Burundi NewsletterFall 2013

SFCG has worked in Burundi since 1995. Our mission is to promote the inclusive, ef-fective and responsible participation of all members of Burundian society in deci-sion-making institutions and processes. This work is being done through the engage-ment of the local community (youth, women, political and civil organizations…) in peace-building activities. Much of our current work promotes free and fair national elections in 2015.

Youth are not only Burundi’s future but also present. Especially when it comes to po-litical life, Burundian youth are very active and took an important role in the elections in 2010 and in the episodes of political violence related to it. SFCG aims to strength-en youth resistance to manipulation and violence in the lead up to the 2015 elections and to provide them the confidence and skills necessary to instead act as a force for peace.

On July 5, 2013, SFCG held an event launching our 24-month initiative to mo-bilize Burundi’s youth for peaceful elections in 2015. Attendees also had the opportunity to hear from several distinguished guests, including SFCG’s Re-gional Director for East Africa Rebecca Besant;, Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Adolphe Rukenkanya, ;President of the National Youth Coun-cil, Jean Petit Ndikumasabo; and U.S. Ambassador to Burundi, Dawn Liberi.

The ceremony saw the participation of more than 200 youth leaders, representa-tives from the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, the National Electoral Commis-sion (CENI), IFES, civil society, and received media coverage from Radio Isangan-iro, Rema FM, Renaissance Television, and Burundi National Television (RTNB).

The ceremony was preceded and followed by a per-formance of the traditional Burundian drummers.

Launch Ceremony for Intamenwa, “The Indivisibles”

YouthOn October 3, a set of various dialogue sessions between the youth wings of the major political parties in Burundi start-ed. In this case, youth wings of CNDD-FDD (current party in the government) and MSD gathered their branches from all over the country to discuss the role of youth in having a peaceful election in 2015. This event, facilitated by SFCG Burundi, ADISCO and CEDAC included a whole day of discussion, team-build-ing activities, conflict management ex-ercises and personal reflection. On the second day, both youth wings met and shared their ideas and experiences.

SFCG Burundi has been developing fur-ther events like this with the remaining po-litical parties during the month of October.

Political Dialogue Sessions get started

In June, SFCG received a grant from the United States Institute of Peace for an exciting new initia-tive to promote youth role models from around Burundi who have a clear vision for their country’s peaceful future. The project aims to connect youth, youth leaders and policy makers across the po-litical and social spectrum utilizing innovative community and media tools never before used in the country. SFCG will partner with the Youth Action Network (REJA) and the Collective for the Promo-tion of Youth Associations (CEPAJ) to implement activities in all eighteen provinces of Burundi, in-cluding peace festivals, the mapping and networking of youth leaders and the organization of “Youth Inspired Talks.” These talks, modeled after the world-renowned “TED Talks” program, will allow 36 youth leaders—18 male and 18 female—to present their initiatives for a peaceful Burundi. Each talk will feature three speakers: one from the region where the talk takes place and two from other re-gions, in order to encourage cross-regional exchange. SFCG will broadcast these talks on four radio stations nationwide, allowing us to reach an estimated 500,000 youth over the course of the project.

We promise more stories and visual documents from this project in our next newsletter!

SFCG Burundi to start new project: Youth Inspired, Today and Tomorrow

Women

Media plays a powerful role in shaping societal norms and attitudes. In 2012, SFCG developed a me-dia-based initiative across the Great Lakes Region, to both increase public awareness of women’s issues and to engage women in a field where they have historically been under-represented—media. As part of the project, SFCG partnered with women’s media associations throughout the Great Lakes, including Burundi’s national Association of Women Journalists (known by its French acronym, AFJO).

SFCG Burundi and AFJO hosted a launch ceremony for the project on March 7th 2013, in hon-or of International Women’s Day. The ceremony, which took place at the Water Front Ho-tel in Bujumbura, was attended by 40 participants, including representatives from the Ministry of National Solidarity, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Human Rights, media as-sociations, and civil society, as well as officials from the Belgian and American embassies.

Representatives from SFCG and AFJO met in April to develop an Organizational Strengthening Plan to assess the association’s particular capacity-building needs for promoting the voice of women in media. SFCG has since organized a series of train-ings for AFJO members to address these needs, the first of which was held June 19-21 on lobbying, negotiating and advocacy techniques. SFCG Burundi also finalized plans for the first of four regional conferences that will be organized as part of the project. This first conference was held at the Star Hotel, Bujumbura, during the second week of July and resulted in the creation of a groundbreaking new network for women jour-nalists across the Great Lakes Region—the Great Lakes Women’s Media Network.

Launch of “Women and Media”

Great Lakes Women’s Media Network

Inserted in the project: Média: « Voix Pour Tous » (Media : A Voice For Everyone), SFCG organized a competition for independent radi-os and journalists in the Great Lakes Region. The purpose of it was to propose an original radio program that would promote women’s voice within the media and give a gender-sensitive media coverage.

In Burundi, Radio Isanganiro and Studio Tubane (linked with SFCG Burundi) won the competition and will pre-pare a weekly program on the topic. This means they will have aired 48 radio programs in the next 12 months.

Women will have a voice in the Burundian radio

In 2011, the Burundian government launched a National Action Plan to support UN Se-curity Council Resolution 1325 (NAP 1325). The resolution affirms the essential role of women in peace building and conflict management, a philosophy which SFCG shares. With help from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in partnership with Fontaine Isoko, Dushirehamwe and the Association of Women Parliamentarians, SFCG Burun-di has launched a project to support the implementation of NAP 1325 by promoting the increased participation of women as leaders and voters in the 2015 electoral process.

The project includes a variety of activities designed to both increase public support for wom-en’s participation in decision-making processes and to strengthen the leadership capacity of women who are already elected in four target provinces across Burundi—Ruyigi, Kirundo, Muyinga and Cankuzo—as well as in the capital city of Bujumbura. In order to engage youth in the conversation, SFCG will produce a series of 40 radio quiz shows on the project themes.

Furthermore, SFCG will also organize 24 conference in several Burundian Town Halls, where women and men with political, civil society and community backgrounds will dis-cuss the barriers present in the effective political participation of women. These meetings will conclude with the elaboration of strategies to better the participation of women in de-cision-making processes. We promise more stories on this project in our next newsletter

Supporting women’s participation and effective leadership in democratic institutions

Media

For SFCG Burundi media is a fundamental tool and media actors play a very important role when it comes to peace-building. However, media can also be a tool to spread hate and incite violent acts. That is why SFCG is very keen on opening spaces for dialogue between the different media actors in the country where their opinions, ways of reporting and experiences are contrasted.

In the month of October, SFCG Burundi organized exchange sessions between ma-jor media voices of the government (through the National Council of Communi-cation, CNC) and civil society (through independent media entities and organiza-tions) to discuss the current regulations of media production. After the sessions there was a list of proposals and recommendations to develop more efficient and consensuated regulations for the Burundian public and private media sector.

Exchange Sessions between Media Representatives

Media Synergies to prevent manipulation and polarization

SFCG Burundi has put in place what came to be known as “Media Synergies” in which most radio stations in the country meet to discuss on how to report objective-ly and constructively on key topics. They come up with some conclusions on what will be shared and how and appoint a common speaker and time for the emission. In this way, all the radio stations in the project air the same program at the same time.

Having a past where media played an important role in the polarization and radicaliza-tion of the different ethnic and political groups, this initiative comes at the perfect time to avoid manipulation of facts and political violence just before the 2015 national election.

Other Issues

On June 24 -25, 2013 SFCG Burundi boarded up shop and completed a move to our new office in Quartier Rohero II, Avenue Kunkiko Nu-mero 32. While sad to be leaving an office that has seen over 10 years of SFCG programing, located right down the hall from one of our key partners Radio Isanganiro, we are excited for this new chapter.

To help support the projects listed above, SFCG has also begun recruit-ing for a number of new positions, including a Media Coordinator, Com-munity Outreach Coordinator and two Project Assistants. With new fac-es, new projects and a new office – it is an exciting time for SFCG Burundi!

Changes in SFCG’s Office in Burundi

The Burundian political environment became characterized in the last years for the amount of parties that split up from the major parties (FRODEBU, CNDD-FDD, UPRONA, FNL). This phenomenon increased the political tension and that is why several interna-tional organizations, including UNDP, recommended the reunification of these split-offs.

SFCG Burundi took the lead in this and organized and broadcast political debates on the possible reunification of the branches that splinted from a major Burundian party, FNL. The event finished with an agreement and a commitment from all FNL factions to work on the unification. On hearing the radio program, the other major parties showed interest in the initiative and are going to participate in similar debates in the coming weeks. Last week week was the turn for FRODEBU’s splits (FRODEBU, FRODEBU Nyak-uri and Sangwe PADER) who even agreed on a mediator for the debate (Mr Leonard Nyangoma, CNDD President). This week was the turn for those who came out of CNDD (CNDD, CNDD-FDD, etc…) and then will come the time for those related to UPRONA.

SFCG Burundi initiates the re-unification of the major Burundian parties and their split-offs.

On September 21, 2013, SFCG, in collaboration with the Scout Associa-tion of Burundi, the Network of Youth in Action for Peace, Reconciliation and Development (REJA) and the African Association for a Progressive Youth (AJAP) have mobilized around 700 young people to participate in the celebration of the International Peace Day. The theme of the day was: “A durable peace for a durable future”. Youth participated actively in the demonstration and showed their commitment to peace.

SFCG celebrates International Peace Day

All of these results would not be possible without the critical support of:

Search for Common Ground in BurundiOctober 2013