Humanitarian Bulletin

Highlights

• In 2025, the humanitarian community in CAR plans to assist 1.8 million most vulnerable people. US$ 326.1 million is required.
• Humanitarian actors provided life-saving assistance to 1.7 million people in 2024.
• Faced with insecurity in their villages, Chadians seek refuge in the northwest of the Central African Republic

Read the full update.

As of February 2025, the Central African Republic had an estimated 441,129 internally displaced person (IDPs). Among them 17 per cent (73,178) lived in sites while 83 per cent (367,951) lived in host families. This represents an increase of 1 per cent in terms of displacements compared to the month of January 2025.

Furthermore, a lull in the security situation and the lack of assistance led to the return of IDPs in their areas of origin. Returns were mostly recorded in the prefectures of Haute-Kotto and Ouaka.

In March 2025, 14 incidents affected humanitarian actors, including a tragic killing of a humanitarian worker. This marks the first such fatality in the Central African Republic since May 2022. These incidents reflect a 75 per cent increase compared to the previous month and present a trend of continuous increase in incidents affecting humanitarian workers this year (four incidents in January and eight in February). Among the 14 incidents in March, five cases of aggression and intimidation, four cases of robbery, four cases of interferences and one case of killing were reported. The increase of incidents coincides with the ongoing preparations before the beginning of the rainy season, which will reduce humanitarian access to certain areas. It also takes place in the context of a significant reduction of humanitarian funding, which has already led to cutbacks of humanitarian operations and jobs and could contribute to increased criminality. The prefectures most affected during these three months were Vakaga (23 per cent), Bamingui-Bangoran (12 per cent) and Bangui (12 per cent)

Despite an improvement in the security context 2.8M people were in need in 2024 and 1.9M were targeted to receive a multi sectorial response. From January to December 2024, 110 humanitarian actors provided life-saving assistance to 1.7 million people (86 per cent of the target), including 891,000 women, 782,000 men, and 758,000 girls and boys in at least one sector. However, most of their basic needs were not met or were only partially met, due to the decrease in humanitarian funding. As of 31 December 2024, US$ 220.1 million have been secured to finance the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), or 60 per cent of the $367.7 required, representing a comparative decrease of 27 per cent of the funding received in 2023 ($300.1). For more information, click here.

Between 1 January and 31 December 2024, more than a million people benefited from emergency Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), in 45 sub-prefectures, for a total amount of 60 million US dollars (US$). 66 percent of people targeted were reached through CVA interventions in the sub-prefectures covered by this type of assistance. Over the period under review, the largest volume of cash transfers was carried out by the Food Security and Shelter/NFI clusters. Compared to the previous year, the Shelter/NFI and Nutrition clusters have integrated cash transfers into their intervention modalities in 2024. In contrast, the Education, Health and WASH clusters have not taken it into account during the last two years. The number of operational actors in cash transfer has considerably evolved, going from 25 actors in 2023 to 31 actors in 2024. This trend is justified by operational flexibility and the low cost of monetary transfers’ implemen[1]tation. It also demonstrates the flexibility of humanitarian actors against the preferences expressed by affected people (40 per cent of households preferred cash transfers in 2023, compared to 71 per cent in 2024).

Insecurity in certain parts of the country and natural disasters, along with massive population displacements, remain the main factors of the humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR). This, combined with insecurity in southern neighboring Chad and the war in Sudan have triggered largest population movements towards CAR. In 2024, 2.8 million people are extremely vulnerable in CAR that humanitarian assistance alone is not sufficient to restore their well-being. Among them,1.9 million are targeted by the current Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). 

The CAR Humanitarian Fund (CAR HF) received a total of US$13 million this year, representing 14% per cent of the funding received under the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan. Through a reserve allocation of $3.5 million, the CAR HF allocated $3 million in February for the response against gender-based violence, targeting more than 74,000 people and thus representing 25 per cent of the sector’s financial target for 2024. This allocation also allowed for an emergency international resupply of inputs to take care of nearly 4,000 children suffering from moderate acute malnutrition. These responses are currently being implemented through seven projects carried out by seven partners. Among them, three National non-governmental organizations (NNGO) directly received more than 27 per cent of the funds. 

Between January and May, the OCHA CAR Humanitarian Financing Unit: 1) organized two in-person meetings with the CAR HF Advisory Committee, including one during the visit of the OCHA Donor Support Group (ODSG) in April, 2) trained 142 participants from NNGOs, 9% of whom work in Women-Led Organizations (WLOs) on different topics p, 3) conducted capacity assessments of 32 NGOs, including 25 NNGOs. A total of 14 were deemed eligible for future CAR HF funding, including 5 WLOs