The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for August 2009. It contains an overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in August 2009:
Preliminary assessments conducted in Mambéré Kadei, Sangha Mbaéré and Lobaye by MSF Spain/Belgium, MSF France and ACF revealed that 16% of children aged under 5 are acutely malnourished and 6.6% are severely acutely malnourished. UNICEF is appealing to donors for $1.5 million for lifesaving therapeutic foods, drugs and other supplies; to conduct a national nutritional survey; and train community health workers in early detection of children and women whose nutritional status is compromised.
6 schools rehabilitated by ACTED were inaugurated in the presence of the Minister of Education in 3 prefectures of the country: Ouham, Nana Gribizi and Bamingui Bangoran. These schools will allow 1,350 children to learn in better conditions in the upcoming new school year 2009-2010.
Mid-Year Annual Work Plan (AWP) reviews were organised by the programme sections and sub-offices to compare the activities so far implemented to those initially planned. The AWP was revised to better reflect reality for the rest of the year.
UNICEF provided financial support to organise training to strengthen the capacity of the school directors, teachers and parents. 130 school directors from Ouham Pendé and 59 from Bamingui Bangoran received training in school management and legislation; 274 parent-teachers from Ouham, 104 from Haute-Kotto, 90 from Bamingui Bangoran and 130 from Kémo were trained on their teaching skills; and 220 members of the PTA of Bossangoa and Bouca were trained on the role of the PTA.
101 children (94 boys, 17 girls) associated with armed groups who were released in July were reunified with their families and relatives. To date, UNICEF partners DRC and IRC have supported the reunification and community reintegration of a total number of 361 children (310 boys, 51 girls) formerly associated with the APRD since the child DDR programme began in May 2009.
The preparatory work for the water and sanitation sector Round Table continued, with the opening of the website at http://tableronde-eau.minplan-rca.org/home and relevant documents uploaded on the site. The round table will be held in Bangui on 8 October 2009.
For more information on UNICEF’s activities in the Central African Republic contact:
Hyewon Lee | Reports Officer | UNICEF CAR
Email: hlee@unicef.org | Tel. +236 75 70 63 90
Marie Elise, her husband and their three children live in a clearing in the forest some ten minutes walk off the main road to the town Mbaiki in the Central African Republic. They belong to the Aka pygmy ethnic group. People of the Aka group have lived in this territory for centuries yet many are not even recognized as citizens.
It is noon and the sun is beaming. Only the colourful swarms of butterflies seem not to mind the heat. Marie Elise, her children and a dozen of their community members, sit in the shade of a cluster of palm trees. They are listening to Simone who works for the Italian NGO, COOPI. Simone is talking about child rights. “We give birth to children but that is not enough,” says Simone while displaying drawings of parents nursing their baby. “Next we have to take care of them to ensure that they grow up to become good and healthy people.”
Through illustrative drawings Simone explains how parents should bring their newborn to the town hall to register for a birth certificate, so that the child will be able to enroll at a school. The birth certificate should eventually be exchanged for a national identification card, which entitles citizens to be recognized and protected by national law. Lack of such documentation excludes people from legal protection, registering to vote, obtaining formal employment, and benefiting from social services and development schemes. Continue Reading »
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for January 2009. It contains a detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in January:
On 20 January the President of CAR appointed a new government following conclusions of the inclusive political dialogue in 2008.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a hearing to decide whether former Congolese Vice President, Jean-Pierre Bemba, should be tried for war crimes committed in CAR during 2002 and 2003.
FACA and newly formed rebel group clashed in the prefecture of Bamingui Bangoran. Populations have fled to the bush and to neighboring Chad.
Clashes between APRD and auto-defense groups led to some 1,000 people seeking refugee in Bocaranga.
The UN Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) is scheduled to take over from European forces (EUFOR) currently operating in the two countries. Some 5,200 UN troops are expected to reinforce MINURCAT.
The 2009 Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) for CAR was launched on 28 January. About $116 million is being sought for 105 projects in CAR.
CAR takes the lead in a global campaign to highlight the issue of internal displacement.
Two cases of yellow fever were registered in CAR during the month of January. An immunization campaign is planned.
“If I can prevent just one girl from having to go through what I’ve experienced, then I’ve achieved something,” Foncy Kongo, 29
Every year, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), most of these girls live in Africa. Although most governments have prohibited FGM - the partial or total removal of external genitalia - the practice persists illegally.
In the Central African Republic (CAR) about 28% of women are circumcised. In the capital city of Bangui a group of determined women work to change this. The women are part of an organization called CIAF, or the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices, which operates in 28 countries across the continent. Continue Reading »
An extensive multi-media campaign is being carried out in the Central African Republic to generate excitement and awareness about UNICEF’s latest vaccination campaign – one of the largest of its kind in the history of this country.
“UN agencies and non-governmental organizations run campaigns all the time, but this is a big one and we want it to stand out,” said UNICEF CAR representative Mahimbo Mdoe. “What we’re saying is – here are three preventable diseases killing a lot of children and this week we’re going to visit every corner of the country to give children and their families tools to prevent these deaths.”
The 10-day campaign will address three of the leading causes of preventable death among children in CAR: malaria, measles and diarrhoea caused by improper hygiene. Approximately 800,000 children under the age of five will be vaccinated for measles as well as given free bars of soap to help prevent diarrhoea, along with a treated mosquito net to eliminate malaria – the leading cause of death among children in this country. Continue Reading »
This article appears in the 15 November 2008 Edition of BMJ. (BMJ 2008; 337:a2464)
Frédéric Courbet/Merlin/Panos Pictures
An international campaign to support rural health workers in the developing world has been launched “to give people caught up in conflict, disaster, and health system collapse the chance to lead healthy lives.”
The Hands Up for Health Workers campaign (www.handsupforhealthworkers.org), run by the UK medical charity Merlin, aims to ensure that all health workers in the developing world receive a regular wage and that workers in remote and isolated areas receive incentives to stay.
The charity also wants to secure funding to train the additional health workers who are needed to deliver essential health care, and to refresh the skills of existing ones. All health workers should also be able to practise in a safe and secure working environment, it says.
Over one million people - a quarter of CAR’s population - have been affected by violence. As the country fell apart, so too did its health service. As campaigns Manager for Merlin, the medical aid agency, I recently visited CAR to find out how the country, and its health service, is recovering.
Save for “bits here and there”, Jean Preside Saya has not been paid since 1989. He runs the health clinic in Grevai, a remote village 65km from the nearest hospital.
Six months ago, the clinic had no drugs, no equipment, and often no patients. “People stopped coming,” he said. “It was frustrating - as health workers, we feel we can treat most complaints but what are we meant to do without drugs? Even a traditional healer has drugs.”
“Expect insecurity, instability, no electricity, no running water. Desperation, basically,” said my Ghanaian passenger, as our plane bounced into Bangui, the capital of CAR. Continue Reading »
The Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) suspends its participation in the process leading up to the political dialogue.
A barge crossing the Oubangui river in CAR, sank, killing 42.
Background and security
The APRD pulls out of the political dialogue
The President of the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), Jean-Jacques Démafouth said in a press release that his organisation had suspended its participation in the process leading up to the political dialogue. Mr. Démafouth has also stated that the APRD had withdrown from a ceasefire and a global peace agreement signed on 9 May and 21 June 2008. The APRD made that resolution because they disapprove parts of a proposed general amnesty law. Continue Reading »
Mission of the Peace Building Commission CAR configuration, 10 - 12 June
Supporting health care systems in Paoua and Ngaoundaye
Assistance to the displaced of Kamba Kota by the International Committee of the Red Cross
Mission to the far south east of CAR, 2 - 9 July
Background and security
Mission of the PBC CAR configuration
Pursuant to CAR having been placed on the agenda of the Peace Building Commission (PBC) on 12 June, a mission lead by Jan Grauls, Ambassador of Belgium with the United Nations and Chairperson of the CAR configuration of the PBC, visited Bangui from 10 to 12 July. Continue Reading »
Bangui, Central African Republic – Faustin Touadera, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, issued an emergency appeal for international support in the wake of a catastrophic failure of the country’s power system. After nearly 60 years of service and erratic maintenance at best, and despite offers from key donors to help over the course of the past few months, CAR’s weak electric infrastructure has taken one more step towards complete collapse. Rolling blackouts, often lasting more than 24 hours, have now plunged the capital into nearly complete darkness. Continue Reading »
FOMUC transforms into FOMAC
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC), Egidio De Sousa Santos from Angola, confirmed on 1 July in Kinshasa that the Multi-national Force of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (FOMUC) will transform into the Multi-national Force of the CEEAC (FOMAC) during a ceremony on 12 July in Bangui. Continue Reading »
Tripartite ministerial meeting (Cameroon, Central African Republic and Chad) on cross-border insecurity in Yaoundé on 20 June
IMF to give FCFA 5.8 billion in financial support to CAR
Access to health restored in Ndélé
Support to agriculture and infrastructure north of Paoua
Background and security
Cross-border insecurity on the agenda
A ministerial meeting on cross-border insecurity, jointly organized by the Governments of Cameroon, CAR and Chad was held on 20 June in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Continue Reading »
In the final part of our interview series, Dr Ione explains the action undertaken by her NGO to support health centres during a period not exceeding five months. She emphasizes the need to quickly switch from humanitarian assistance (providing medicine and care) to development in order to restore the system as it was before the turmoil. After 34 years in the country, Dr Ione is still full of optimism, convinced that peace and development can and will be restored in the Central African Republic. She will keep on carrying this message to the rebels, to the government, to the population, and to whoever feels that the current situation of Central African men and women is unacceptable.
In the previous episodes, Dr Ione described her engagement in CAR and her life though rebellions and mutinies. In the region of Ngaounday at the border with Chad and Cameroon, she shared the hope of the population and assisted their initiatives to improve their living conditions. She witnessed the quick and promising establishment of community social services and the destruction of twenty five years of hard work by the successive rebellions. She recalled the attacks on Ngoundaye, and how she shared the fears of the inhabitants and had to hide with them in the bush in order to protect he life and her hospital. Finally, she was able to see the rising interest of the international community for the Central African crisis, and the response of humanitarian actors.
Living convictions: Dr Ione describes her incredible experiences in the Central African Republic. A thrilling eye-witness account of the country’s history.
In the seventh part of our interview series, Dr Ione describes how people undertook the rebuilding of their houses and collective facilities. She emphasizes the efforts made by the government to re-open a dialogue with the rebels and to restore trust among the population. Thanks to her privileged relationship with the people of Ngaoundaye, including rebels, Dr Ione has been able to discuss the government initiative with armed men in the northwest.
The signature of a peace deal between the Central African Government and the APRD, the rebel movement active in the region of Ngaoundaye, recently proved Dr Ione’s optimism to be well founded.
In the previous episodes, Dr Ione described her engagement in CAR and her life though rebellions and mutinies. In the region of Ngaounday at the border with Chad and Cameroon, she shared the hope of the population and assisted their initiatives to improve their living conditions. She witnessed the quick and promising establishment of community social services and the destruction of twenty five years of hard work by the successive rebellions. She recalled the attacks on Ngoundaye, and how she shared the fears of the inhabitants and had to hide with them in the bush in order to protect he life and her hospital. Finally, she was able to see the rising interest of the international community for the Central African crisis, and the response of humanitarian actors.
Dr Ione is now working for ASSOMESCA (association des oeuvres médicales pour la santé en Centrafrique), driven by the same enthusiasm that brought her to CAR 34 years ago.
Living convictions: Dr Ione describes her incredible experiences in the Central African Republic. A thrilling eye-witness account of the country’s history.
The Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team (HDPT) unites all organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian and development crisis in the Central African Republic: United Nations agencies, the Red Cross Movement, NGOs and other organizations. For more information, visit About HDPT CAR or email us at info[at]hdptcar.net
Interviews with Dr Ione
Dr Ione describes her incredible experiences in the Central African Republic. A thrilling eye-witness account of the country’s history.
Marie Elise, her husband and their three children live in a clearing in the forest some ten minutes walk off the main road to the town Mbaiki in the Central African Republic. They belong to the Aka pygmy ethnic group. People of the Aka group have lived in this territory for centuries yet many are not even recognized as citizens. 
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for January 2009. It contains a detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Every year, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), most of these girls live in Africa. Although most governments have prohibited FGM - the partial or total removal of external genitalia - the practice persists illegally. 
An extensive multi-media campaign is being carried out in the Central African Republic to generate excitement and awareness about UNICEF’s latest vaccination campaign – one of the largest of its kind in the history of this country.
