BUJUMBURA July 30th (ABP) – Advocacy for the education of vulnerable or marginalized children requires in-depth knowledge of lobbying and advocacy techniques. It is in this context that representatives of marginalized / vulnerable groups grouped together in associations have been following training on those techniques since Thursday, July 29, in Bujumbura. That activity was organized by the Education for All Coalition Bafashebige, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
During the two days of that training session, those participants who come from all the provinces of Burundi will learn, among other things, strategic planning of advocacy; building relationships and partnerships, managing risk in advocacy; the art of convincing, the identification of allies, target groups and beneficiaries; the formulation of advocacy messages and the place of negotiation in the lobbying and advocacy process. The chairman of the Bafashebige coalition Me Jean Samandari who opened the work of that training session reminded the participants that the ambition to achieve the right to an inclusive, equitable and quality education is a long process but also a fight for every day that requires the involvement of everyone. He placed particular emphasis on the social responsibility of the people, that of local authorities and of all those responsible for decision-making bodies in order to facilitate access to planning, dialogue and monitoring of educational policies. That training session is an opportunity that should also lead to the acquisition of skills to enable those actors involved in the field of education to influence educational policies, Mr. Samandari noted. Some of those children are therefore found in the category of vulnerable and marginalized children who are made up of children living with disabilities, returnees, albinos, AIDS orphans, children of the Batwa ethnic minority as shown in the database of the Bafashebige coalition in 2020.