Countries: Bangladesh, Myanmar Source: ODI - Humanitarian Practice Network In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, funding cuts are no longer only a planning concern. They are changing everyday operational decisions: how much food assistance can be sustained, which health facilities remain fully functional, which shelter improvements are delayed, how many staff members can be retained, and how much community follow-up is realistic when teams are smaller. The Rohingya response remains one of the largest refugee operations in the world. More than one million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh, most of them in Cox’s Bazar, where restrictions on movement and limited access to formal livelihoods leave families heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance. The 2025−26 Joint Response Plan (JRP) required $934.5 million in 2025 to reach 1.48 million people, including Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and affected Bangladeshi host communities. The same plan brought together 113 partners, about half of them national organisations from Bangladesh. By the end of 2025, however, the response was still less than half funded. The official JRP funding update recorded $434.5 million received, or 46% funded by the end of the year. For implementing organisations, that gap is a staffing problem, a service-quality problem, a risk-management problem and, ultimately, a protection problem. When budgets fall, the effects do not move neatly through one sector. A delayed shelter repair can increase fire or monsoon risk. A health facility operating at reduced capacity pushes patients elsewhere. A smaller outreach team means rumours, complaints and exclusion risks are detected later. Reduced staffing and remuneration packages pass the funding gap onto the people expected to keep services running. Read full article here