The Role of Local NGOs in Promoting Peace and Conflict Resolution in Rohingya Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh represents one of the world’s largest humanitarian ‎emergencies. While international agencies dominate large-scale relief, local NGOs play crucial ‎but often overlooked roles in sustaining everyday peace within the camps of Cox’s Bazar. ‎Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork between 2022 and 2024, this paper explores how local ‎NGOs promote conflict resolution through youth engagement, community mediation, ‎psychosocial support, gender-sensitive programs, and rumour management. Findings indicate ‎that these organizations function as trusted intermediaries and informal peacebuilders, yet face ‎severe structural barriers including short-term funding, bureaucratic control, and political ‎sensitivities that limit rights-based work. The paper situates these efforts within broader debates ‎on humanitarian localization and concludes with recommendations to strengthen the role of ‎local actors in sustainable peacebuilding.‎