WORLD VISION RESPONDS TO THE NEEDS OF CAR REFUGEES IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

World Vision has adapted its ongoing interventions in North and South Ubangi, North West Democratic Republic Congo, and seeks an additional USD 1,500,00 to address the needs of 80,000 new refugees fleeing post-election violence in the Central Africa Republic.

“Most children are tired, hungry, scared, separated from their parents when they arrive, while others are forced to care for their ailing relatives. They need food to eat, they need help to find their parents, they need shelter, and some need treatment. World Vision and other humanitarian agencies working in the area require urgent funding to support quick resettlement and protection of the new arrivals,” says World Vision DRC National Director Anne-Marie Connor.

"I crossed to Congo DRC with my aunt who is currently ill. I go out in the morning to do the small chores for pay and sometimes I back come home late in the night. If I do nothing about it, my aunt will die of hunger,” Yasamake a 15-year-old girl explains. She is one of more than 15,000 children who have fled into the DRC.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has called for the immediate end to violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) as nearly 60,000 people have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries since December, a two-fold rise in just one week leading to January 15.[1] Today, fifteen days later, the figure of the new arrivals is over 92,000.

Despite COVID19 fears and restrictions for people getting into the country, the Democratic Republic of Congo has allowed entry to its troubled neighbours. “This necessitates urgent efforts to facilitate the implementation of SOPs.  Need for masks, space, water, soap, sanitisers, flash thermometers, protective gear, and support to establishing COVID19 testing centres,” Anne-Marie added.

For the last five years, World Vision in Consortium with Search For Common Ground, local NGO and state partners (CNR, Health Division, Agricultural Health Division, …) has been supporting refugees in this region in WASH, Livelihood, Health, Protection sectors and has reached 88598 direct beneficiaries over the past 5years.

In the past year, humanitarian agencies of the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo battled two Ebola crises, the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, the worst measles epidemic, increasing numbers of people going without enough food to eat, as well as addressing various needs of people displaced as a result of the conflict in different parts of the country. 

According to preliminary UNOCHA estimates 19.6 million people[2] in dire need of assistance in the DRC, as the country continues to witness one of the most complex and long-standing humanitarian crises.

• Number of recent CAR refugees to DRC: 92,000, according to statistics gathered by the local authorities and migration services of the Provinces of North & South-Ubangi and Mongala, as per the update of January, 28th, 2021.
•  World Vision hopes to reach 150,000 beneficiaries, including the past 88598 beneficiaries (which 44688 CAR Refugees) reached in health and protection interventions, 1504 HHs including 574 refugee HHs, in the livelihood and food Security Sector,
• World Vision is seeking USD 1,500,000 to respond to the immediate needs of refugees in its areas of operation
• World Vision is responding in WASH, Health, Livelihoods and Protection Sector.

[1] https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/number-central-african-refugees-soars-violence-intensifies

[2] https://hum-insight.info/plan/1026