MEMO/13/115

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UROPEAN

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OMMISSION

MEMO

Brussels, 20 February 2013

EU Development Work in Burundi

An overview of Burundi

Burundi is a small, landlocked country that straddles Central and East Africa, with a total
land area of 27,834 km2, and approximately 8.5 million inhabitants; about 15% of whom

live in urban areas.
After many years of destructive civil war (1993-2000) which had a devastating effect on

the country's economy and infrastructure, Burundi is still a very fragile country. It has
enjoyed relative peace and slow but steady progress in the last seven years. Burundi’s

GDP per capita in 2012 is estimated at $270, making it still one of the poorest countries in
the world. Most of the population lives on less than a dollar per day.

EU Development Work with Burundi

The EU has worked in development in Burundi since 2003, when the transition period after
the war began. EU cooperation with Burundi is focused on the areas of health,

rehabilitation, rural development, food security, budget support, good governance and
civil society.
Between 2008-2013 (through the10th European Development Fund - EDF - and National

Indicative Programme - NIP), the European Commission is providing €188 million to
Burundi, for rural development and rehabilitation (€52m), the healthcare sector (€25m)

and general budget support (€90m).
Other areas will also receive funding totalling €21m; including good governance, trade and

support for the national authorizing officer.
Burundi benefits from an additional €18 million as part of the MDG Initiative to finance a

project set up to improve the food security and nutrition situation of the country.
The total funding currently amounts to €210.7 M.
On top of this, Burundi benefits from an additional € 45.6 million for unforeseen needs (

part of the 10th EDF NIP) mainly in health and food security and €37 million under the EU
budget lines to finance projects in the fields of food security, civil society and human

rights.
The Commission decided to prioritise budget support, health, food security and

rehabilitation in its work. The 10th EDF will also support civil society and governance
projects.

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Health projects in Burundi

a) 'Santé Plus' project (€11.5 million) – This project was set up in 2007 to provide a link
between the humanitarian projects coming to an end and the reinforcement of longer term
health structures. The project covers six provinces - Rutana, Ruyigi, Cankuzo, Karuzi,

Makamba, Bururi (East and South-West of Burundi).
Thanks to this project, a functional 'health district' has been set up in six provinces

(helping to improve decentralisation) and quality health services have been provided
(through rehabilitation and equipment of health centre and staff training), thus helping to

ensure better quality, accessible healthcare throughout Burundi.
b) Project 'Appui à la politique sectorielle de la santé au Burundi (PAPSBU), €25 million
This project, which is named 'Amagara Meza', or 'good health' in Kirundi, started in 2011
and covers eight provinces - Rutana, Ruyigi, Cankuzo, Karuzi, Makamba, Bururi,
Bujumbura rural and Bubanza (East and West of Burundi). Its objective is to help the

Burundian health system to provide quality health care services, thus improving the health
of the population.
The project includes a component on 'Universal Coverage', which contributed to putting in
place two innovative systems – Performance Based Financing (PBF), which links incentives

to performance in order to improve the access, service and quality of healthcare, and the
Health Insurance Card (HIC).
Thanks to EU support in health in Burundi with the above projects, over 3 million
inhabitants in these provinces have benefited and will continue to benefit from improved
access to better quality equipment and rehabilitation. Pregnant women and children under

5 have particularly benefited from the increased access to healthcare.
Health consultations for children under five have also multiplied by two between 2007 and

2008 and the rate of pregnant women giving birth assisted by trained staff has increased
from 30.7% in 2006 to 60% in 2010.
However, Burundi's lack of energy continues to pose a serious problem for health services
– especially for vaccinations and medicine safety.

Food and Nutrition Projects

More than 70% of the population in Burundi suffers from food insecurity and the current
level of chronic malnutrition rate of 58% of children under five is one of the highest in

Burundi for more than two decades. Burundi is among the six most affected countries in
the world.
It is estimated that more than 90% of the population works in farming, due to a lack of
jobs in other areas of the economy. Most of the poor are small farmers (with less than 0.5

hectares) who depend on food crops; a situation that applies particularly to women
farmers who are household heads.
a) Project 'Contribution à l’allégement de la flambée des prix des denrées alimentaires par

l’amélioration des capacités de production des associations exploitant les périmètres
irrigués de l’Imbo'
The EU has provided €5.4 million for this programme under its Food Facility (set up to help
developing countries to respond rapidly to problems caused by soaring food prices) and

has been implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

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The project has been designed to reduce the negative impact of rising food prices and the

effects of the climate on the food security of vulnerable households in Burundi. It has
helped to guarantee an increase in agricultural production and food supply on the market,

in order to cope with the effects of soaring prices and weather conditions.
Ways in which it has made a difference include: the rehabilitation and development of

3,500 ha of irrigation; the reconstruction of 8km of a dike against flooding by the river
Mutimbuzi; support to increase rice cultivation by 4 000 ha; providing producers with
quality products such as seeds and fertilisers, reintroducing the animal traction system

(using animals in agriculture and transportation), rehabilitating rural tracks and the
construction of storage warehouses.
b) Project 'Réponse rapide à la flambée des prix alimentaires dans 8 Provinces au Burundi
à travers le renforcement de la capacité productive agricole et l’appui aux formes

d’agrégation paysannes pour la relance du secteur primaire et de la commercialisation'.
The project has also been funded under the Food Facility and implemented by a

consortium of four Italian NGOs (AVSI, LVIA, VISPE and GVC). The EU contribution
amounts to €1m. The project was set up to provide a rapid response to soaring food prices
in rural areas of Burundi by strengthening agricultural production and support for farmers

in order to improve agriculture in eight provinces in Burundi (Ngozi, Kayanza, Ruyigi,
Rutana, Karuzi, Gitega, Bujumbura Mairie, Bubanza).
The project has helped to: construct an agro-industrial transformation centre in
Bujumbura Mairie; provide quality seeds and fertilisers; build irrigation schemes; provide

training and guidance on the management of resources; rehabilitate five storage
warehouses and construct five rural outlets in the Provinces of Kayanza and Ngozi.
EU contribution through the Food Facility has supported Burundi in putting in place
initiatives to respond rapidly to problems caused by soaring food prices. The flexibility it
provided has been key to transforming emergency measures into medium-long term

action in line with Burundi's national programmes.
c) Project MDG Initiative – 'Projet pour accélérer l'atteinte de l'OMD 1c (PROPA-O)'.
Thanks to an additional contribution of €18 million, the EU will further support Burundi
efforts to improve the food security and nutrition situation of its population. The project is

just starting and has been put in place to help Burundi reach MDG 1 'Eradicate extreme
poverty and hunger') and specifically target c ('Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the

proportion of people who suffer from hunger'.)
The project covers the areas of Imbo and Moso, which show particularly alarming
malnutrition rates; but at the same time have a certain potential for development of

agricultural production. Activities will include: marshland irrigation, helping to develop
production value chains, providing education on nutrition and helping to strengthen local

health structures. It is expected to benefit around 20,000 households and treat 80,000
undernourished children.
d) Project 'Programme de renouvellement des équipements des différentes complexes
theicoles de l'Office du Thé du Burundi (OTB)'
This project, funded by STABEX (the Système de Stabilisation des Recettes d'Exportation;
a Commission finance scheme set up to remedy the harmful effects of the instability of
export revenue from agricultural products) was set up to improve the exportable

production of tea, thus helping to promote sustainable and fair economic growth.

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The Burundian economy depends heavily on agriculture and tea and coffee are an

important part of that. The project involves the replacement or rehabilitation of some old
equipment in the various complexes of the 'Office du Thé du Burundi (O.T.B.)'. This

resulted in the improvement of the quality of the dried tea, the increase in selling prices
and therefore of the income of at least 50,000 households who cultivate tea. All

production of green leaf is (33,000 tonnes in 2008) is now currently being treated in good
conditions.
Before the renewal program, sales at the Mombasa tea auction were at around $1.5/kg.

Now, thanks to the partial replacement of the equipment, the price now varies between
2.6 $/kg and 3.00 $/kg.

Energy projects

The EU is nevertheless well aware of the energy concern and of the constraint energy
represents for all sectors of the economy of Burundi. It recently launched the 'Energy

cooperation for the Great Lakes' initiative in order to achieve the objectives of the
Sustainable Energy for All Initiative by 2030 (a UN initiative, supported by the EU, to help

ensure universal energy access to modern energy services for all). Representatives from
the European Commission, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

are cooperating closely and have recently finalised the roadmap for the implementation of
this cooperation, which will now have to be ratified at a high level.
The EU gives its full support to regional projects such as Ruzizi, which aims to improve the
capacity of energy production and the access to energy. Concerning Ruzizi III, the EU is
ready to mobilise its financial instruments and to cooperate with the development banks

and in particular with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EU is also ready to
support the rehabilitation of Ruzizi I and II provided that profitability and sustainability

conditions are met.
The first condition which needs to be fulfilled is the setting up of the 'agence de basin du

Lac Kivu – ABAKIR' which will guarantee the optimal management of the resources of Lake
Kivu. The legal framework for setting up this agency is now ready and will be soon

submitted for ratification by the three countries.

Background

The EU's cooperation with Burundi dates back to 2003, when the transition period after

the war began. EU cooperation with Burundi is focused on the areas of health,
rehabilitation, rural development and food security, budget support, good governance and

civil society and is making a difference to the lives of millions of Burundians. Thanks to EU
support for healthcare, for example, over 3 million inhabitants have benefited from

improved access to better quality equipment and rehabilitation.
The multi-annual indicative programme for Burundi under the 10th EDF amounts to €188
million to address these priorities. Additional € 18 million have been allocated to fight

against food and nutrition insecurity in the framework of the MDG initiative.
The food and nutrition situation in Burundi is alarming. It is one of the poorest countries in

the world, ranking 185/187 in the human development index (2011) and most of the
population lives on less than a dollar per day. The current level of chronic malnutrition rate

of 58% of children under 5 is one of the highest in more than two decades.

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The current electrification rate in Burundi is about 4%. 60,000 households have access to

electricity, compared to the 1.6 million households, or about 8 million people, who do not.
Burundi’s recurring conflict over the last 20 years has largely destroyed infrastructure,

especially the country’s energy generation, transmission and distribution systems. Wood
(and charcoal), used for cooking, will remain the main source of energy for both rural and

urban households for a long time. This has a serious negative effect both on health and
the environment and can lead to respiratory diseases due to indoor air pollution.