Central African Republic - Common Humanitarian Fund - OCHA 2020

March 2020 - After a brief period of calm in 2016 the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) started to deteriorate in 2017. This has continued through late 2019 where a resurgence of direct confrontations between armed actors was observed. This combined with continued insecurity led to suspensions of movements of humanitarian actors impacting the humanitarian response. CAR is one of the most dangerous contexts in the world for humanitarian workers. The crisis in CAR is very much a protection crisis with violence against civilians particularly women and girls and SGBV cases commonplace. Approximately 35% of the population is food insecure and only 50% of the population has access to clean water. Regular violence across the country that is controlled by armed groups continues to exacerbate displacement; currently over one quarter of the country's population is displaced either internally (600 100) or as refugees in neighbouring countries (592 000). GAC and other donors are providing funding to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the Central African Republic Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF). This Fund provides timely allocations to national and international NGOs as well as UN agencies to address some of the most critical humanitarian needs in CAR. The CHF’s main objectives include: (1) supporting timely responses to sudden crises and critical gaps in humanitarian operations; (2) supporting the transportation of humanitarian supplies and personnel as well as improved communications and storage capacity; and (3) capacity-building for national non-governmental organizations equipping them with strengthened financial and management tools to implement humanitarian responses.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access for the most vulnerable to life-saving humanitarian assistance (e.g. food nutrition health protection shelter water sanitation and hygiene support); (2) increased capacity of the humanitarian system to respond to urgent needs; and (3) increased capacity among national humanitarian organizations to effectively respond to urgent needs. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crises or acute food insecurity.