KIRUNDO December 16th (ABP) – The Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture organized from December 14 to 16, 2021, at the headquarters of Kirundo province (northern Burundi) a workshop to sensitize young people in Kirundo province to community volunteering, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
According to the director of youth in that ministry, Mr. Radjabu Songambere, that community volunteering project which opened doors in 2014 has carried out many activities, in particular the organization of internships for young people in the sectors of health, education, justice and administration, as well as workshops organized for those young people to get them not to sit idly by at the end of their studies, and it is so that they can create their self-development clusters, Radjabu said.
He added that they have benefited from training in agriculture and animal husbandry, peaceful conflict resolution and leadership, to name but a few.
Positive results were observed because, he said, the young beneficiaries of the training understood that they should not always depend on others and created their income-generating activities and managed to hire their friends.
The youth director recalled that being a volunteer requires a patriotic spirit and working without waiting for remuneration “to develop your country through your achievements”. Director Radjabu asked young people to join cooperatives and associations and go about development work, while thinking of applying for loans from the Youth Investment Bank (BIJE) to finance their projects.
He did not forget to say that the government is always on their side for support, adding that among six major projects planned by the government is also the development of young people to face poverty.
The adviser to the governor in charge of development, Mrs. Virginie Cimpaye, underlined that the country’s development is based on youth, reason why she asked all young people not to sit idly by, rather to work courageously in order to develop their localities through that community volunteering project, adding that the government plans to invest a lot of resources intended to support youth projects. Note that this community volunteering project is implemented in four provinces namely Gitega, Ngozi, Bujumbura and Kirundo.