Since 2003, more than 55,000 refugees have fled violence and insecurity in Northern CAR and have found refuge in the Grande Sido and Nya Pende departments, in Southern Chad. ACTED has been present in the East of the country since 2004 and just launched its first project designed to help Central African refugees and host populations in the region.

Despite a favourable natural environment, the massive influx of refugees in a quite small area led to food troubles. Population increase has heightened pressure on land, the environment and pasture areas, which in turn further worsened the food insecurity of populations. Food assistance is progressively reduced while the vast majority of Central African refugees still depends on this aid and the rations distributed do not address all the needs anymore.

The rainy season, synonymous with ploughing and seedling, started early this year in Southern Chad and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Uneven, rains have ceased for a few weeks and the Chadian farmers and Central African refugees had to sow again. Yet, the poorest peasants cannot afford buying new seeds.
 In this context, ACTED, in partnership with the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department, has launched a programme aiming at strengthening the food production and livelihoods of the most vulnerable people among Central African refugees and host populations in the Nya Pende department.

In order to identify the most vulnerable individuals, ACTED has launched a large-scale socioeconomic survey in both communities. In order to ease their work and to enable them to improve agricultural, market gardening and rice productions, the selected beneficiaries have been provided with improved seeds and farming tools. Training, capacity reinforcement and support to income generating activities will also be organized. Without these distributions, many people would have sold part of their goods to get seeds. They took place in a festive atmosphere and the most vulnerable people received them with relief.

In this new zone of intervention, in which problems are different from those in the East of the country, ACTED intends to capitalize on its experience in its domains of expertise – emergency aid, food security, water and sanitation and infrastructure rehabilitation – so that target populations benefit from it, especially in programmes ensuring a smooth transition between emergency and development, one of ACTED’s priorities.