Burundi has experienced sporadic bouts of violence for more than 40 years since gaining independence in 1962. The most recent violence, which began in April 2015, started following the president’s decision to run for a contested third consecutive term. Since then, the security situation has deteriorated, with almost 1,000 people killed and 200,000 fleeing to neighbouring countries.
This learning summary highlights the main successes, challenges and lessons learnt from a project delivered by Peace Direct and INAMA, a network of 23 civil society organisations in Burundi, from 2014-2016. The aim of the project is to strengthen a national network of civil society organisations who use trained ‘Citizen Reporters’ (CRs) to monitor and respond to violence and human rights abuses as well as to share information about human rights violations with key international stakeholders. The following is based on an outcome mapping exercise conducted in July 2015 and two independent evaluations conducted in 2015 and 2016.
