When conflict broke out in the Central African Republic (CAR), Mbolifouni Diane* hastily left her village of Mboki with her children, fleeing to Obo for safety.
Sadly, the long journey to safety also meant the start of a life of uncertainty, devoid of the tools she had relied on for years to earn a living.
“I lost everything when we were displaced, the rains came and I had no tools,” she said, reflecting on life after forced displacement.
Mbolifouni Diane is one of many people in CAR grappling with a prolonged humanitarian crisis driven by conflict and climate change. In the prefectures of Haut-Mbomou and Mbomou, flooding, erratic rainfall and displacement have severely disrupted farming cycles and eroded livelihoods, leaving families increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity.
Women and youth are most affected. Limited access to livelihoods, services and protection, compounded by isolation and weak infrastructure in the regions of Obo, Zémio and Rafaï, has made it harder for them to adapt to changing climate conditions.
With dedicated funding from the OCHA-managed UN Global Emergency Fund (CERF)’s new Climate Action Account, UN Women is implementing a climate-resilience project that supports families to meet their urgent food needs and build resilience in the face of climate- and conflict-related crises. The initiative is part of a larger thematic allocation, which supports humanitarian climate action that builds resilience in some of the world’s most fragile and underfunded crises.
The project, which has been running since May 2025 and ends in April 2026, targets Obo, Zémio, and Rafaï, three climate- and conflict-affected areas facing food insecurity, displacement, access constraints, and heightened protection risks for women and girls. It combines immediate support with measures that help communities be better prepared for future shocks.
So far, the project has strengthened the residents’ capacity to restore food production and manage risks related to climate change through climate-smart agriculture and livelihoods training for women and youth.
“The climate is no longer predictable, but the training, the tools and the seeds you have provided help us feel more prepared,” said Amina Abdoulay*, chair of a women’s organization supported by the UN Women through a CERF-funded project in Zemio.
In its early stages, the project undertook procurement of gender-sensitive, climate-resilient agricultural and income-generating kits, which were distributed in a phased manner.
When the kits came to Obo, Mbolifouni Diane was glad to be one of the recipients.
“With this kit I can work the land and provide food for my children instead of depending on aid,” she said upon receiving hers.
By creating safe, climate-resilient livelihood opportunities and income-generating activities, the initiative also helps reduce negative coping strategies among young people, including the risk of recruitment into armed groups.
The project has also focused on strengthening gender-responsive climate-resilience infrastructure and services through rehabilitation and expansion of Integrated Women and Girls Empowerment Centres (IWECs) across all locations in Obo, Zémio and Rafaï.
Besides that, the project has also focused on building climate-resilient livelihoods and strong post-harvest infrastructure. This includes creating food processing and drying platforms to reduce post-harvest losses.
The aim is to stabilize food availability during lean periods and extreme weather events, and create climate-adaptive income-generating opportunities for women and youth.By supporting these integrated measures, CERF’s Climate Action Account is enabling rapid, gender-responsive action in remote, crisis-affected areas of CAR.
By prioritizing women and youth as agents of recovery, the project is addressing urgent needs while helping communities adapt to changing climate condition and rebuild more resilient livelihoods.
*Names have been changed for privacy and protection.
Posted February 2026
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