POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 1. INCREASE ECONOMIC SELF-RELIANCE INSIDE THE CAMPS Paid work provides refugee families with livelihoods and a sense of self-reliance. A large percentage of households already benefit from Cash for Work and NGO volunteer jobs each month. Making such jobs available to more households would help. So would developing a cash transfer system that enables refugees to purchase goods in camp marketplaces using aid money. In addition, the aid community and the government of Bangladesh should work together on more comprehensive and sustainable livelihood solutions that are acceptable to host communities and contribute to the regional and national economy. 2. EMBRACE LOCALIZED APPROACHES TO HUMANITARIAN AID AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Current directives stipulate that a quarter of aid should be allocated to host communities. While this has been useful in the short term, it does not address longer-term development needs and could impede local markets by creating aid dependency in communities that still maintain a degree of self-sufficiency. Vocational training is needed to develop the skills of the local labor pool. Sustainable livelihood schemes should be designed to support regional economic and environmental resilience. Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies should do more to engage refugees in humanitarian planning. Camp security and stability will be more easily achieved when refugee livelihood and rehabilitation priorities are made a central concern. 3. SUPPORT UN CALLS FOR LIFTING THE INTERNET BLACKOUT The current internet blackout cuts off refugees from family support networks that would be a crucial resource in the event of repatriation. It also impedes access to information, with potentially devastating consequences in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The international community must support UN calls for lifting the internet ban. To assuage security concerns and avoid illicit procurement, refugees should be granted the right to purchase and register SIM cards using the smartcards issued as identity documents by the government of Bangladesh and UNHCR. THE X-BORDER LOCAL RESEARCH NETWORK In Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, conflict and instability endure in contested border regions where local tensions connect with regional and global dynamics. With the establishment of the X-Border Local Research Network, The Asia Foundation, the Carnegie Middle East Center, the Rift Valley Institute, and their local research partners are working together to improve our understanding of political, economic, and social dynamics in the conflict-affected borderlands of Asia, the Middle East, and the Horn of Africa and the flows of people, goods, and ideas that connect them. This five-year program, initiated in 2018, produces research to inform more effective policymaking and programming. It builds, maintains, and expands local research networks in some of the most remote and difficult conflict-affected regions. Finally, it supports improvements in local research methods and capacity. The X-Border Local Research Network is supported by UK aid from the UK government. All views are those of the research team and are not necessarily shared by The Asia Foundation or the UK government.