RUTANA March 28th (ABP) – Thirty-nine thousand jobs for young people, the creation of seven thousand eight hundred and forty viable micro and small rural businesses by young people and women individually or in groups, as well as the improvement of the state nutrition for fifty-one thousand households with children under five and women of childbearing age are part of the forecasts of the rural entrepreneurship development program (PRODER), which will be implemented in twelve provinces of Burundi , reported Mr. Joseph Gahungu, the monitoring-evaluation manager within the said program, on Tuesday March 26, 2024, during the regional launch and information workshop on the activities of that program, which took place at the head -place in the province of Rutana.
With funding of approximately ninety million US dollars, PRODER will support and help in the creation of entrepreneurial projects for young people and women from rural areas in the provinces of intervention which are Karusi, Muramvya, Gitega, Kayanza, Ngozi, Muyinga, Bubanza, Cibitoke, Rutana, Ruyigi, Makamba and Bururi, and will be implemented over a period of seven years.
Mr. Gahungu indicated that among the reasons which influenced the establishment of the said program are the high rate of youth unemployment and dependency and the low productivity of capital and agricultural systems, adding that PRODER will intervene in rural areas in order to bring sustainable development so that “every mouth has something to eat and every pocket has money”.
At a time when the said program only concerns young people between fifteen and thirty-five years old, it will promote the production, processing, conservation as well as marketing of food products, underlined Mr. Gahungu.