Central African Republic:
Enduring Extreme Hunger & Violence
The Central African Republic (C.A.R.) ranks second to last in the 2018 Human Development Index, with almost all of its people living in poverty. And seemingly never ending cycles of political crisis and insecurity hit women in rural communities hardest.
Internal armed conflict has devastated the Central African Republic since 2014, continuing to force people to flee their homes and causing a severe breakdown in social systems. Renewed violence since 2017 has meant even more displacement with over one million people displaced.
of people live in poverty
people are displaced across the country or sheltering in neighboring countries
people need humanitarian assistance
Enduring Political chaos
Although a new president and general assembly were elected in March 2016, large areas of the territory are still controlled by armed groups and the security situation remains volatile. While the signing of a Peace Agreement between the Government and 14-armed groups in February 2019 has improved the stability of certain areas, the humanitarian situation continues to be critical.
With livelihoods disrupted by conflict, food production and household purchasing power have weakened. Rising food prices mean that 65 to 75 percent of disposable income is now spent on food, and, according to the latest IPC Report, 45 percent of the population (2.1 million people) are food insecure. Of these, 85 percent are severely food insecure (1.8 million). Around 40 percent of children aged between 6 months and 5 years are stunted, their growth limited by lack of nutrients in their diet.
According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2022 (OCHA), humanitarian needs in CAR are at their highest level since 2015.
WFP’s Work in CENTRAL african republic
In collaboration with other humanitarian organizations, we’ve been providing emergency food and nutrition assistance to conflict-affected people in the C.A.R. Our crisis response work continues as we shift towards developing and supporting the Government’s own Zero Hunger policies and social security programs. We’re working to strengthen the country’s capacity for leading future crisis response and resilience-building.
We help vulnerable communities meet their basic food and nutrition needs by distributing food – including specialized nutritious foods – and/or cash. As areas become more stable, refugees and others affected by the crisis will be helped to return home and focus will shift towards helping them recover their livelihoods. School feeding programs improve children’s nutrition and school attendance in areas facing food insecurity.
To help build long-term resilience, we’re working to improve the nutrition of vulnerable groups including children, people with disabilities and HIV patients. And as part of a revised response operation, 36,000 children under 5 will receive fortified food each day, part of a program designed to treat and prevent malnutrition. This program also supports vaccination, better water and sanitation, health training and women’s empowerment.
We help smallholder farmers to restore and enhance their productive assets, aiming to improve productivity and food security, as well as building resilience to future crises. Farmers receive transfers to grow crops and gain some independence, as well as technical assistance and market opportunities to improve their incomes and food and nutrition security. School meals and general food distributions programs purchase from smallholders; in 2018 benefiting 46,000 farmers (60 percent of them women).
Working with other UN agencies and government institutions, We aim to strengthen national humanitarian and early recovery capacities, support the Government in developing and delivering its own Zero Hunger policies and social protection programs, which in turn will also incorporate initiatives to improve gender equality. These activities will be supported by detailed data and the development of monitoring and accountability systems.
Long distances, poor infrastructure, insecurity and the absence of commercial airlines stand in the way of achieving Zero Hunger in the C.A.R. To improve humanitarian access, communications and logistics, we runs the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and lead the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) and Logistics Cluster to ensure safe, reliable and efficient access to populations in need.
Help Save Lives by Sending Food
You can help deliver food to vulnerable populations in Central African Republic and other countries by donating to WFP.
