For years, the Central African Republic has had “good funding prospects,” with humanitarian appeals garnering 95 percent support. However, the 2025 plan received less than 40 percent funding and only 17 percent of the $268 million needed this year has been received to date.
Fears of returning to “crisis mode”
“The country is fragile, but the country has hope.“, he said, but warned that “if we do not maintain financing, we will find ourselves returning to crisis mode: a context, a situation that we cannot afford.”
The Central African Republic has faced recurring cycles of conflict since 2013, when the predominantly Muslim Séléka rebels took power, prompting the rise of the mainly Christian anti-Balaka movement. A UN mission, MINUSCA, continues to support peace efforts.
Of a population of around six million people, 2.3 million need assistance. Humanitarians target more than half, 1.3 million. One in five citizens is displaced.
‘Things are changing’
Wosornu traveled to Zemio, a city in the southeast, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), “where there is some insecurity.” However, the situation has changed in the last six months as internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were taking refuge in a church returned to their communities.
People cultivate their lands “when there is peace”, with support of a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)while international medical NGO ALIMA, which receives funding from the UN, operates fortnightly mobile clinics serving up to 70 people at a time.
During her visit, Ms. Wosornu met with the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the Minister of Humanitarian Action and local authorities in Zemio.
It’s “clear that things are changing,” he said. “However, it is also very clear that Progress can quickly unravel if attention and funding are not sustained..”
Fragile but generous
Despite its fragility, the Central African Republic is also “generous”. The country hosts refugees from Chad. Another 36,000 people from war-torn Sudan have found refuge there and have been given land by authorities.
Among the Sudanese refugees are doctors and nurses who want to support humanitarian operations in the Central African Republic.
He said the OCHA team on the ground “was wondering ‘how can we support these refugees who have come but also help them feed the economy and support them in that sense?’”
OCHA Global Crisis Chief Edem Wosornu (center left) meets with a group of women in Zemio, Central African Republic.
Humanitarian staff forced to cut
Ms. Wosornu highlighted her conversations with the local population of Zemio, as a community leader and mother named Fane who only wants stability and peace, healthcare and education for her children, and support for her livelihood.
However, funding cuts threaten the humanitarian response, even though it only costs $16 to feed a displaced person for three months and $26 to provide medical care for an entire year.
International NGOs have closed 20 percent of their offices and satellite offices, or 120 of 634.
The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, noted a reduction in reports of gender-based violence “not because it is not happening, but because we do not have the capacity as humanitarian workers to be across the country.” OCHA has also been affected.
“We used to have 15 sub-offices and antenna offices across the country. We reduced them to seven and I saw firsthand what that means,” he said.
Meanwhile, humanitarian partners are concerned, particularly those working in health, because “Communicable diseases are very, very rampant.”In addition, the Central African Republic is surrounded by several fragile states.
Ms. Wosornu highlighted the need to “do everything we can to help communities on the ground support themselves: from health to education, from education to food security and everything else we cover.”