UNA056 Improving GBV prevention and response in the Central African Republic (CAR) through a National Strategy and strengthened data management mechanism

The crisis situation in CAR has resulted in many different violations of human rights, including gender-based violence (GBV). The situation on GBV remains a major issue. In CAR, as in many countries, the stigma associated with GBV fuels a culture of silence and denial. The pervasive belief that GBV is inevitable contributes to a culture of acceptance, where survivors pay the price.

In 2016, the Government of CAR launched the process to develop a National GBV strategy by creating an inter-ministerial committee. With the implementation of the developed roadmap, a national consultant, and later an international consultant, were recruited to support the process. The situation analysis of the draft strategy document highlights the fact that in addition to the persistence of gender inequalities that characterize CAR society, GBV has reached frightening proportions with the military-political crises, the latest of which began in December 2012. 

The strategy development is aligned with the National Recovery Plan and Peace Building (RCPCA 2017-2021), in which GBV are considered under the cross-cutting topic of gender equality. And more specifically, efforts on GBV are supposed to contribute to the following objectives:

• Reforming justice and promoting the end of impunity (objective 1.3);
• Providing essential services to the population throughout the country, especially in the fields of education, health and water, progressively transferring capacity and resources to national structures (objective 2.2).

This initiative is also aligned with the UNDAF+ 2018-2020 of CAR, especially on its pillar 2 related to “Social welbeing and equity”.

A validation workshop was organized in January 2018 with a common recommendation to review the document and to include more elements. To this end, an inter-organizational committee was set up to finalize the strategy. Additional inputs were received from UN Action focal points in order to improve the document. Considering the process from the beginning and the context, it is important to bring an international consultant on board to finalize the process with the committee. Once finalized, the strategy and its action plan should be quickly disseminated in order to facilitate the implementation. The Ministry of Women's Promotion, Family and Child Protection, which is leading the process, has benefitted since the beginning from UN agencies’ technical and financial support. This includes UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP and UN Women. 

Meanwhile some processes engaged with the Government, and considered in the draft strategy, have moved forward. For instance, the Prime Minister signed in June 2018 an inter-ministerial order creating national and sub prefectural committees against GBV and harmful practices. So far, 3 sub-prefectural committees have been set up in Bambari, Bossangoa and Mbaiki. A fourth one will be created in Sibut during the launch of the sixteen days of activism. The project will contribute to set up additional committee and strengthen their functionality to ensure coordinated efforts at regional levels towards ending GBV and harmful practices.

The proposed activities for the strategies’ implementation take into consideration the recommendations from the different consultations organized with partners. One of the recommendations is to strengthen male involvement in the fight against GBV. This requires a harmonized strategy. Some limits have also been reported on the national law that is focused on protecting women and girls. For instance, this law does not take into consideration all types of GBV, neither male survivors.

Members of the GBV sub cluster had several discussions on the limits of the holistic response, highlighting the need of safe space. Currently the community approach, host families, is used to cover the gaps. The creation of the Rapid Response and Prevention Unit for Sexual Violence against Women and Children (UMIRR) in Bangui is an advantage as it is supposed to have at the end a safe place. Different actors are already engaged to contribute to this component as a basket fund so this project contribution will facilitate its achievement.   

Regarding data, the GBV Information Management System (GBVIMS) is functional in CAR under the lead of UNFPA and in strong collaboration with UNHCR and UNICEF. In total 7 organisations are contributing, while the GBV sub-cluster has thirty actors engaged in GBV prevention and response interventions. The national committee is working to address challenges such as the limited number of members or issues related to data sharing with complaints from some humanitarian stakeholders and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in CAR (MINUSCA) despite the guiding principles.

In line with the challenges being faced, the needs are as follows:

• engagement of additional organisations in the use of the GBVIMS for more coverage in terms of data availability;
• capacity building for current and new GBVIMS users;
• strengthening of the regular reporting and analysis on collected data for advocacy and improved interventions;
• improvement of the collaboration with MARA in terms of data collection, analysis and sharing.

There is currently a national GBVIMS coordinator and support from an international Coordinator will be helpful in addressing the challenges and improving the mechanism with more stakeholders.

The project will contribute to address the different gaps.

Objectives

The goal of the project is to contribute to the reduction of GBV, including sexual violence, and improve access to support services for survivors in the crisis situation of Central African Republic.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Support the finalization, dissemination and implementation of the GBV National Strategy;
2. Strengthen the availability of regular data analysis reports and fact-sheets with a larger coverage for improved advocacy and planning;
3. Improve collaboration between the GBVIMS and MARA, through regular data sharing in line with the guiding principles;
4. Strengthen government commitment and leadership in GBV prevention and response and related data management.