More than 200 people attended a lecture at the London School of Economics by Toby Lanzer, UN Resident Coordinator in the Central African Republic, on October 22. The event focused on the challenges of kick starting and managing a humanitarian and development campaign for the neglected crisis in CAR.
The lecture with the title “Cornered in the Centre: aid and development in a rough neighborhood” followed an invitation by the Crisis States Research Centre and the International Humanitarian Law Project at the LSE. Besides university students, many diplomats, journalists, and researchers seized the opportunity to learn about a largely unknown country.
Toby Lanzer is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Central African Republic (CAR) and is responsible for heading the UN’s humanitarian and development activities in the country. Since coming to CAR in 2006, much of his work consisted of advocating one of the world’s most forgotten crises to Western officials and the international public alike. The lecture thus focused on putting some of the country’s problems into context:
- recovery from its own political and violent conflicts of the past is hampered because of several neighboring conflict zones (Darfur, Chad, DR Congo)
- development assistance fell by over 60% in the past 20 years – now worst in the region
- CAR’s human development index deteriorates while neighbor countries improved constantly
As Mr. Lanzer pointed out, there are many reasons for optimism. Large wealth in natural resources and a democratically elected government were some of the factors mentioned. He finished his lecture by pointing at the enormous challenges lying ahead of the international development community to “stop the slide” and move forward.
The event took place just days before the first Central African Republic Development Round Table in Brussels. The conference on October 26 will present the government’s new Poverty Reduction Strategy Report (see HDPT CAR article) and aims to drive more development aid efforts to CAR.
Click here to listen to a full mp3 audio stream of the lecture.
