Supporting UNICEFs Community Engagement strategy in CAR

Source: Michaël Mosset, 2015, Berbérati

Between October 2023 and March 2024, Ground Truth Solutions supported UNICEF in Central African Republic in its commitment to ensure that the feedback and perspectives of crisis-affected communities are not only heard but actively used to improve aid and services.

The project followed a three-step approach: 

• Quantitative survey: In collaboration with the research agency UMBRA, we surveyed over 2,000 individuals in 13 locations across the country to understand their views on aid and services in critical sectors, which included WASH, health & nutrition, social policy, child protection, education, and social and behaviour change.  

• Qualitative deep dive: Together with the national research partner Humanitarian Data Support (HDS), we then organised focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews with over 160 people, including community leaders and community members as well as frontline aid workers. These provided deeper insight into the quantitative findings and generated recommendations for improving the quality of aid and services delivered by UNICEF and its partners.

• Collaborative workshops: We co-facilitated a series of workshops with UNICEF, national and international NGO partners, government representatives, and community-based organisations to collectively discuss the findings and develop action plans to enhance UNICEF's interventions. The outcomes also contributed to shaping UNICEF's broader community engagement strategy.

How to improve community engagement in CAR? – a glimpse into communities’ perspectives 

1. Best practices for community engagement are most often seen at the beginning of a project, such as through project introduction workshops, meetings with diverse community groups, or engagement with authorities. Examples of such practices in later project phases are less common. 

2. The majority of respondents in our quantitative study (76%) do not know how to share their suggestions or concerns with humanitarian and development actors, which may explain the low percentage (22%) of people who have ever shared a suggestion or concern.  

3. In Bangui, discussion group participants suggested forming a committee to ensure proper use of feedback from suggestion boxes. They also proposed setting clear timelines for handling complaints, ensuring transparent communication on actions taken and results, and involving communities more in decision-making. 

4. Aid actors often rely on local leaders to convey their messages. This means communication success often depends on the motivation and efforts of key individuals. However, relying on specific individuals can make the practice fragile if they change or disengage. It is crucial to consider the trust the community places in these key individual leaders. 

5. Recruiting outsiders instead of locals for aid projects can cause community discontent, as it overlooks local skills and resources. Communities value not only project outcomes but also the involvement and income opportunities during implementation. Local recruitment enhances project acceptance and sustainability. 

“In my village, there’s an NGO with a project to build latrines. Instead of understanding the populations’ wishes, it has started to build latrines. The population, who need to rebuild schools that were destroyed during the crisis, opposed this project and the NGO was forced to stop work and leave the village. ”

— Male community key informant, Ndélé

Curious to find out more? Read UNICEF’ executive summary of our final report (forthcoming), or listen to the radio show presenting key results from the qualitative study, aired by Radio Ndeke Luka on May 29 (in French).