In CAR, UNFPA Offers Safe Spaces for Women

Since insecurity increases their risks of protection, women and girls in the Central African Republic—including an estimated 73,000 pregnant women—face substantial obstacles when trying to receive gender-based violence (GBV) services and reproductive health care. A health referral centre in Bimbo, run by UNFPA’s implementing partner, offers women in need vital maternity healthcare services.

These services include clinical management of rape for GBV survivors, prenatal and postnatal care, and family planning. About one in five persons have been locally or internationally displaced by the protracted conflict. Reports of clashes between conflicting factions, assaults on people, and transgressions of international humanitarian law and human rights persist, especially in the country’s west and southeast. Furthermore, vulnerabilities in the northeast and northwest have been made worse by the conflict in Sudan and the instability in southern Chad.

The Boeing Bimbo Safe Space, a thriving centre of learning and empowerment with a wide variety of programs, is another initiative that UNFPA supports in Bimbo. These include livelihood programs like sewing and baking and computer skills instruction in programs like Word and Excel. The safe place promotes independence and economic self-reliance by giving participants useful skills, which directly lowers GBV.

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