesion Hub, which opened in September 2020, also provided care for people’s health. Despite the pandemic, the hub continued to offer children and adults from refugee and host communities a safe place to meet for a variety of social, recreational, and educational activities.
At the hub, we held community meetings on a range of health-related issues, reaching over 800 people. Some 55 of these sessions were specific to COVID-19, giving us the opportunity to discuss preventive measures and distribute hand sanitizer.
Medical staff at the hub assisted over 350 patients and referred 182 to a hospital for COVID-19 treatment. We offered first aid training and equipped people with disabilities with assistive devices such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, and canes to increase their mobility and help them participate more fully in community life.
Meeting Basic Needs
ICMC Jordan met with members of over 2,000 vulnerable households to discuss their need for financial and social support and identify those at particular risk. Among these households, 335 received emergency funds to cover essentials. We supported more than 120 families with cash assistance for housing costs for a period of three months to reduce the risk of their falling into rental debt or being forcibly evicted.
In Pakistan, we provided vulnerable refugee families in Islamabad and Punjab province with different forms of assistance including subsistence allowances, cash assistance for groceries, and one-time financial payment.
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refugees in northwestern Pakistan learned how to improve their overall health and hygiene
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vulnerable refugee and host community households in northern Jordan received emergency financial support
Opening the Path to Self-Sufficiency
In Malaysia, 47 Rohingya refugees took part in an ICMC training program on income-generating activities ranging from sewing and childcare to making hand cleanser and resin dip flowers. Those finishing the program received materials and tools to start their own businesses. We held a digital marketing course for 20 students of the program to support them in advertising their newly acquired skills.
Over 135 Rohingya refugee children and adults completed online English and Malay literacy courses provided by ICMC, while 70 attended digital literacy courses. The latter were designed to respond to the needs of many in the refugee community including students, job-seeking young adults, volunteers with community-based organizations, and safe house caretakers managing records.
By the end of the year, nearly 240 men and women had completed our three-month courses in Arabic and English literacy, and another 85 were enrolled in the program. Learning to read and write enabled students to become more independent and participate more actively in family decision-making.
In Islamabad and Punjab province, ICMC Pakistan enrolled 30 refugees from Afghanistan and other countries in English language and skill development courses. We conducted over 335 counseling sessions on employment and earning a living as a refugee. Some two-thirds of the refugees who received this support, offered both at our offices and in people’s homes, were women. We assisted 21 refugees referred to us by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with job facilitation or enrollment in language or skills courses.
ICMC offered various training at the Urban Cohesion Hub in Islamabad. Over 110 women completed vocational courses in beauty services and sewing and received a toolkit to start work in their new trade. We awarded grants to 50 entrepreneurs to set up their own business and provided small business training to 50 people.
More than 75 individuals were certified in basic computer knowledge, graphic design and office-related software, and 60 students obtained English language certification, boosting both their language skills and self-confidence.
Through the hub, we supported youth groups as they implemented 11 small-scale development projects to improve their community’s infrastructure in the areas of clean water, healthcare, education, and energy conservation.
Every person, regardless of their vulnerability, whether they are a refugee or not, should look up to Sanad and learn from his determination and his commitment to progress.
Rohingya refugees participated in vocational training and literacy classes supported by ICMC Malaysia
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men and women took part in ICMC’s Arabic and English literacy courses in Jordan
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counseling sessions on livelihood opportunities for refugees were conducted by ICMC Pakistan
ICMC Malaysia expanded its livelihood training offerings in 2020 in response to the pandemic with a new course in manufacturing hand sanitizer. Fourteen Rohingya refugee women, half of them survivors of gender-based violence, participated in the training aimed at increasing their ability to earn an income.
Another new ICMC Malaysia training course saw its first class of graduates in early 2020. Eight refugee women completed a program in basic childcare, with refresher classes held remotely later in the year. The course is intended to strengthen childcare services in the refugee community.
Through the Aurora project in Malaysia, ICMC worked to improve literacy among Rohingya refugees in the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang.
A total of 85 adults and children completed ICMC’s basic English course in 2020, and 24 attended classes for conversational and intermediate-level English. ICMC and its partners used a hybrid model to meet national health directives, shifting some classes to a remote format and adapting others to allow for socially distanced in-person learning.
ICMC Malaysia also produced a video promoting English-language training as a path of empowerment for uprooted women and a way to increase gender equality within Rohingya refugee communities.
MEMBER’S STORY
Regreening a Refugee Camp
In August 2017, a violent military crackdown drove an estimated 745,000 people of the persecuted Rohingya minority from their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. They fled across the border to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where lush forests were cut down to provide shelter and fuel for the new arrivals.
Though they found refuge, camp residents had no relief from the hot sun. Floods and landslides became regular occurrences in the deforested camps, forcing people from their new homes and causing some refugees to lose their lives.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2021, Caritas Bangladesh launched a campaign to plant 50,000 trees in Cox’s Bazar to stabilize the hillsides and offer shade. Archbishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader of Chittagong settled the campaign’s first sapling into the ground on 9 September. To help stop deforestation, the year-long Season of Creation initiative is also installing solar streetlights and providing gas cylinders.
A Rohingya refugee joins efforts to re-green camp forests in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
“With the support of the Church, Caritas Bangladesh has taken the initiative to plant trees and conduct activities in the camp by eliminating as much plastic as possible,” says Immanual Chayan Biswas, who heads the ICMC national member’s emergency response operations in Cox’s Bazar. “We have formed groups in the Rohingya camp and host community to take care of the trees.”
The campaign builds on pioneering work that Caritas Bangladesh has been doing with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, since 2018 to reverse the deforestation trend and protect the environment. This work has already borne fruit, according to refugees like Ali Mia, who recalls the heat of the sun when there were no trees for protection. “Before we had no place to sit, but now as the trees [Caritas gave us] grow bigger, our boys and girls can sit in the shade, and we are at peace too.” Also in 2018, ICMC contributed to Caritas Bangladesh’s support of Rohingya refugees by allocating part of the funds it received through the Aurora Prize.
Imam and fellow camp resident Enayet Rahman stress the integral part that the trees play in the life of Cox’s Bazar. “Just as a [hu]man cannot live without a head, so a [hu]man cannot live without a tree. We need a lot of trees, both for us and for the environment. Without trees, we would suffer a lot in summer.”
Such vital environment protection activities make up just one component of Caritas Bangladesh’s humanitarian support for refugees in Cox’s Bazar, which includes assistance such as shelter, wells, latrines, and the provision of essential items, as well as psychosocial and educational activities.
