USAID/OTI Burundi Field Report March 2004
Program Description
The Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) supports the ongoing peace process in Burundi as outlined in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accord (APRA) by promoting community-level reintegration and reconciliation through community-based leadership development, vocational skills training, small-scale infrastructure reconstruction, and information dissemination. PADCO, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), and the national NGO African Strategic Impact (ASI) implement this program and manage the program’s field offices. Together, they work with government entities, community groups, media outlets, NGOs and international organizations to build local and national constituencies for peace, promote cooperation among diverse groups of people, increase community-level participation in local governance, improve livelihoods, and increase economic opportunities. Since February 2004, OTI has invested $147,000 in these activities.
Country Situation
Rebel Leader Ends 39-year Exile - Chairman of the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People (Palipehutu), Etienne Karatasi, returned to Burundi in March following 39 years of exile in Denmark. Karatasi submitted a list of more than 2,000 Palipehutu combatants to the ceasefire commission. Approximately 150 of the faction’s combatants have already assembled in the northwestern province of Cibitoke.
Schools Reopen as Teachers Suspend Strike – Primary and secondary schools across Burundi reopened in March after 20,000 teachers suspended a strike that began in December 2003 and put at least one million children out of school. The cash-strapped government has promised salary increases and will revisit earmarking land for teachers’ housing, according to the Minister of Education.
World Bank Approves $84 Million Credit for Reconstruction - The World Bank approved a $84.17 million credit to help the transitional government of Burundi return former combatants to civilian life and to rebuild the country's battered road infrastructure. The Bank will direct $33 million to support the Emergency Demobilization, Reinsertion and Reintegration Program, and $51.17 million will be used to rehabilitate severely damaged primary, secondary and communal roads.
South African Official Garners Support for Peaceful Elections - South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who is also the facilitator of the Burundi peace process, conducted a two-day visit to Burundi to confirm support for peaceful elections in late 2004, as stipulated in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Accord, which 19 Burundian parties signed in August 2000. Zuma held talks with all of Burundi’s key political stakeholders, including President Domitien Ndayizeye, Vice-President Alphonse Marie Kadege, officials of major political parties as well as those of the former rebel faction CNDD-FDD led by Pierre Nkurunziza, and leaders of registered political parties that are not part of the peace process. Zuma concluded that “All parties, without exception, want to see elections going ahead.”
African Union Urges the United Nations to Deploy Troops - The African Union (AU) has renewed through May 2 the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Burundi, and appealed to the U.N. Security Council to authorize the early deployment of U.N. troops to the country as proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The AU, which has 2,523 troops in Burundi drawn from South Africa, Ethiopia, Mozambique, said that considerable progress had been made in Burundi's peace process and that a conducive environment had been created for the deployment of U.N. troops.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
In March, PADCO approved two grants totaling $11,493, bringing the total number of grants approved to five and total funds committed to $147,221 since February 2004. To facilitate the start of the Vocational Skills Training component of the program, the program team accelerated the completion of six identified vocational schools in Gitega and Ruyigi Provinces – four in Gitega and two in Ruyigi.
The Media Coordinator prepared a Communications Strategic Plan based on a baseline assessment of media outlets in Burundi. According to this plan, the program will provide technical and material support to media outlets for programming that promotes good governance, democracy and peaceful coexistence throughout the country.
B. Grant Activity Summary – USAID/OTI Burundi
| Local and National Constituencies for Peace |
0 |
2 |
$81,051 |
| Community-level Participation in Local Governance |
0 |
0 |
$0 |
| Livelihoods and Economic Opportunities |
2 |
2 |
$66,170 |
| Total |
2 |
5 |
$147,221 |
C. Indicators of Success
 |
| A communal administrator reads the Code of Conduct to villagers in Ruyigi. |
Corruption is rampant in Burundi. To counter this and provide an alternate model, program staff members have committed to work according to a Code of Conduct that dictates zero tolerance for corruption. In support of this approach, the governors of Gitega and Ruyigi provinces, where program activities are focused, organized meetings with all communal administrators so that program staff could discuss their operating principles. The communal administrators agreed to work according to the principles of the Code of Conduct.
In addition, several administrators have participated in joint field visits to explain the Code of Conduct to local communities. The governor of Ruyigi participated in one such visit and received cheers from the crowd of over 200 villagers when he explained that all materials from the program would be delivered to the work sites and that no money would pass directly through local officials. The governor of Ruyigi commented that “we will work together in this transparent manner for the benefit of Burundi.”
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
In April, PADCO and ASI will recruit participants for the program’s vocational skills training component. They will target ex-combatants, returned refugees and internally displaced persons, people who are ineligible for formal schooling due to age, and other vulnerable persons.
In mid-April, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) will launch the Community-based Leadership Program (CBLP) with a three-day training for Master Trainer candidates on negotiation skills.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Carlisle J. Levine, Program Manager at 202-712-0955 or clevine@usaid.gov
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