In 2013, the Central African Republic (CAR) state collapsed, triggering a serious humanitarian and human rights crisis that has regional and international security ramifications. CAR is a country marred by several decades of armed conflict and political instability, aggravated by a record of poor governance and economic performance.

The imperative for the international community to act now in response to the crisis in CAR was clearly made by the UN Secretary General (SG) in his address to the Security Council on 20 February 2014. The SG highlighted that while CAR has been on the agenda of the Security Council for many years, the level of the current emergency demands an immediate, comprehensive and integrated engagement to stabilize the security situation, provide immediate tangible financial assistance to support the newly formed transitional government’s capacity to function, and accelerate political and reconciliation processes grounded in accountability and justice.

The PBF is providing support to for the temporary payment of salaries of police and gendarmerie through the CAR MPTF national funding stream as well as for ensuring a monitoring necessary risk management mechanisms   are in place to comply with the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP). In addition, the CAR MPTF Secretariat requires surge to be able to support the payment to police process as well as ensure the CAR MPTF is operating well.

In parallel to this support provided by the United Nations, the World Bank will provide assistance to the payment of regular civil servant salaries, and is putting in place a major project to restore the core functions of financial management.

The project will support the continued operationalization of the CAR MPTF through its Technical Secretariat. The Secretariat will liaise with the World Bank and government to support the payment process in line with the national framework and additional fiduciary safeguard measures being put in place. The CAR MPTF will catalyse additional development finance for early recovery and statebuilding efforts in CAR. The Technical Secretariat will also ensure linkages and synergies between this project and the broader recovery effort, including current PBF projects in CAR.  It will lead a joint risk assessment and start formulation of the fund result matrix for phase 2 (in line with the CAR MPTF TOR and Operational Arrangements).