Central African Republic

The EU is working with the CAR to promote entrepreneurship in rural areas and new approaches to agriculture. That includes:

• Supporting an integrated approach to agro-pastoral recovery and value chains development, especially the poultry, beef, manioc and groundnuts value chains.
• Connecting farmers with agri-businesses.
• Rehabilitating vocational training centres, improving curricula, and getting support to trainees.
• Supporting Regional Centres of Excellence related to the green transition. 

In support of CAR’s economic development, Team Europe is: 

• Building digital infrastructure such as the extension of the fiber network through the Central Africa Backbone programme as well as through the Africa Europe Digital Regulators Partnership.

The EU and the CAR are working together to preserve the biodiversity of the CAR’s forests, as well as improve forest governance. This includes:

• Supporting the biodiversity protection, sustainable and local development in protected areas such as the Chinko, Dzanga-Sangha, Bamingui Bangoran and Manorvo Gounda Saint Floris and André Félix national parks.
• Monitoring the implementation of policies and a legal framework to improve the governance of logging and timber products
• Helping civil society monitor the forestry sector as independent actors
• Supporting the private sector put in place sustainable and equitable logging practices
• Supervising and supporting the rise of a local, sustainable and inclusive artisanal wood and charcoal value chain.

The EU is working with the CAR to strengthen its health systems by: 

• Supporting the CAR’s Ministry of Health to improve the accessibility of health facilities
• Improving the health services of the paediatric hospital in Bangui
• Supporting the African Public Health Institute
• Strengthening early detection and prevention of emerging zoonotic diseases in Africa.

The EU is offering durable solutions for the CAR’s forcibly displaced populations in Cameroon, Chad, South Sudan and within the CAR itself. The goal is to improve livelihoods, stability, and access to basic services.

In response to the Sudanese crisis and the resulting forced displacement, the EU is supporting efforts in the Vakaga region to improve food security and promote sustainable livelihoods. Initiatives focus on strengthening agriculture and livestock activities.

The EU is working with the CAR to improve its democratic and financial governance, and the countries judiciary. This includes: 

• Building up civil society and increasing their ability to participate and hold institutions accountable by :
• Supporting advocates of electoral reforms and electoral observation of local elections, as well as directly supporting the local election process
• Supporting the modernisation of civil registration
• Strengthening the political participation of civil society organisations and their role in peacebuilding, good governance, and sustainable development
• Building and strengthening 18 youth centres throughout the country
• Protecting, preserving and strengthening human rights organisations
• Fighting sexual and gender-based violence in CAR cities and protecting victims’ access to justice
• Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through equitable access to decent employment and livelihoods
• Supporting the CAR’s implementation of its anti-human trafficking law
• Supporting CAR’s financial governance by combatting illicit financial flows fighting transnational organised crime and securing a robust framework at the Sub-Saharan African level. Support also aims to improving the countries budget transparency through support to its Court of Auditors, while assisting in the digitalisation of tax administration and the modernization of customs.

Improving the judiciary in the Central African Republic by

• Enhancing access to justice, particularly for women, to promote equality and uphold human rights.
• Supporting criminal and transitional justice processes to enhance the overall legal system and accountability.
• A Team Europe Initiative is reinforcing the Special Criminal Court to address serious international crimes effectively, with collaborative support from European countries to provide resources and expertise for its independent operation.

Team Europe contributes to the CAR’s human security, conflict prevention, stability and peacebuilding efforts, by:

• Supporting mediation and stabilisation processes to strengthen peaceful coexistence and democratic discourse
• Preventing and managing economic disputes in cross-border areas with the CAR’s neighbours
• Producing a study on the trafficking of falsified medicines
• Establishing a regional observatory on transnational organised crime, illicit markets and their link with violent extremism.

Team Europe invests in increasing access to education in the CAR. It specifically supports the transition of children from primary to secondary education, as well as the employability of the most vulnerable youth (young women, displaced persons and returnees, among others).