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BLOG: Why is it hard to find funding for humanitarian aid in the Central African Republic?
Written by: George Fominyen
If the Central African Republic does not urgently receive more support from donors, it will start sliding backwards after three years of progress at a time when humanitarian assistance was raised, aid agencies say. For years humanitarian agencies have said donors are not committing enough funding for people including one million civilians affected by violence in the north of the country. "Not many people have even heard of the Central African Republic, never mind being aware of the alarming situation the country is in," Bruno Fugah, country director of the medical charity Merlin, told me. This is despite attention focused nearby on the conflict in Darfur, refugees crossing into and from Chad, incursions from Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) or the Ugandan Army chasing those rebels. The Central African Republic is ranked 178 out of 179 in the U.N. human development index. Nearly one fifth of children die before their fifth birthday and health facilities are poor. However, analysts say it is difficult to rally donor support because the problems facing the country - lack of social services, education, healthcare facilities, infrastructure and the absence of economic activity - are seen as a crisis of development which requires longer-term commitment that donors cannot afford at this time. Some analysts say some humanitarian emergencies the country is facing - such as alarming malnutrition in parts of the south because people have lost their jobs after diamond and gold minds closed - have a lot to do with economic collapse. "You need some kind of development for the region to provide people with a job and help them make a living," said David Noguera, an emergency response manager for Medecins Sans Frontieres. The Central African Republic has generally lagged behind even in development aid. Between 1985 and 2005, aid to sub-Saharan Africa increased by 90 percent but dropped by 50 percent to the Central African Republic. However, advocacy by humanitarian organisations in 2007 paid off with donor commitments reaching $110 million in 2008, 4.5 times more than in 2006, according to a government report.
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