CARE 2003 Burundi Evaluation of the Community Based Bujumbura Peace Programme

This programme was implemented by CARE Nederland in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, as a peacebuilding response to the Hutu-Tutsi conflict of the early 1990s. The programme's overall objective was that within one year, there would be a contribution towards the consolidation of peace and peaceful cohabitation of different ethnic groups within seven peripheral zones in Bujumbura. In several areas, the project met its stated objectives. Nonetheless, in order for the results to be sustainable, and in order to make the peace process irreversible, the activities should continue. The groups that have become active in the peace process still require external support for a time if they are to become sustainable. Lessons learned are grouped into methodology, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and relevance. Examples include:

1. Planning projects in situations of chronic poverty and political/social instability requires sound knowledge of local capacities, needs and vulnerabilities, and set modest achievable targets with a built in flexibility to respond to changing situations and funding interruptions.

2. Peacebuilding initiatives in very poor urban areas like those in Bujumbura must be supported with economic development activities.