A landlocked country in East Africa, Burundi is a low-income economy where 80% of
the populations are employed in the agricultural sector. Surrounded by Rwanda to the
North, Tanzania to the East, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the West, it is
bordered by Lake Tanganyika to the Southwest.
Burundi still ranks among the world’s least developed countries (it was ranked at 185th
place out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2019), and over
70% of its population lives below the poverty line, although its education sector
continues to be a bright spot in terms of both access and outcomes.
The ongoing foreign-exchange crisis continued through 2020, public debt levels rose and the country
continues to grapple with energy provision issues, even though some large-scale
infrastructure projects will in the future expand access to electricity. While gold prices
are expected to rise, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to slow down growth globally;
therefore, the economy’s tentative positive growth trend will probably not continue.
Agreements to support fiscally constrained countries in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic and global economic slowdown resulted in IMF debt relief for Burundi and
new World Bank support. Burundi has not yet ratified the African Continental Free Trade
Area agreement.
Access to high-quality education is available to Burundians equally, with no difference
regarding gender, regional or socioeconomic background.
The enrollment rate is 96%. Access to water had been improved so as to serve a large majority of the population.
The country suffered from extraordinarily high prevalence rates of malaria and cholera
in 2019. It also experienced cases of COVID-19 in 2020, though the number of cases
reported was lower than caseloads elsewhere. In response, the government closed the
airport and national borders, but also denied the danger of the virus throughout the first
half of 2020.
After the sudden and unexpected death of former President Pierre
Nkurunziza – supposedly of a heart attack, others say due to a coronavirus infection –
and after the new president had been sworn in, the politics toward COVID-19 changed.
Burundi has also accepted debt relief from the IMF and a socioeconomic stabilization
program led by the World Bank and the UNDP, among others. This will ease the stress
on its economy generated by the negative growth trend expected globally.
Humanitarian Work: Provision OF Laundry Soap to Flood Affected Victims
Heavy rainfall led to flooding in Gatumba, located at approximately 12 kilometres from
the city of Bujumbura.
This was one of the many floods which have affected the country
since January 2018. Like many others, this area is prone to periodic flooding and has a
population comprising of farmers, livestock and small traders. A joint assessment
conducted on 9 th May 2020 by Burundi Red Cross, the government of Burundi, OCHA,
WFP, UNICEF, IOM, NRC, Million for One and PACT in sites in Gatumba indicated that
flooding in Gatumba was caused by overflow of two rivers, Rusizi 1 and 2, which are
attributes of Tanganyika crossing Gatumba area from Kivu.
The flooding has severe consequences with 12,956 people ( 2,143 men, 2,258 women and 8,555 children) and
2,133 houses affected in 9 locations
On the 13 th of September 2020, Stichting Uruma Burundi with the generous support
from Jose Van Gool based in Tilburg, Nethelands reached out to flood victims of Lake
Tanganyika camped at Kinyinya Quartier in Gatumba, Bujumbura with laundry soap.
Over 400 families received the laundry soap
Stichting Uruma Burundi also reached out to 200 additional families of flood victims in
Gatumba, Burundi with laundry soap. These were affected due to the heavy rains that
caused floods in the neighborhood of Lake Tanganyika.
Thanks to generous support from Jumbo Supermarket based in Boxtel. Netherlands
Stichting Uruma Burundi provides Gender –Based Violence (GBV) prevention and
response through a community –based campaign initiative in collaboration with local
officials and other partner civil society organizations
The initiative aims at empowering persons of different ages, gender and diverse
backgrounds to promote their participation in decisions that affect their lives.
The program support women, girls, men, and boys to receive vital information about
services, become aware of their rights, acquire new skills, build social networks, and
receive specialized services. More particularly, the program prioritizes GBV and child
protection cases.
Prevention services are designed to actively engage with community
in defining and implementing local solutions that influence their lives through
strengthened community structures, mitigate protection risks through improved
awareness and positive community practices on gender equality and GBV
Evidence exists in Uganda to show that disabled persons, especially women and girls
with disabilities face barriers in most areas of life. In its general comment on women and
girls with disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
notes that these barriers create situations of multiple and intersecting forms of
discrimination against women and girls with disabilities, in particular with regard to:
equal access to education, economic opportunities, social interaction and justice; equal
recognition before the law; and the ability to participate in politics and to exercise control
over their own lives across a range of contexts
Stichting Uruma response to barriers against people with disabilities aims at
strengthening external linkages for effective advocacy and lobby with disability
organizations;
Our action plan link women and girls with disabilities to mainstream women rights
movement.
Local officials and policy makers at the district and national levels aware of the rights of persons with disabilities and incorporated in performance contracts.
Network of support established between people with disabilities and district/national level
public officers in target districts and at national level
