Allocation of the Humanitarian Fund for Central African Republic, 20 December 2023

The Central African Republic Humanitarian Fund allocates 13 million US dollars to support innovative approaches to assist the most vulnerable people

Bangui, 20 December 2023 - The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Central African Republic (CAR), Mr. Mohamed Ag Ayoya, has allocated 13 million US dollars from the Humanitarian Fund to address the most urgent humanitarian needs of approximately 150,000 internally displaced, returnees, and their host communities in the southeast region of the country and other hard-to-reach and underserved areas. This allocation aims to promote innovative approaches through a multisectoral and integrated response, taking into account child protection and gender-based violence, while supporting accountability to affected people and the localization of humanitarian aid.

The southeast part of the country, particularly Haut-Mbomou, which is already among the most affected areas by conflict in the country, has seen its security and humanitarian situation progressively deteriorate since March 2023. Armed groups clash amid community conflicts and competition over resources, have caused devastating effects on the population. Thousands of people in hard-to-reach areas, lacking vital assistance for an extended period, were at risk of worsening vulnerabilities, particularly in the sectors of health, clean water, emergency shelter, and nutrition. In the eastern town of Yalinga, it was only this year that humanitarian organizations managed to reach the population by road after three years of access difficulties.

"Fathers and mothers in the southeast, along with other community members, have been killed, thousands have moved in search of safe environments, and they deserve to see an alleviation of their suffering, but the assistance we provide alone will not be sufficient," explained Mr. Ag Ayoya. In 2023, 3.4 million Central Africans are extremely vulnerable. To address the decade-long Central African crisis, humanitarian efforts need to align with those of other actors, particularly those from the development world. "I call on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and protect civilians who remain the primary victims of this conflict," Mr. Ag Ayoya concluded.

This allocation particularly emphasizes progress made on localization in the country. National humanitarian organizations have been directly funded to implement humanitarian projects and capacity-building programs for other national and local NGOs. Localization is a strategic focus of the 2023 humanitarian response, with the direct funding rate of national organizations by the Humanitarian Fund increasing to 24%, up from 7% the previous year. This strategy will also facilitate access to populations in need living in isolated areas.

The allocation will further strengthen accountability to affected persons through mobile collective feedback mechanisms. Accountability has always been at the core of the humanitarian response in CAR. The analysis of the needs for 2024, for instance, greatly involved affected people, consulting 28,000 households across the country.

The allocated funds will target the most vulnerable populations in the prefectures of Haute-Kotto, Haut-Mbomou, Mbomou, Kémo, Nana-Gribizi, Ouham, and Ouaka.

For more info, please contact

Anais Hotin, Public Information Officer, anais.hotin@un.org; +236 70 60 82 74

Vedaste Kalima, Head of Office, vedaste@un.org, + 236 70 60 10 66

About the Central African Republic Humanitarian Fund (CAR HF) Etablished in 2008, the Fund aims at responding to emergency situations or when an exising crisis deteriorates. Over the past three years, CAR HF has financed 227 projects for a total of 99 million US dollars to address the most pressing needs of the most vulnerable people in Central African Republic. In 2023, CAR HF received support from Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, the United States of America, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg and Jersey.