The field presence map shows all towns where international humanitarian organizations have set up offices in the Central African Republic, as of early 2009. Since the map was last published, new offices have been opened primarily in the north-west, but also in north-east and south-east. In total, 11 UN organizations and 24 international NGOs are now working in CAR.
Highlights of the last few months include:
- the Jesuit Refugee Service opened offices in Bangui, Ouanda Djalle and Markounda.
- Emergency, the italian NGO, built an office and hospital in Bangui.
- Solidarites is now present in Bozoum.
- ACTED opened offices in Birao, Zemio and Bossangoa.
- Three NGOs set up operations in Bouar (Merlin, CordAid, CARITAS).
- IMC strengthened its presence in the north-east, with offices in Ouadda, Gordil and Ngarba.
- COOPI started working in Obo, in the far south-east.
- For some time now, the Danish Refugee Council has been running an office in Ndele.
- Premiere Urgence is working in Ngaoundaye.
- Action Contre la Faim has closed its Markounda office and moved to Paoua.
Please note: Office locations do not necessarily coincide with project locations, but still give a good indication of who is working where.
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(KJ*) Over the last two years, humanitarian assistance has made a decisive contribution to the stabilization the Central African Republic while the country’s condition was at its most critical. Back from the brink of collapse, the benefits of peace and stability now would have to be spread much wider throughout this desperately poor country, if the patient were to recover successfully. However, while humanitarian assistance is levelling off and may well decrease in 2009, development support is still lacking too far behind to pick up the thread. The looming recovery gap now jeopardizes CAR’s fragile progress, as data from the country’s new aid management system shows.
Improving aid effectiveness
In November 2008, the Central African Republic (CAR) and its partners launched a new aid management system (DAD). Widely used in Asia but still rare in Africa, the goal of this online database is to make humanitarian and development aid more transparent, coordinated and effective. Previously, no central data source existed to help decision-makers understand who finances projects, who works in which sectors, in which locations, and where the gaps are. As in many other African states critically dependent on foreign support, the absence of reliable data was a stumbling block to improved aid effectiveness. Less than four months after the system’s launch, detailed financial, sector and geographical data for almost 300 projects is now available online. While the usual caveats on aid statistics apply (the data will not account for 100 percent of all transfers), the numbers are nevertheless already a reasonably good reflection of the realities in CAR.
Good numbers on the surface
At first sight, the recent data on aid to the Central African Republic looks encouraging. Between 2005 and 2007, total foreign assistance to CAR more than doubled from about $117m to $242m. The increase is particularly significant, given that CAR had long been a forgotten crisis. While aid to Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole went up by more than 90 percent between 1985 and 2006, it fell by almost 50 percent for CAR. During this time, the country’s development catastrophe slowly turned into a humanitarian emergency, directly affecting more than a million people and forcing up to 300,000 into displacement. CAR now ranks 178 out of 179 on the UN’s Human Development Index. More than two thirds of the population live in poverty. Reaching the Millennium Development Goals has become a distant dream. Continue Reading »
IPIS publishes a report examining the presence, behaviour and motivation of the armed groups operating in CAR during 2008
The International Peace Information Service (IPIS), a research institution based in Belgium, has finished their third study in the IPIS mapping series, which focuses on the conflict motives of armed groups within the Central African Republic.
IPIS describes the country as “tormented by a multitude of armed actors” who “have one thing in common: each of them would be a weak opponent for any well-organised state, but then this is exactly what the country lacks.”
The research for the report was conducted in CAR at the end of 2008.
Further information
- The report is available for download here: IPIS - Mapping Conflict Motives in CAR (PDF, 1MB)
- The report is complemented by a series of interactive web maps exploring the different actors present in CAR, together with data on natural resources, ethnic groups and incidents. The maps are available on the IPIS website at www.ipisresearch.be
- Please continue reading for IPIS’s summary of the different armed groups operating in the country
Continue Reading »
Humanitarian and development organisations in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue expand their presence in the field. Many years after most field offices were shut down, aid agencies now continue to return. Since early 2007, the number of offices outside the capital has risen from 10 to more than 40. In a country the size of France, however, more will be necessary to help the Central African population recover from years of crises.
Over the last twelve months, new field offices were established in Ndélé (Solidarités), in Kaga-Bandoro (ACTED, Solidarités), Ouandja (International Medical Corps), Bouar (MercyCorps, Merlin), Bocaranga (International Rescue Committe), and Paoua (Danish Refugee Council, Mentor Initiative). The Dutch NGO CordAid is starting its operations in CAR soon, and has already set up an office in Bangui.
Download the latest field presence map - August 2008 (PDF) - 160KB
The number of humanitarian and development organizations present in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to grow. Since November 2007, new offices of ACTED, IRC and the United Nations were opened in the north and north-east of the country.
Continue Reading »
The number of humanitarian and development organizations present in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to grow rapidly. Since August 2007, new offices were opened in the north-east and in Sam Ouandja to support the refugees from Darfur. Continue Reading »
Map days continue at www.hdptcar.net.
This focus map shows CAR and the region around Sam Ouandja, where aid agencies are assissting the refugees from Darfur. We had posted a summary a few days back.
CAR’s east is only sparsely populated. Slave traders had emptied most of the region during the 19th century.
Click here to download a PDF version
Click here to download a PNG version
These are map days at www.hdptcar.net.
The map to the right shows all places where humanitarian organizations in the Central African Republic have offices, as of August 2007.
Edit November 7, 2007: To see the most recent map, please click here.
Beware, this is not necessarily the same as project locations, but nevertheless gives a good indication of who is working in which zone.
This map and others are all included in our country briefing pack which you can always find on this website.
Click here to download the map
Click here to download the briefing pack in a PPT or PDF version
We have started a new series of ‘focus maps’ optimized for A3 printing.
These maps show the entire country, put it in context and contain a ‘zoomed in’ area of concern to humanitarian and development organizations in the Central African Republic.
We will post a number of these maps over the coming days and start with Paoua.
Click here to download a PDF version
Click here to download a PNG version
The Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team in the Central African Republic (HDPT CAR) estimates that 291,000 Central Africans have been forced to flee their homes since the rebellion in the north of the country intensified in late 2006.
An estimated 212,000 people have been internally displaced, 79,000 have fled CAR for Cameroon, Chad, or Sudan. The map below illustrates the internal displacement and refugee situation.
On behalf of humanitarian partners in CAR, UNFPA currently conducts an in-depth IDP survey in CAR. We hope to publish the results on this website during the third quarter of this year.
Click here to download the map
Click here to download the HDPT CAR Fact Sheet
For more information on the general humanitarian information in the Central African Republic please see the presentation below. Continue Reading »
The World Bank, in partnership with the European Union, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency, will invest $680 million in three countries – Chad, Cameroon and Central African Republic, to improve the regional transport infrastructure.
The 2,000 kilometer stretch that connects the Douala Port in western Cameroon to the country’s landlocked neighbors Central African Republic and Chad is known as one of Africa’s worst. The connection is one of the last major trade routes without all-weather, paved roads going from one part of Africa to another.
Shippers struggle to get their goods to and from international markets. Trade is hampered for thousands and the deplorable infrastructure is a substantial toll on the price of doing business regionally. Transport costs are the highest in the world. Read more about this vital project on the World Bank’s website.
The Office of the UN Resident Coordinator has released a new overview map for the Central African Republic.
Clearer than any map produced before, this one shows all cities and villages of concern to humanitarian and development partners.
Click here to download an A3 version
Click here to download an A4 version
The tragic death of Elsa Serfass is a terrible shock for MSF and we mourn her loss. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.
Paris/Bangui, June 11, 2007: It is with great sadness that Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has learned of the death of one of its volunteers in the Central African Republic. Elsa Serfass, a 27-year-old French citizen, was killed today by gunfire during an assessment mission in the northwestern part of the country. Ms. Serfass was on her first assignment with MSF, working as a logistician.
Elsa was based in Paoua, working in MSF’s project providing assistance to victims of ongoing violence. The northwest region of the Central African Republic is in the grip of a conflict between rebel groups and armed government forces. Criminal acts are also frequent and armed highway robbers often take advantage of the instability. Continue Reading »
On Monday 28 May a rapid needs assessment mission led by UNHCR and composed of BONUCA, OCHA, WFP, the NGO Triangle and the government visited the town of Sam Ouandja, located in the Haute Kotto prefecture at some 950 kms from Bangui and 80 kms from the Sudan border in north-eastern CAR.
The purpose of the mission was to evaluate the humanitarian needs of a reported influx of Sudanese refugees from the Sudanese town of Daffaq (approximately 15,000 inhabitants), 120 km from the border with CAR and 350 km south of Nyala in South Darfur.
According to the refugees, Sudanese government forces backed by armed militias described as “Janjaweed” attacked Daffaq between 12 and 18 May triggering the forced displacement of civilian populations towards South Sudan and various locations in north-eastern CAR, including Am-Dafok and Sam Ouandja. Continue Reading »
