An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh and education workers moved to work for humanitarian agencies creating disruptions in delivery of public services.271 Local NGOs have also expressed concerns that staff poaching by UN agencies and international NGOs at higher salaries are affecting their sustainability.272 Tensions between host community and international actors have grown over the alleged prioritisation of Rohingya over locals273 and the lack of availability of jobs for Cox’s Bazar residents in the Rohingya refugee response.274 While significant resources have been allocated by development and humanitarian partners in Cox’s Bazar within and outside the scope of the JRP,275 more analysis is needed on the impact of humanitarian sector’s hiring practices on the local job market. 5.2.2.2 Local Capacity In the absence of a clear definition of ‘local capacity’, it is difficult to measure the capacity of local actors in a humanitarian response. In the Rohingya refugee response too, there has been no systematic and substantive efforts at mapping the different stakeholders and their capacity to respond, creating subjective and conflicting understandings and perspectives among different actors. Independent UN evaluations of the Rohingya refugee response has acknowledged that Bangladeshi NGOs have strong capacity in responding to natural disasters but do not have comparative advantage in terms of delivering refugee protection.276 An important piece of research by Overseas Development Institute277 (ODI) explores the diversity of views expressed by local and international actors with regard to ‘capacity’. While international NGOs were seen to have technical expertise, financial resources and capacity to scale up operations, local and national actors were strong in terms of contextual and cultural knowledge, understanding of host community needs and leadership structures of national and local authorities and the ability to navigate them.278 Systematic capacity exchange is needed between local and international actors on international humanitarian principles and practices, displacement related vulnerabilities, contextual analysis as well as local ways of working. Independent UN evaluations279 have shown that Bangladeshi NGOs are used to working in collaboration with authorities and find it difficult to engage on protection advocacy which requires a certain degree of independence. Divergent mandates and operational priorities and different approaches on refugee protection may also limit prospects for collective advocacy. Protection and gender mainstreaming efforts across sectors are trying to reconcile these challenges to a limited extent by creating a common understanding of humanitarian principles and operational priorities. 280 ODI found evidence of international agencies engaging in different levels of capacity strengthening of local partners to make their programmes compliant with international humanitarian standards and processes without simultaneously conducting a capacity assessment of these actors to accurately 271 Khaled, supra n. 267. COAST Trust, supra n. 257, p.6. 273 Bangladeshis protest against foreign NGOs employing Rohingya, 28 December 2020, available at https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/12/28/bangladeshis-protest-against-foreign-ngos-employing-rohingya 274 JRP 2020, supra n. 64, p. 35 275 Ibid. 276 Sida and Schenkenberg, supra n.152, p.12 277 For more details, see Chapter 3, Wake and Bryant, supra n. 174. 278 Ibid. 279 Sida and Schenkenberg, supra n.152, p.12 280 JRP 2020, supra n. 64. 272 60 Act for Peace / May 2021