Introduction

Since the political crisis in 2015, Burundi has faced political instability and economic decline. Space for political dialogue has been lacking, human rights violations are persistent and people’s trust in the government is at a low level. With the general decrease in national income, poverty increased. There are shortages of basic products and foreign currency, and business activity has slumped.

The Netherlands contributes to eliminating the main drivers of conflict in Burundi:

Chronic food insecurity, malnutrition and the negative impact of climate change on agricultural production

Rapid population growth, gender inequality and gender-based violence

The lack of prospects and employment for young people

Fragile political governance.

To achieve this, the focus has been on:

The empowerment of farmer families through agricultural development and private sector development, in particular where the two overlap;

The empowerment of women and youths by making sexual and reproductive health information, products and services widely available;

The development of job skills and the creation of employment opportunities and other opportunities for income generation;

Strengthening the voice and participation of citizens at various levels in society by supporting participation in dialogue with the government and through reconciliation efforts.

Results 2019

Despite the current political landscape, the Dutch programmes have achieved remarkable results in food and nutrition security, sexual and reproductive health and local governance.

Within the food security programme, interventions to instil motivation in farmer households - men and women alike, as well as their adolescent children - to take up resilience-based farming have been expanded to other farmer families. This has continued to contribute to sustainable agricultural production and increased farm income.

Within the sexual and reproductive health programme, availability and access to appropriate reproductive health information, products and services (through health and non-health providers, schools and youth initiatives) have improved. This has resulted in greater use of contraceptives, reduced teenage pregnancies and, over time, a reduced fertility rate.

Despite the difficult political context, some results could be achieved in the area of good governance. Benevolencija continued to provide support to Burundian media outlets. The work through the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) in the field of political dialogue is widely acknowledged to have had a defusing effect on political tensions at the local level. The work through VNG International has fostered local ownership and collaboration at local community level. The work through IOM has improved ministerial co-ordination and ownership among politicians and government officials to tackle human trafficking.

Background

Farmer households that were motivated to invest in their farms managed to achieve a significant increase in farm production and income, and thereby food security. They did so largely through their own means. To further promote self-led development of farmer households, the challenge is now to convince other donors and development organisations that interventions based on donations should be avoided if there is no urgent humanitarian need. Experience has shown that free gifts tend to discourage beneficiaries from making their own decisions and investments.

In the area of sexual and reproductive health, increased availability of contraceptives has contributed to greater use of contraceptives and a reduced fertility rate over time. To further meet the need for family planning, contribute to the goal of a maximum of three children per woman and reduce teenage pregnancies, investments in mind-set and behavioral change need to be scaled up nationally to achieve the required long-term impact.

The political situation continues to weigh heavily on the security and rule of law situation in the country. Underinvestment in Burundi’s civil service apparatus has hampered the effectiveness of and the community's trust in the justice and security sector. The positive legacy of the Netherlands’ earlier Security Sector Development programme, which worked directly with police, army and governance institutions, is slowly diminishing. New activities can only address this regress to a small extent.

Glimpse into the future

The work on self-advancement of farmer families has already produced significant results in terms of production, income and food security, but it has also set the stage for achieving bigger and lasting results. Interventions are now underway to build on the capacities created among farmer households, taking them through a process of further professionalisation, fostering entrepreneurship and better connecting them to markets and services.

Promoting informed choice in the field of sexual and reproductive health will be key over the coming years. A multi-target and multi-actor strategy - targeting various population segments and involving private entities and non-health partners - is required to reach the scale needed to achieve the required long-term impact. While health professionals continue to be targeted, increased coverage of sexual education in public and private schools is important and should be complemented by integrating sexual reproductive health and gender into the curriculum of education professionals.

Progress in the area of peace building and good governance remains fragile and is highly dependent on the conduct and outcome of the upcoming elections (May 2020).

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is most likely severe. The extent to which this affects our current and future projects is still unknown.