An estimated 836,000 children have been orphaned in Burundi due to war and HIV/AIDS, and almost an equal number have been rendered physically and psychologically vulnerable due to violence, malnutrition, poverty, disease and discrimination. Besides orphans living without social or economic support networks, many other children are in a precarious position, particularly girls and children born to single, abandoned or divorced parents. Challenges at the family, community and institutional levels have together resulted in seriously hindering Burundi’s progress in caring for its children. The Intore Project addresses this situation, more specifically two problems that correspond to its overall objectives:

Problem 1: Community members in the project area are economically disadvantaged and maintain beliefs and behaviors that contribute to a constraining environment that denies the safety, well-being and full development of children’s abilities and skills and leads to poor child-to-adulthood transition.

Problem 2: Burundi’s national child protection system and civil society lack technical and coordinating capacity to adequately address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (especially girls) and to enforce the Government of Burundi’s national policy on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

Consequently, the general goal of the project is to help orphans and vulnerable children improve their skills and to strengthen community and national protection systems in order to ensure that 2.120 OVC (848 boys and 1.272 girls) in two communes in each of the provinces Gitega and Bujumbura are in protective and permanent community care by 2016.

The main activities include organizing orphans and vulnerable children into 106 clubs through which they will be supported to engage in sports activities and will receive training in important life skills; facilitating family reunification of children living on the street; training key service providers and decision makers so as to reinforce community referral systems, etc. CARE’s local partners in the implementation of the project are APRODEM-GIRIZINA and Great Lakes Inkingi Development (GLID).

Expected Results

R1: Youth centers (YC) have increased their capacities to allow children, particularly OVCs, to fully enjoy YC services through socio-cultural and sportive activities.
R2: Children & youth in schools as well as teachers are implementing kitchen gardens as an innovative source of income.
R3: Community leaders are taking actions to defend and promote children’s rights in their community (e.g. supporting children to go to school, supporting orphans to enjoy their inherited goods and/or assets etc.)