Central African Republic: $399.5 million to save 2.2 million lives

Bangui, 13 January 2017 – The Government of the Central African Republic and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) officially launched today, 13 January 2017, the 2017-2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). With a budget of US$ 399.5 million, it aims to meet the basic needs of 2.2 million Central Africans. This planning document built around three strategic objectives, aspires to save more lives, strengthen the protection of affected populations and preserve human dignity by restoring access to basic social services and livelihoods.

The launch of the 2017-2019 Humanitarian Response Plan is taking place in a context marked by a deterioration in the security situation, particularly in the second half of 2016, with a growing number of hot spots. This degradation has generated new humanitarian emergencies and exacerbated the vulnerability of more than 70,000 newly displaced people. “It defies our protection and planning efforts and seriously impedes humanitarian access," said Minister of Social Affairs and National Reconciliation Virginie Baikoua.

“To this is added to an unfavorable international economic situation with regard to the financing of humanitarian action. New crises arise elsewhere in the world and attract the attention of donors because of their acuity and their dreadful effects on civilian populations” said Dr. Michel N'da Konan Yao, Acting Humanitarian Coordinator.

Against this background, Virginie Baikoua and Michel Yao called on donors to increase their engagement with CAR in order to consolidate the achievements made during previous years and respond to new emergencies. In 2016, as of December only 36.2% of the Humanitarian Response Plan amounting $ 531.5 million was not funded. Adequate funding for the Humanitarian Response Plan will provide food assistance to 900,000 people. In any humanitarian crisis, food security is a primary need. In 2017, $ 128.5 million will be dedicated to this priority.

Along with national authorities, a strong advocacy campaign is under way to further mobilize donors around humanitarian action in order to ensure that CAR is not a forgotten or neglected crisis and financing meets the needs. In this vein, a synergy links the Humanitarian Response Plan and the CAR Recovery and Peace Consolidation Strategy (RCPCA). The common objective is to strengthen resilience to shocks and the autonomy of the communities in order to gradually move from the humanitarian to the recovery.

Presided over by the Acting Humanitarian Coordinator Dr. Michel N'da Konan Yao and the Minister for Social Affairs and National Reconciliation Virginie Baikoua, the launch was attended by the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Parfait Onanga Anyanga, the representatives of the Government, Diplomatic Corps, members of the HCT, representatives of national and international NGOs as well as the media.

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter OCHA RCA Joseph Inganji, Chef de bureau, +236 70738730, inganji@un.org

Yaye Nabo Séne, Cheffe, Information publique + 236 70 08 75 65, seney@un.org Les communiqués de presses d’OCHA sont disponibles sur www.unocha.org ou www.reliefweb.int