Japan and Bangladesh’s Bilateral Cooperation supporting Resilience in Cox’s Bazar and Surrounding Areas

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is the largest bilateral development partner to Bangladesh, reflecting a strong relationship between the two countries. JICA's development cooperation in Bangladesh began with volunteer programme in 1973 shortly after Bangladesh’s independence, and continues today, including through pledges made by JICA at the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) 2023.

JICA’s development assistance consists of both soft and hard components, including loan projects, technical cooperation, grant aid projects and public-private partnerships. At a macro level, JICA has provided substantial Yen loans to develop large-scale infrastructure, such as MRT (Mass Rapid Transit System), ports, and highways. These projects serve as a key foundation for sustainable economic development of Bangladesh. JICA has also strongly supported human development across various fields such as education, agriculture, and health in Bangladesh. For example, JICA has been supporting the improvement of primary math and science education in Bangladesh for 20 years, providing comprehensive support through curriculum and teaching material development, teacher’s training programmes as well as the capacity development of the primary education administrators.

When hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled violence and conflict in Myanmar and sought refuge in Cox’s Bazar in neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017, humanitarian organizations primarily provided emergency support to the newly arrived refugees. Recognizing the impact on surrounding host communities, JICA aligned its support to ease pressure on host communities through initiatives that enhanced access to livelihoods, social services and development of key infrastructure in these regions. Over time, JICA’s efforts have been focusing on creating an enabling environment that promotes social cohesion and enhancing the resilience of communities in Cox’s Bazar and surrounding areas.

Cox's Bazar has a 120 kilometer coastline along the Bay of Bengal, and approximately 30 per cent of the district's workforce is engaged in fisheries. However, fishers in the region often lack essential resources, such as boats, and have traditionally relied on monthly or daily wages from fishing, or seasonal labor outside of fishing for their livelihoods. The influx of Rohingya since 2017 has increased the overall demand for fish; however, it has also intensified labor market competition, possibly reducing labor opportunities and wages. All these factors have made it increasingly challenging for host communities to sustain livelihoods through fishing, aquaculture, and daily labor as before.

In response to this situation, JICA pledged a commitment to support Bangladesh as part of the multi-stakeholder pledges on Rohingya Refugees - Expanded Resilience, Enhanced Solutions, and to Accelerate and Better Leverage Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Approaches in Forced Displacement Settings at the GRF 2023. This led to the launch of JICA’s technical cooperation project, “Fisheries Livelihood Enhancement Project in the Coastal Area of the Bay of Bengal”. Through this project, local fishers and their families (mostly women) have been supported not only with training about tilapia and seaweed aquaculture, but also to learn alternative income generating skills, such as goat rearing, poultry rearing, tailoring, and grocery business. In line with JICA’s gender mainstreaming policy, the project also places a strong emphasis on women’s participation, ensuring that local women are actively involved in capacity-building processes. For instance, one woman who joined the Women Income and Savings Group learned about nutrient-rich homestead gardening, cooking, saving money, and small business management. With support from the project, she opened a small shop, which now provides a stable income that helps her children’s education. To complement this capacity development and livelihood support, JICA also initiated a project to rebuild the Fish Landing Center (The Project for the Improvement of Fish Landing Center of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation in Cox’s Bazar District), which will directly benefit approximately 2,000 people per day, including shipowners, fishers, distributors, and workers, and approximately 200,000 people including fresh fish buyers and consumers at the end.

In addition to the efforts in host communities, JICA has also been providing since 2024 capacity development support to Bangladesh’s Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), the body responsible for managing the Rohingya camps. In this project, JICA has dispatched an advisor to the RRRC Office in Cox’s Bazar, whose role encompasses the development of a detailed organizational structure for the office, the formulation of standardized operational procedures for its officials, and the provision of capacity-building trainings. Their efforts help improve the efficiency and accountability of the office, streamline various chains of activities as well as strengthen its resilience.

As humanitarian response for refugees becomes strained in the context of decreased funding in 2025, Japan and JICA are still standing steadfast to support Bangladesh. Considering the needs of the host community, recent developments necessitate strengthening HDP Nexus approaches and initiating new support modalities, and thereby inviting other stakeholders to join the HDP Nexus Multi-stakeholder Pledge. Fostering sustainable development of the region, JICA’s bilateral support to Bangladesh takes a longer-term approach, promoting locally led development, trust-building, and resilience for both host and Rohingya communities.

These efforts and commitments contribute to and complement the pledges made by Japan and JICA at the GRF 2023, which were highlighted at the GRF Progress Review in December 2025, including during the Strategic Dialogue on the Rohingya Multi-stakeholder Pledge.

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