UNICEF consults with Government and civil society to enrich its new programme document 2024-2027

The session, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, was attended by the Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr Sylvie Nzeyimana, and the Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, Dr François Havyarimana, in addition to other government officials and civil society representatives.

The objective of this meeting was to collect recommendations and suggestions from the government and civil society partners in order to enrich the reflection on the strategic orientations for the next UNICEF/Government of Burundi programme document, for the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027.

‘’This document will strongly place Burundi's children and the challenges they face at the centre of our reflection and will contribute to the achievement of the results of the National Development Plan to 2027 as well as the SDGs", explained UNICEF representative, John Agbor. He therefore invited everyone to reflect on the specific needs and challenges of children throughout their life cycle, considering three age groups, namely 0 to 6 years, 7 to 13 years and 14 to 19 years.

The session began with a presentation on the results of the situation analysis of children, carried out with the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of Burundi (ISTEEBU). This allowed participants to better understand the progress already made, but also the efforts that still need to be made to allow more children in Burundi to enjoy their rights, mainly access to basic social services.

UNICEF then presented to partners key deprivations of the child according to its different axes of intervention, essentially in the fields of health and nutrition, education and adolescence, without forgetting the fields of child protection, social policy, water, hygiene and sanitation.

Based on the lessons learned from the implementation of the current programme, which ends on 31 December 2023, and other previous programmes, UNICEF shared its priorities for the new programme, taking into account the current context. It was then an opportunity to gather ideas and recommendations from government and civil society partners to further enrich the reflection.

On behalf of the Government of Burundi, Ambassador Isaïe Kubwayo, who represented the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, praised UNICEF for the transparency it has shown in carrying out its mandate for the children of Burundi. ‘’Our wish is that at the end of this consultation, we will have an overview of the most strategic orientations possible to improve UNICEF's contribution to the development and fulfilment of children and adolescents in this country", he added.

The Minister of National Education, Dr. François Havyarimana, was particularly appreciative of the way UNICEF works transparently and collaborates with the government and partners. But he drew attention to the need to act on priorities because, according to him, the challenges are numerous, but the means to meet them are not sufficient. For the Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Dr. Sylvie Nzeyimana, these consultations allow all stakeholders to work in synergy for the good of Burundi's children.

Consultation with government and civil society is one of the main steps in the process of developing the new UNICEF programme document. It was preceded by the situation analysis of children, followed by an internal reflection on strategic prioritization, aligned with national priorities. The "life cycle" approach was prioritized to ensure that the child was at the centre of all thinking, from conception to age 18. 

This new programme being developed is aligned with the new United Nations cooperation framework (UNSDCF) with the Government of Burundi, currently being finalized.