Burundi: lifting families out of extreme poverty and promoting access to health and housing
Since 2006, FXB Switzerland has been actively working to promote sustainable development and improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable communities in Burundi, where it is recognized and registered locally as an international non-governmental organization.
Context
Burundi remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with persistent challenges in terms of access to education, healthcare and sustainable sources of income for its population. Political, social and economic crisis, food insecurity, malaria epidemics, fuel shortages and recurrent flooding have left the country in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis.
Nearly 3/4 of its population lives below the poverty line, and 51% of children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition. Burundi is also one of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change, with over 91% of internal displacements caused by natural disasters.
Our work in Burundi
1 Combating the multidimensional causes of poverty: 7 economic and community development projects FXBVillage
The FXBVillage model is being implemented in the provinces of Kayanza and Bujumbura Rural.
By 2025, more than 5,000 adults and children will receive sliding-scale support over three years: the time needed to move from extreme poverty to sustainable economic and social autonomy.
After receiving training in finance and project management, families are provided with start-up capital to create income-generating activities (micro-businesses) and actively participate in Village Savings and Credit Associations (VSCAs). They also receive food aid at the start of the project, enabling them to return to a satisfactory state of health. This gives them the energy they need to invest fully in their economic activities, while their children are better able to continue their schooling.
Over the course of the three-year project, we provide comprehensive support, including schooling and vocational training for children and young people, access to appropriate healthcare and improved housing and sanitation facilities. They also have the opportunity to acquire key skills in health and social issues, thus promoting their overall development and guaranteeing the sustainability of the project's impact on their quality of life.
FXB also integrates resilience and adaptation to the impacts of climate change into its activities, ensuring that marginalized communities are prepared to face the environmental challenges that disproportionately affect them.
Equality between women and men is not only a fundamental human right, it is also a condition of possibility for a prosperous and sustainable world. As such, particular attention is paid to the economic empowerment of women and the promotion of their leadership. Because women play a key role in the development of their communities, FXB implements specific activities to strengthen their skills, promote their access to sustainable economic opportunities and enhance their role as agents of change, notably by encouraging their active participation in decision-making within their families and communities. The aim is also to raise community awareness of domestic and sexual violence and gender equality.
In addition, to extend its impact in these provinces, FXB is gradually setting up AVEC groups, benefiting 1,200 families (8,500 people) who are particularly deprived, in order to strengthen their resilience to socio-economic shocks and improve their access to basic services.
2. access to healthcare thanks to the TUVUZANYE mutual health insurance company
In response to the often insurmountable obstacles posed by family health expenses, FXB has initiated, in 2021, a community health mutual in the provinces where it operates.
TUVUZ.ANYE (Let's take care of each other) will have almost 20,000 members by the end of 2024, including all VillageFXB project families. FXB is providing technical and financial support for this initiative until 2026, when the health mutual is expected to become autonomous, in line with the development plan in place.
3. house reconstruction
In 2014, 2018 and 2023, hundreds of families lost everything following devastating floods.
FXB rebuilds houses, latrines and outdoor kitchens using semi-industrial bricks, which are stronger, more environmentally friendly and produced without the use of child labor.
4 - Support for local initiatives in Burundi "INIBU
The INIBU fund is designed to strengthen Burundi's local associations, which carry out micro-projects that have a local impact, meet people's basic needs and encourage the empowerment of targeted communities.
The INIBU call for projects aims to support, through an annual call for projects, local initiatives led and implemented by local players who are able to understand the needs of their communities and provide relevant, endogenous responses. The initiatives supported concern the following priority areas: Empowerment and strengthening of girls/women; Local agriculture, livestock; Education and vocational training; Entrepreneurship and employability; Inclusion of vulnerable and/or marginalized groups; and Climate adaptation and environmental protection.
The INIBU fund is operated and coordinated by FXB in Burundi, thanks to generous funding from the Government of the Principality of Monaco. The first annual call for projects will open in summer 2025, and will be renewed for at least 3 years.
Our impact in Burundi
According to external evaluations, 9 years after the end of a FXBVillage project, families are still engaged in income-generating activities and have improved their living conditions.
out of extreme poverty. They are able to provide for themselves, cope with the vagaries of life and protect and raise their children with dignity.
have benefited from our presence in their communities through activities linked to economic and social capacity-building, access to water and sanitation and sustainable housing.
Discover the documentary "Chronicle of Success
Life's journey
The transformation of a family life
Goreth, 42, has overcome many hardships since her childhood, marked by poverty and the civil war of 1993. Orphaned from her mother at the age of 9, she grew up in an overcrowded camp, deprived of essential resources. Forced to drop out of school in first grade to look after her younger sisters, her future darkened early on.
At the age of 18, she married and gave birth to 8 children. Together with her husband, both farmers, they are faced with a lack of arable land to rent due to their poverty. When we first meet them, their children are showing signs of malnutrition and most have dropped out of school, as their parents are unable to pay school fees. Their general state of health is also very worrying.
Since their inclusion in the FXBVillage Nyabiraba project, the family's situation has gradually improved. Our initial intervention consisted in providing them with nutritional support and enrolling them in the TUVUZANYE mutual health insurance scheme, thus guaranteeing access to healthcare for the whole family.
Today, Goreth is filled with hope at the prospect of setting up a micro-business focused on livestock breeding and market gardening. She is particularly happy to see her children back at school, and is determined to give them a better future. Although the road to complete economic and social autonomy will take another two years, her determination to change her family's destiny is guiding her with strength and conviction towards this goal.