AWEPA’s action in Burundi aims to build solid democratic capacity for all members of Parliament as well as for parliamentary civil servants through training workshops, parliamentary days and thematic seminars.

AWEPA, working in close cooperation with the Senate elected by the local councillors, also focused on communal entities, in order to consolidate a “proximity” democracy, good governance and development on national and local scale.

A constant concern for AWEPA in Burundi is to also assist in the peace process as within the framework of the Arusha-agreement. In parallel, as a result of the 2010 Elections (Communal, Presidential, Legislative and District), where several parties due to their boycott of the process were left without elected officials at the Parliament, AWEPA‘s work in 2011 was marked by a parliamentary diplomacy effort with a continuous support for extra-parliamentary dialogue.

The following outcomes can be attributed to actions carried out in 2011 as part of the AWEPA programme in Burundi:

• All Burundian senators had direct contact with all communal bureaus in the entire country;
• the Burundian ministry of finances provided 100 million Burundian Francs to support the media for their work in 2012;
• A technical committee in charge of the preparation of the installation of the mechanisms for transitional justice was created on 13 June and its report was then presented to the State President the 18 October 2011;
• Opinions and consideration were collected within all different socio-politic layers of Burundi, on the bill of creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Burundi, and were made public. 

Group field visits in Burundian provinces

Bujumbura (AWEPA), March 6, 2013 : Within the framework of control of the government action and the strengthening of Parliamentary work at the local level, the Permanent Commission of Agriculture, Livestock, Environment and Rural Development in National Assembly organized with the support of AWEPA visits to assess the current situation in relation to the rehabilitation of the livestock sector for the period 2005 -2012.

In Burundi, farming has fallen sharply during the decade of civil war. Hundreds of thousands of cattle and small ruminants died. After the release of the crisis, the Government of Burundi through projects such as PRASAB, PRODEMA initiated a national program to revitalize the livestock sector by a massive distribution of cows throughout the country. By then, 2015, the ambitions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock are that every household has at least one cow.

The permanent commission on Agriculture, Livestock, Environment and Rural Development in the National Assembly went to the field to see the state of the work done by the Government of Burundi, from 18 to 22 February, 2013.