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Key messages
WFP operated in the Central African Republic (CAR) under the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2027 from March 2023, following CSP approval from the Executive Board in February. In line with this, WFP prioritised life-saving assistance, resilience building and a gradual transition to early recovery and conditional assistance. It used its technical, analytical and logistical capacities to strengthen partner convergence around five interlinked strategic outcomes, using a resource-based programming approach.
The drastic reduction in overall funding for humanitarian assistance in 2023 had a major impact on food security - one area with the greatest needs in CAR. Resources transferred from 2022 meant that WFP was 96 percent funded for the provision of food assistance and resilience building in 2023. WFP assisted more that 1.1 million people that lacked regular access to safe and nutritious food through general food distributions, homegrown school meals, resilience building activities and nutrition assistance for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition.
In 2023, the concerted efforts of integrated humanitarian assistance, aimed at reaching zero hunger, together with improvements in agricultural production, led to a significant reduction in the number of households facing food insecurity. In addition, the proportion of households living in poverty was 14 percent lower in December 2023, compared with January 2023.
WFP’s improved coordination of humanitarian assistance and increased involvement of local actors (partners, communities and transport providers) enabled the expansion of food assistance into hard-to-reach areas with high security risks and operational constraints, particularly in the east and north-east. However, by December 2023, the protracted socio-economic crisis, persistent violence and resulting human rights violations, and WFP’s limited access to the field left 2 million people facing acute food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance [1].
Faced with increasing funding constraints and the importance of providing appropriate assistance to the most vulnerable, WFP launched a new targeting exercise in April 2023. This involved six specially selected national and international partners who assessed 42 sub-prefectures in Crisis (IPC 3) or Emergency (IPC 4) food insecurity categories [2]. To focus assistance on the areas most affected by food insecurity, WFP implemented a new geographic prioritisation approach. This involved the identification of the most affected communes and villages within each sub-prefecture (classified as IPC 3 and IPC 4 in the Humanitarian Response Plan) and involved a series of consultations with government and civil society representatives, as well as the communities supported by WFP, to ensure a humanitarian response tailored to actual needs. Finally, lists of targeted households within the communities (validated against the results of the household survey) were uploaded to SCOPE, WFP's information and transfer management platform for people that received assistance. In 2023, WFP digitised all its unconditional assistance and resilience building activities through SCOPE (including food and cash-based modalities). This enabled improved traceability of activities, enhanced monitoring, and greater protection of individuals’ data.
WFP distributed 18,000 mt of food (28 percent of target) and transferred USD 12.8 million (26 percent of target) from March 2023. Funding constraints jeopardised the transition to more integrated resilience building activities, and late funding confirmations delayed the transportation of commodities and negatively impacted the availability of food in the country. This situation particularly affected nutrition assistance and school-based programmes.
In this context, WFP prioritised local purchases whenever possible, including 1,015 mt of local commodities. However, the inadequate national infrastructure prevented the required levels of food quality and storage from being achieved locally. WFP continued to integrate health and nutrition activities into its portfolio, while using the home-grown school feeding as an entry point to strengthen local food systems. This progress was also the result of active engagement with the CAR Government to jointly advocate for increased multiyear funding opportunities with sustainable impact targets.
By the end of 2023, WFP had prioritised two key areas: general food assistance (crisis response) in sub-prefectures facing an Emergency food security situation (IPC 4); and nutrition interventions in IPC 4 sub-prefectures and hotspots identified by the nutrition cluster as having high rates of acute malnutrition and food insecurity. Resilience and early recovery were prioritised in communities facing a Crisis level food insecurity situation (IPC 3). Limited funding projections may prevent WFP from effectively transitioning to early recovery and more integrated resilience and livelihoods activities even where this is feasible and relevant.