In Burundi, women had not been associated with any level of power previously, from the village level (the hill) up to the government. Thus the general objective of the project to build the capacities of women so that they can take part in political decision making processes is essential for the future of Burundi. Several women explained that they are more at ease when, in a conflict, other women are able to play the role of mediators.
The specific objectives were pertinent with real needs, to build the capacities of 140 associations so that they can defend the interest of women at the municipality level, the province and the whole country; to improve women and girls’ access and their participation quality to the governance process.
Nonetheless, the objectives were not fully met because of the followings:
- The project helped a certain number of women to become aware of the importance of electoral rights and their role in participating in power.
- The trainings on civic education emphasized on fundamental rights, including the electoral rights. Participation was analyzed only in relation with the elections, leading the majority of the participants to think that the next participation to the political life of the Country will happen at the elections.
- There was a problem of targeting the beneficiaries: organizations were targeted at the exceptions of political party members and election candidates. Human targeting was challenged by the problem of definition of youth (young adults up to 35 years of age, or unmarried persons). Geographically speaking, Search chose to do the trainings nationwide with a big number of beneficiaries. This had damaging consequences on building capacity for organizational management.
Click here to view this file online (French), click here for key findings in English.
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