GITEGA April 18th (ABP) – On Friday, April 15, 2022, the Care International organization in Gitega closed the activities of the TUBEHONEZA project, which supported more than 180,000 people in the Bukirasazi, Buraza, Itaba and Makebuko communes, all of Gitega province (center of the country) in the areas of food security, nutrition and social cohesion. The provincial administration of Gitega and the beneficiaries of the project are delighted with the step already taken in the various areas of intervention.
Jean Nimubona, the project coordinator in Gitega province, said that in the area of food security, the TUBEHONEZA project directly supported 8,000 households by offering them agricultural inputs. By way of example, the coordinator explained that this project distributed to farmers 24,000 kg of maize seeds, 40,000 kg of beans, 20,000,000 sweet potato seeds, 24,000 fruit trees, 54 kg of vegetable seeds and 2,580 jars of 250g each of secondary seeds of mushrooms of the – pleurotus ostreatus – variety. According to Nimubona, the project has also intervened in the improvement of livestock in the communes of intervention by distributing more than 2550 crossed goats to 882 beneficiaries and 95 modern jugs with honey collection equipment.
According to the coordinator of the TUBEHONEZA project in the province of Gitega, the said project brought together 3,754 people by grouping them into 150 village savings and loan associations with a capital of 38,249,400 BIF including the social fund. Mr. Nimubona added that among the 150 associations formed, 17 of them connected to a micro-finance institution Twitezimbere and received a loan amounting to 13,300,000 BIF.
Mr. Nimubona also pointed out that this project intervened in the environmental protection in the four communes of Gitega province. He said that the beneficiaries protected 421 hectares of arable land and drew contour lines over a length of 279.4 km. It is within that very framework that this project distributed to the beneficiaries 940,000 agro-forestry plants and 1,000,000 different protective grasses. According to Nimubona, this project has built 5 harvest storage sheds in that area of intervention. Afterwards, Mr. Nimubona added that the project set up management committees, which were then formed.
The administration of the Gitega province as well as the beneficiaries commended the achievements of the TUBEHONEZA project implemented by the organization Care International in the 4 districts of that province. The chief of staff in the office of the governor of Gitega, Mr. Gérard Nibigira, called on the people to take care of the buildings and other materials or funding received from the project. He also asked the donors who had financed the said project to relaunch it because it was of paramount importance for the Gitega province.
As for Minani Léoncie, Umutangamuco at the same time Muhororo village leader in Makebuko commune, most of the beneficiaries have experienced significant progress in their families thanks to the TUBEHONEZA project. She explained that this project brought women together in of solidarity chains, then mentored them in relation to savings and loan. She also said that with the social fund of their solidarity chains, they support the vulnerable by offering them health insurance cards (CAM) for their health care. They also fight against gender-based violence often committed against women.
Farmer Firmin, also from Makebuko commune, said that the living conditions of their families have been greatly improved by the TUBEHONEZA project. According to him, the project taught them how to grow edible mushrooms and maize and the production was satisfactory. This farmer called on other benefactors who want to work in their locality to follow in the footsteps of the Care International organization by establishing projects that can serve the people.
It is worth noting that the TUBEHONEZA project which was implemented by the Care International organization in the provinces of Gitega, Karusi and Cankuzo will end on April 30, 2022 after more than 3 years of execution. The project’s mission was to improve the food security, nutrition and social cohesion of 515,208 people by sustainably strengthening their means of subsistence and basic services in 11 districts spread over the three provinces.