Report 'A Roadmap for Energy Access in Displacement Settings: Bangladesh' launched by GPA-UNITAR

The Roadmaps for Energy Access in Displacement Settings (READS) Programme Bangladesh report has recently been published by the GPA-UNITAR, with Dr Rihab Khalid (MECS) as a co-author. The roadmap consolidates evidence and practitioner experience on electricity and cooking access in the Rohingya response (Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char) and translates this into time-bound goals and prioritised, high-impact project concepts to inform future programming and investment.

The report highlights MECS’ role in supporting some of the earliest solar e-cooking feasibility and pilot work in the Rohingya camps, led by the GPA Coordination Unit in collaboration with Practical Action and IUCN. This MECS-funded study combined a 1,000-household baseline survey and 54 market surveys with a small-scale pilot involving 40 households using solar PV systems and efficient e-Cooking appliances.

The report also presents investable project design concepts developed through co-design workshops conducted by GPA and MECS colleagues together with local partners and refugees in Cox’s Bazar, translating refugee and practitioner priorities into practical options for scaling clean electricity and e-cooking across camps and services.