An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh Other research has shown that despite the existence of district level administrative mechanisms with clear responsibilities for each phase of disaster cycles, decision-making on disaster governance remains largely centralised at the national level with limited participation of affected communities.245 This chapter seeks to explore the nature and scope of localisation debates in the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh and understand why and how it is contested by different actors in the response. It will also attempt to explain and critically analyse the different types of ‘capacity’ contributing towards implementation of the response. Lastly, the key areas of commonality and collaboration between different stakeholders will be identified for building and supporting a localised Rohingya refugee response that is complementary and sustainable. 5.2 Perspectives on localisation Cox’s Bazar district has received Rohingya refugees since the 1970s but the rapid increase and largescale presence of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar since 2017 had a considerable socio-economic and environmental impact,246 particularly in Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas (sub-districts) hosting a large majority of the refugees. Understandably, the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions exacerbated the needs of both refugee and Bangladeshi communities in the district.247 Since 2017, the humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar has evolved from addressing the immediate needs of Rohingya communities to also considering the impacts of the humanitarian crisis on the district as a whole. While the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar is situated within the national disaster management framework, it operates on a completely parallel track of governance creating risks and challenges for humanitarian coordination, accountability and localisation.248 Within this governance paradigm, the localisation landscape in the Rohingya refugee response presents conflicted and contested understandings of localisation and how it should be achieved. These different perspectives and interpretations may be broadly categorised as follows: 5.2.1 Actor and location-centred approaches 5.2.1.1 National leadership One of the key Grand Bargain commitments was to promote and support national and local leadership in humanitarian action. The GCR also calls for government leadership for an effective refugee response. The Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh is led and coordinated by the Government with support of donors and humanitarian partners. At the national level, the National Task Force led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comprising 22 Ministries is the key policy-making body in the response and at the Cox’s Bazar level, the RRRC has oversight over the Rohingya refugees in the camps 245 Shohid Mohammad Saidul Huq, “Community Based Disaster Management Strategy in Bangladesh: Present Status, Future Prospects and challenges”, European Journal of Research in Social Sciences 5:2, 2016 246 ACAPS-NPM, supra n. 105. 247 As per recent assessments, 93% of Bangladeshi households in Ukhiya and Teknaf reported loss of income/livelihoods during the pandemic with food consumption scores declining from 72 to 43% as compared to 2019. 99% of Bangladeshi households reported adapting emergency/ crisis coping strategies, particularly female headed households, small households and households with persons with disabilities. See, ISCG, Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (J-MSNA)- Bangladesh Host Community, July-August 2020, available at https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/msna_2020_factsh eet_host_communities.pdf 248 Alistair Cook and Yen Ne Foo, Towards ‘shared’ and ‘complex’ disaster governance in Bangladesh: The 2017 Rohingya Exodus, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 39, July 2019, p. 4, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334281046_Towards_'shared'_and_'complex'_disaster_governance_in_Bangla desh_The_2017_Rohingya_Exodus Act for Peace / May 2021 55