Reconciliation, Peace and Good Governance in Burundi, 2005-2009, Mid-term evaluation

Background:

Since the time Burundi got its independence in 1962, it has experienced cycles of civil war. After over ten years of civil war peace was finally brokered with the help of the African Union under the leadership of the late President Nyerere and later the South African government. The peace accord signed in Arusha (2001) ushered in multi party elections (2005) which resulted in the current government.

AEE is an international organization based in Africa with ten offices spread around the continent. One of its ministries is Reconciliation. ELFCN and AEE have since the year 2000 been partners working for peace, reconciliation and good governance in Burundi. The project was in two phases of five years and it was funded both by ELFCN and NORAD.

Purpose/objective:

• Document the project's progress and assess the impact of activities in relation to goals;

• Evaluate the potential of the project to become a model of faith based approach to peace and reconciliation work;

• Look into the needs for continuation and sustainability of the project.

Methodology:

The approach used by the evaluation team was participatory and interactive dialogue. A variety of methods especially participatory ones such as interviews, Focus Group Discussions were applied in order to access relevant information from a variety of stakeholders.

Key findings:

According to the evaluation team the relevance of the project cannot be overstated.

• The project has attained above 80% of the planned activities which is a big step, given the uncertain situation.

• The three pillars of the project namely peace building, reconciliation and good governance are very relevant especially where trauma healing is part of reconciliation.

• Many seminars on peace building and trauma healing are conducted in the provinces and national level. Through trauma healing and reconciliation couples and individuals end up reviewing their perceptions, attitudes and treatment of one another.

• The faith based approach touches the inner values, attitude and heart of the person which are usually difficult in situations of conflict and post conflict. This in fact is what distinguishes the project from other similar projects.

• Organizing workshops for the youth/students and women empowerment is an area that the project has registered great success. Many young people have reestablished relationships with their parents and many women have found new meaning in life especially widows.

• The number of people trained as ToTs are not adequate to cope with the demand.

• Follow up of trainings is rather weak and the monitoring tool is almost non existent.

• Church leaders’ capacity building for advocacy still needs to be worked on.

• Good governance started rather late due to insecurity and negotiations with government to facilitate the process.

• A number of workshops on HIV and AIDS were organized and medical support provided.

• The Radio Hope airs messages on prevention and medical support. In addition the radio runs programmes on popular education on family, peace and reconciliation.

• Activities in civic education were not conducted neither has an ecumenical platform for church leaders for a joint agenda for peace been established.

• Although the number of women participating in the project has increased over the years, the project should enhance the knowledge on gender dynamics.

• As regards efficiency, the project has remained within the budget and reports have been prepared in good time. Fundraising for purposes of diversification became a challenge and this may be due to the staff capacity as they are overstretched in the field.

• On networking, the project has entered into a number of contacts with many organizations at national, regional and local level with a view of broadening the scope of dissemination of information and also securing sustainability of the project.

• The partnership between AEE and ELFCN has been one of mutual respect, shared vision and concern for peace and reconciliation, accountability and transparency. Communication between the partners is smooth and supportive.

• Questions about the future of the programme are alive on the minds of AEE and Burundians especially since the needs are many regarding healing and good governance.

Recommendations:

• Training and capacity enhancement requires well articulated mechanism of follow up of participants and institutions.

• Workshop's training days to be increased to at least four for the remaining period. Prejudices and animosity between people needs time to break ice prior to making input.

• Regional dimension; consider including at least D.R.C in a new programme plan.

• AEE should ensure provision of services to priority constituencies.

• To enhance the role and place of women, the project should undertake gender analysis and infuse findings into the activities.

• The project should continue with the measures of ensuring sustainability namely to train pastors, volunteers and ToTs including opinion leaders among youth and women.

• AEE should enforce its voice to Government of Burundi on the dire need for healing so that they understand that demobilizing people without subjecting them to healing process is useless if not dangerous.

Comments from the organisation, if any: