Burundi

In 2024, UN Women achieved a significant outcome related to the economic empowerment of women through value chain development, that contributed to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 and 12. A total of 7,841 persons (7,017 women and 824 men) benefitted directly from different value chains as per the table below:




Value Chain


Women


Men




Oil palm


353


46




Rice


792


302




Wheat flour


108


0




Beans


1008


161




Livestock


787


286




Cassava


39


0




Others (mushroom, honey) and off farm value chains: sewing, restauration etc


3930


29




Total


7017


824





Support included materials, financial management, entrepreneurship training, and market access, leading to income increases of up to 42%. Compared to 2023, when 4,923 women improved their incomes, the impact has grown. Women also gained leadership skills, with 72% of those supported by CREOP JEUNES enhancing their leadership practices. Additionally, awareness campaigns were conducted in partnership with the SENAT to encourage women's participation in elections.
Increased household incomes allowed 80% of women to provide for their families' education, nutrition, and healthcare. Improvements in palm oil production—from artisanal to semi-industrial—are expected to significantly boost income, with projections of up to 2,000 USD daily once infrastructure is completed. Furthermore, 60% of women's groups established new distribution channels, such as direct sales and wholesaler partnerships, increasing revenue.
These efforts contributed to poverty reduction and gender equality in 10 out of 18 provinces in Burundi. Collaboration between UN Women, government ministries, technical services, suppliers, and local partners was essential in maximizing impact and strengthening women’s economic empowerment in alignment with the SDGs.

UNW made a direct contribution to the identified gender divide through the implementation of the African Girls Can Code Initiative(AGCCI) multistakeholder project. Within this framework, 102 young girls aged between 17-25 years became programmers, creators, and designers. In fact, 102 applications oriented and contributing to the acceleration of SDGs were created by the trained young girls.This result was achieved through 2 coding camps which brought together 102 girls ranked top in science and technology sections from all the 18 provinces of Burundi. In compliance with LNOB principle, the ethnic groups, girls from the indigenous groups, religious denominations were represented.For more impact and sustainability:

4 multimedia centers, in Bubanza, Kirundo, Karusi and Ruyigi provinces, have been equipped with computers, furniture and other accessories for the young girls to continue learning and to train their peers.
2 media Campaign were organized for advocacy, sensitization, and mobilization of stakeholders on the need of inceased number of girls in ICT. The goals for these media campaign are: (i) to raise awareness of coding among girls, their families and the general public: improve the image of coding among girls and demonstrate that coding is an exceptional professional opportunity, (ii) to mobilize partners both within and outside the project to engage with and support Burundian girls in coding: AGCCI needs to partner with many different stakeholders to ensure that its messages are relayed, both widely and over the long term, (iii) to promote the AGCCI project in Burundi, its results and impact: the idea is to highlight its results and impact, and give a voice to the girls who have already benefited from it, (iv) to promote the visibility of the Kingdom of Belgium, the donor who funded the project, so that its actions in support of the Burundi government's efforts to reduce gender gaps in digital technology are known.
UNW Burundi is now recognized as a key partner gender mainstreaming in the ICT sectorand parents of girls are aware of AGCCI Project & UNW's achievements.

In addition, the initiative enabled:

The private sector represented by the national president of ICT chamber verbally committed to contribute to the initiative through girls’ employment, internship.
4 ministries (i)Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, (ii) Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies and Media, (iii) Ministry of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender and (iv) Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Safety, verbally committed to continue networking towards gender mainstreaming in ICT and coding in the school curricula at different levels.

With the contribution of strategic partners such as, the Government, IUT, Belgium, AU, UNICEF and UNDP, UNW contributed towards the following SDGs: (i) SDG 1, (ii) SDG 4, (iii) SDG 5&10 ; and (iv) SDG9.