NGOZI June 25th (ABP) – The beneficiaries of the Merankabandi social safety nets project in Burundi positively appreciate the step already taken with the support of that project. These are the remarks of the beneficiaries of that project from Ruyigi, Karusi, Gitega and Kirundo provinces during a national results-sharing workshop held on Wednesday June 23 in Ngozi province (northern Burundi).
Mrs. Spès Misigo, a woman from the Twa ethnic group from Butezi commune in Ruyigi province, who previously made a living from pottery, claims to have profoundly transformed the life of her household thanks to that project. She was able to start a small business and pig livestock, and joined savings and mutual loan associations. Currently, she has bought a piece of land to cultivate and another piece of land where she has just completed a terracotta dwelling house.
Mrs. Marie Goreth Ndayishimiye from Nyabututsi village in Gitega commune claims on her part to easily pay her children’s school fees, to feed her them properly and to follow family planning methods.
Even beneficiaries from Kirundo and Karusi provinces testify to the same thing. They claim to have made investments, built decent housing, joined community health mutual funds and so-called “Sangwe” cooperatives.
The Merankabandi social safety net project is a social protection project, piloted by the government of Burundi and fully funded by the International Development Association (IDA).
The Merankabandi project consists of providing regular and predictable cash transfers to households with children aged 12 and under living in situations of extreme poverty and vulnerability in selected areas.
In addition, accompanying measures are organized to promote the investments of beneficiary households in the foundations of human capital and consolidate the implementation mechanisms for the development of a basic system of social safety nets where each beneficiary household receives a transfer of 40,000 BIF for two months, for 30 months.
In total, 56,000 households have benefited from around 31 billion BIF for the provinces of Ngozi, Gitega, Kirundo and Karusi.
In addition to the cash transfer, the project organizes awareness sessions for behavior change.
That five-year project began activities in June 2017. It expects to end its activities on June 30, 2022. In the perspectives, the project intends to help consolidate gains in health, IGAs, and so on. A project document is being prepared to extend cash transfer activities to other provinces.
It should be noted that this workshop in Ngozi saw the participation of parliamentarians elected in the provinces of Karusi, Kirundo, Gitega and Ruyigi, the provincial governors, certain beneficiaries of the project from the provinces of intervention, those responsible for religious denominations and civil society, as well as the partner organizations of the project.