BUJUMBURA June 20th (ABP) – 730 street children from Bujumbura City council and Ngozi province will benefit from psychosocial care. The latter will be provided by the consortium formed by the NGO Giriyuja and the Observatory for the Rights of the Child in Burundi (OIDB), according to the National Coordinator of the NGO Giriyuja Mr. Aimable Barandagiye.
This support for vulnerable children is part of the implementation of the psychosocial support and community reintegration support project for vulnerable children in the two provinces, funded by UNICEF.
This project, which started on May 25, 2022, aims at the family and school reintegration of these vulnerable children who are between 8 and 16 years old, said Mr. Barandagiye.
The 1st stage of this project was devoted to the identification of these children before starting the stage of supervision proper, which will be organized at the level of “open-air supervision centers”, commonly called “Drop – In Centers”. According to Mr. Barandagiye, these centers which have virtual libraries facilitate the socio-educational supervision and the pedagogical reinforcement of children before their school integration.
These two organizations therefore have four Drop-In Centers, three of which are in Bujumbura and another in Ngozi.
Other stages of these projects concern family tracing, mediation and family and school reintegration.
The implementation of this project also provides for other activities centered on sensitization on positive parenting and community support for children in street situations, legal assistance for children whose family property has been despoiled and the participation at coordination meetings for child protection actions.