Central African Republic

Due to its economic, political and cultural value, land control has always been an important trigger of tensions between different groups in CAR.

The marginalization and abandonment of rural areas has largely fueled insecurity in the country since the mid-1990s: on the one hand, through the integration of rural youth through violence; on the other hand, with the exacerbation of conflicts between breeders and farmers. The Government of the CAR recognizes that the vicious cycle of fragility, conflict and poverty can be broken only by tackling the root causes that create it. It is in this perspective that the Government of CAR sees the sustainable management of land and other natural resources as one of the effective approaches to overcome the marginality of the Mbomo region to go beyond humanitarian action.

In particular, in order to respond to the high vulnerability of rural dwellers and displaced people, the 3S initiative intends to mobilize investments to (re) build a sustainable rural economy by intervening simultaneously on 6 main axes: 1) give priority to investments in the field of rehabilitation and sustainable land management; 2) to provide productive, remunerative and attractive jobs, such as market gardening and small livestock (poultry, broilers, laying hens, beekeeping, insects and fishing etc.), for unemployed young people and displaced populations; 3) securing land use rights to increase ownership and thus the inclination to invest; 4) organize dialogues between different local actors to promote “inter-community” reconciliation; 5) identify beneficiaries of the reintegration programs as well as the agricultural plots; 6) organize training and incentive “packages”.

For the 3S project, the government aims to restore 300,000 ha of degraded land in the hotspots chosen as part of the Land Degradation Neutrality target setting of program: Oubangui 3, Ouham, Kadéi, Nana-mambéré and Mbomo.