Attachments
This report presents the results for January to February 2023, concluding five years of implementation of the interim country strategic plan (I-CSP). An evaluation of the I-CSP is available online [1].
The volatile socio-political and security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) has had a devastating impact on the humanitarian situation, particularly on food security and agriculture, exacerbating pre-existing structural constraints. Public services are not always operational, farming practices remain underdeveloped, lands are under-cultivated and there is limited access to quality agricultural inputs. General insecurity limited access to fields and livelihoods, with elevated risks for women, who are particularly exposed to sexual violence. Food insecurity reached a record level in 2022 [2], as the already fragile situation worsened due to the combined impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local electoral crisis and the impact of the Ukraine crisis. In 2023, the humanitarian situation slightly improved, with a 16 percent reduction in the number of households suffering a shock, compared with 2021-2022. However, by March 2023, 2.4 million people were suffering from acute food insecurity and urgently needed assistance (20 percent more than 2018).
In 2018, WFP commenced its interim country strategic plan (I-CSP) working alongside the Government towards zero hunger through a combined crisis response and resilience building approach aimed at strengthening national capacity. Between January 2018 and February 2023 (I-CSP end date), WFP assisted 1.4 million food-insecure people [3], including 587,000 in January and February 2023. Ninety-five percent of the people expected to receive WFP assistance in the I-CSP were reached through general food distributions, school meals, nutritional support for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition, and resilience building activities. Considering the funding constraints faced during the I-CSP, WFP prioritised selected life-saving interventions, resilience building and service delivery activities. Based on available resources, WFP prioritised approximately 50 percent of people targeted under its crisis response (strategic outcome 1), 40 percent of people targeted for the nutritional assistance (strategic outcome 2), and 80 percent of people involved in resilience building activities (strategic outcome 3).
Cash-based transfers (CBTs) became the main distribution modality with the overall transfer value more than tripling throughout the I-CSP period. By 2022, up to 60 percent of people were assisted by WFP via CBTs. This directly addressed individuals' preferences [4] and the National Food Security Survey's recommendation to prioritise cash wherever possible. This programmatic adjustment was also critical to WFP's ability to adapt life-saving operations amidst a challenging context marked by low agricultural production, poor road infrastructure, constraints on transportation, and the lack of in-country commodities. CBT-based support helped people to prioritise farming and decreased by 38 percent the percentage of households resorting to emergency coping strategies throughout the I-CSP period. WFP further increased the digitisation and assurance of CBT assistance programmes through its beneficiary information and transfer management platform, SCOPE. As of February 2023, 90 percent of people accessing CBT were registered in the SCOPE database.
Despite the challenges with in-kind food distribution during the reporting period, WFP distributed 5,800 mt of food baskets, school meals and specialised nutritious food to 408,000 people. WFP aims to prioritise local purchases and increase its technical support and structuring of farmers' organizations to increase productivity and availability of food in-country. By the end of the I-CSP, 51 percent of WFP's food was procured locally from smallholder farmer organizations, compared with 6 percent in 2018.
The I-CSP promoted greater collaboration between the Government and WFP, contributing to Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). WFP contributed to CAR's National Recovery and Peacebuilding Plan 2017--2021 and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework Plus (2018--2021), which both prioritised three pillars: peace, security and reconciliation; renewing the social contract between the state and its citizens; and ensuring economic recovery and revitalising productive sectors. The I-CSP was similarly aligned with Humanitarian Response Plans. Building on this collaboration and through its CSP 2023--2027, WFP will continue to provide operational support and address capacity gaps to increase government ownership, coordination and management of food security and nutrition programmes. The latest CSP was approved by the WFP Executive Board in February 2023 and implemented from March 2023.