Missions

Burundi

Area of intervention

We train local actors (child-help organizations, youth clubs, sports clubs, students at the Physical and Sports Education Institute) in socio-athletic leadership. Sports are used to support the most vulnerable populations: sick children, orphans, child-victims of conflict, street children.

In this post-conflict context, sports provide structure to youth who are otherwise left to their own devices, and draw them back towards educational structures; given their psychosocial attributes, sports allow for the channelling of aggressivity (developed over years of violence). Finally, used as a pedagogical tool, sports provide a means of teaching about health (specifically, the HIV/AIDS pandemic). A universal language of sorts, sports act as a catalyst for national reconciliation.


Aim

To use Physical and Sports Activities as a tool for peacekeeping, and in the reconstruction of a social fabric in Burundian communities.

Local context

The 12 years of civil war (1983 through 2005) reaped catastrophic consequences on Burundian society and, specifically, on the fields of health and education.

Sports, officially promoted by the authorities as the best vehicle for both reshaping social links and for promoting dialogue in this difficult period coming out of the crisis, will play a crucial role in the reconstruction of Burundi’s social fabric.

Indeed, it is really important to notice that, in Burundi, there are :

• 823,000 orphans of whom 120,000 are AIDS orphans*;
• more than 5,000 street children, of whom 2,000 are in Bujumbura*;
• In 2006, 1,412 children were victims of sexual violence of which 539 were under 12 years old*;
• According to UNICEF, 6000 to 7000 children below the age of 10 participated as child soldiers in the conflict, and must now be demobilized and reintegrated into society.

 

* Sources : Observatory of the rights of children in Burundi (2007)

Key figures

Capital : Bujumbura

Area : 27 834 km² (Metropolitan France : 551 500 km² )

Population : 8 390 505

GDP per capita : 700 $ per capita (compared to 32 600$ per capita in France)

Literacy rate : 59,3% (67.3% for men, 52.2% for women)

Human Development Index : 0.339 – that is, 169th place out of 177

Programmes implemented

SWB’s actions revolve around 3 major axes :
- Promoting the exercise of Physical and Sports Activities among organizations that work with at-risk populations : HIV/AIDS victims (sick children, sick orphans…), victims of conflict (traumatized children, orphans, ex-child soldiers, the wounded and/or handicapped), street children
- Fostering awareness among youth and among adults, via Physical and Sports Activities, of the issues with which they are faced: HIV/AIDS and peacebuilding
- Contributing to a strong civil society via the integrative components of sports (sense of belonging that comes from team sports, integration via sports… This means belonging to an ‘other-than-ethnic’ social group)    

Four programmes are being implemented in support of progress in these four areas of intervention :

Training programme for students in the Physical and Sports Education Institute (start date : January 2009)

The goal, on the one hand, is to incorporate into the curriculum for sports students, an approach that is specifically “SPA’s: in support of children post-violence”. On the other hand, the aim is to involve these students – who represent a dynamic asset for their country – into efforts to improve civil society.


At the end of their training, students will be able :

 

  • To develop physical and sports activities as a tool in support of psycho-social development within their various local organizations and sports clubs.
  • To structure and support leaders in the use of PSA’s for educational and social purposes.

Students complete a practicum in an organization drawn from Sport Sans Frontières’ network of partner organizations and partner youth centres.

Programme to reinforce the sports movement (start date : December 2008)

Sport Without Borders' goal is to build capacity and offer skills to those actors already working in athletics, and to foster mass participation in sports activities through an offering of structured APS activity sessions.

 

The programme is two-fold :

  • One component involves socio-athletic leadership training : each trained participant will be able to take charge of « sports for all » activities with their following
  • A second component involves organizational management training: each trained participant will be able to lead an organization (a club, a federation), to welcome and build a following (membership, licenses), to integrate and deal with vulnerable populations, and to manage the development of their organisation, organizing sports events and collaborating with other organizations.

Support programme for local child-help organizations

This programme aims to equip partner associations with complementary psychosocial support tools for their work with at-risk children (victims of conflict, AIDS victims, street children…).

Practically speaking, SSF organizes regular sports sessions for employees of partner associations, such that their educational teams (social workers) can acquire training in the use of Physical and Sports Activities and games, thus improving the management of the public traumas with which they are faced.

Support programme for youth movements

The heart of this programme is the mobilization and strengthening of Burundian youth movements and, more specifically, youth groups – one of the first spaces in which group dynamics for youth are formed in the country. 

PSA’s (Physical and Sports Activities) are used as a tool to reinforce Burundian civil society, through capacity-building and the strengthening of skills in the leaders of these movements (often young adults, acting as club leaders) and through the integration of physical and sports activities as a vehicle for social links and as a tool to build awareness about the important issues with which youth are faced (HIV/AIDS, peacebuilding…).


In contrast with NGO’s working specifically with vulnerable populations, most people working at the head of Burundian youth movements are not at all professionals. Rather, they are ‘volunteer organizers’, big brothers, leaders. Very rarely, therefore, have they benefited from any formal training with regards to educational values.