Central African Republic

*We are currently responding to the threat of COVID-19 in Central African Republic. Find out more about our response here.

The Central African Republic remains one of the most fragile countries in the world, ranked 188 out of 189 by the Human Development Index.

In 2022, 3.1 million people - 63% of the population - need humanitarian assistance and protection, a level not seen in five years (OCHA February 2022), including 1.9 million people who are in a critical situation due to the deep and complex crisis that the country continues to face. 

Violence in CAR has ushered in new conflict dynamics in 2021.

Hundreds of thousands of people across the country have been forced to flee, reaching the highest level of displacement recorded since 2014 in September 2021, with 722,000 internally displaced people. In this context, risks for the protection and survival of Central Africans have multiplied.

Further, the country faces a food security and nutrition crisis. The Global Hunger Index ranked CAR 114 out of 116 countries in 2021, a situation classified as “alarming”, with indicators such as child mortality, undernourishment rate and child stunting being among the highest in the world. 

Concern has been alleviating poverty in CAR since 2014, following the outbreak of the civil war in 2013, and now works in two areas and four sub-prefectures: the South West (Ombella M’Poko and Lobaye prefectures) and the South East (Ouaka and Basse-Kotto prefectures).

Programmes are designed to be multisectoral and work on several leverages of poverty at the same time.

Hence, in 2021, we reached approximately 152,000 people with integrated livelihoods, health and nutrition, WAsH, conflict resolution and gender equality activities, helping to increase their resilience to shocks and stresses. 

In addition, Concern implements several transversal strategies, such as the gender strategy to foster gender equality at all levels. They echo Concern’s commitment to key principles of humanitarian action, such as local ownership and sustainability and the do no harm principle.

For example, in 2022, for the first time, Concern will partner with two national NGOs to implement its literacy and gender-based violence (VBG) activities in the South-East part of the country, transferring skills and generating additional economic spillovers for the local economy.