PSEA in Global Humanitarian Overview

UNHCR’s outreach volunteer programme helps determine how best to reach local communities and how to adapt humanitarian activities accordingly. In the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh, including women as Community Outreach Members proved fundamental to an effective humanitarian response. The Community Outreach Members play a key role in providing information about humanitarian assistance, raising awareness of priority issues and communicating communities’ perceptions to humanitarian organizations. In the words of one front-line UNHCR aid worker: “The Community Outreach Members bring us closer to the refugee community and vice versa. They’re the source of information, they live in the community, they understand very well the community’s priorities and know the gaps in services and infrastructure.”