WFP and architect Marina Tabassum inaugurate new aggregation centre for host community farmers in Teknaf
COX’S BAZAR – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) are proud to inaugurate a new aggregation centre where farmers bring their produce for processing, storage and to meet and negotiate prices with buyers in Montoliya, Teknaf Upazila, Cox’s Bazar district.
The centre, designed by internationally renowned architect Marina Tabassum, uses an innovative bamboo structure and integrates sustainable design elements, including passive cooling, energy efficient design and the use of renewable materials. It will also serve as a community space and training centre, with electricity provided through solar panels.
“Built through a collaborative process that prioritized the needs of the community, this new aggregation centre is part of our commitment to bring an environmental and community focus to the structures we build in Cox’s Bazar,” said Richard Ragan, WFP’s Representative in Bangladesh. “We’re grateful for our collaboration with Marina Tabassum, who artfully integrates these values in her work,” Ragan added.
At the aggregation centres, farmers in the host community of Cox’s Bazar find a reliable space to sell their produce and thus improve their incomes – including by supplying fresh, locally produced foods to the Rohingya refugee camps. Each centre has an auto-rickshaw service that helps collect and distribute the farmers’ produce every day. Since 2020, WFP has established 25 such aggregation centres in Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts.
The centres, that strengthen market linkages, complement WFP’s other efforts to boost livelihoods of host community families in Cox’s Bazar, such as the Enhancing Food Security and Nutrition (EFSN) programme. The EFSN programme empowers women by providing business and entrepreneurship skills trainings as well as cash grants to help them start or expand their economic activities, like vegetable farming or poultry rearing. It currently supports more than 25,000 vulnerable women in Ukhiya, Teknaf, Moheshkhali, Pekua and Kutubdia subdistricts.
WFP’s market linkage and livelihoods programmes in the host community of Cox’s Bazar are generously supported by the governments of Canada, France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
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About Marina Tabassum:
Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum is the founder and principal of MTA. Her work aims to elevate the lives and living conditions of Bangladesh’s vulnerable communities, such as the ultra-poor and populations affected by the climate. Her pioneering work is changing the ways in which communities, architecture, and environment interact. MTA is currently working with WFP in the Rohingya Refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar as well as in the host communities to deliver sustainable, community-focused, and climate-adapted design solutions.
She is the recipient of the prestigious 2021 Soane Medal for Architecture, the 2021 Gold Medal by the French Academy of Architecture, the 2021 Arnold W. Bruner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2021, and the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture among others.
About the World Food Programme (WFP):
The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
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