An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh The pursuance of short-term strategies potentially exposes both refugee and host communities to greater insecurity, instability, and unpredictability. Idleness, lack of access to education, health, and livelihoods over an extended period of time; along with growing division among communities and humanitarian stakeholders undermine general effectiveness of the Rohingya refugee response, with consequences that compound over time, putting Bangladesh’s international goodwill and domestic interests at risk. While the Rohingya refugee response coordination framework has continued to adjust to the evolving political and operational realities in Bangladesh, the humanitarian landscape is complicated by ad-hoc approaches and gaps in inter-agency collaboration and accountability. The recent military coup in Myanmar has delayed prospects of peace in Rakhine State and will have a significant impact on Rohingya repatriation and rehabilitation in Myanmar. Further, there has been limited progress towards the development of a comprehensive Rohingya refugee response plan and international and regional responsibility sharing arrangements, including the identification of sustainable solutions. While the international community needs to continue pressuring Myanmar to create conducive conditions for safe, dignified and voluntary refugee returns, Rohingya need protection and assistance in Bangladesh, and around the globe, in the meantime. Their lives and futures will remain in limbo until a durable solution is found in Myanmar or elsewhere. 1.2 The Way Forward: Need for Whole-of-society-approach. Given the context, the ‘multi-stakeholder and partnership approach’ or ‘whole-of-society-approach’ that underpins the recently negotiated Global Compacts could provide a valuable concept in guiding collaborative and complementary approaches to refugee protection in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has formally endorsed the New York Declaration for refugees and migrants, the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), which includes a commitment to the “multi-stakeholder and partnership approach” or the “whole-ofsociety-approach”. To ensure a sustainable and dignified response, however, a nuanced understanding of the contextual sensitivities and local ways of working is required, in order to utilize and benefit from the specific capacities of different stakeholders. Based on that knowledge, wider networks and alliances need to be built to advocate towards achieving shared humanitarian objectives for the improvement of the lives of Rohingya refugees and host communities. This report aims to analyse and propose a way forward for a dignified and sustainable agenda for the Rohingya response in Bangladesh in accordance with the whole-of-society-approach around three key pillars: Refugee Protection, Humanitarian Coordination and Localisation. A set of recommendations have been put forward around these three core areas of work in the Rohingya refugee response. 8 Act for Peace / May 2021