A multipurpose facility centre was inaugurated at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar on Wednesday for the supply of food and other facilities to Rohingya camps and local people in the events of disaster.
The construction of the Multi Purpose Facility Centre (MPFC) has been co-funded by the World Food Program (WFP) while World Vision is operating it.
Emergency food security and other services will be provided to 34 Rohingya camps and local people from the centre. It has been built based on the experience of dealing with the challenges that have come up in providing food after the devastating fires at Rohingya camps at various times.
Besides providing food and other facilities during disasters from the centre, it will be used for various activities, including holding training and workshops in normal times.
World Food Program Senior Emergency Co-ordinator Sheila Grudem was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony presided over by World Vision's Bangladesh Rohingya Crisis Response Director Fredrick Christopher. Special guests were Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Md Shamsud Douza, World Vision Bangladesh National Director Suresh Bartlett and Senior Director of Operations Chandan Z Gomez.
Also present at the event were officials of UN High Commission for Refugees, Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Save the Children and Bangla-German Sampreeti (BGS), and local media representatives.
Guests at the inaugural ceremony praised the initiative, saying the construction of the centre would benefit the Rohingya camps as well as the local people. In the mega kitchen set up at the centre, food is cooked in a healthy and nutritious way as per the advice of the World Food Program.
The centre has already provided more than 20,000 packets of food to those affected in the January and March fires in the Rohingya camps.
