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Current thematic focus of the program
The program is organized around the following thematic
focus:
Conflict: In this area, ACORD is implementing project in 4
pilots communes with the purpose to help to prolong at
community level the Peace agreement signed by worriers’
parties at national level and build foundation for
lasting peace. This project is about supporting the most
affected communities (returnees, refugees, internally
displaced, dispersed, people who remain in the village)
to negotiate ‘’social contracts’’ of cohabitation. This
process is using participatory methodologies, social
exclusion analysis and other tools to create common
ground/space for self analyzing and agree on a social
contract of cohabitation agreement and plan for common
projects that will lead to definitive cohabitation. This
pilot project will be disseminated and shared with other
actors to ensure the model expands across the board. The
outcome of this project should help to streamline the
practice around the Arusha peace agreement in
Burundi.
ACORD has carried out also a cross-boarding research
with Tanzania where more than 400,000 refugees live
which help to involved the refugees, IDPs, the hosts
communities, returnees to contribute to the definition
of better way of reintegration and this processes of
research has created space for negociations between all
parties and come out with key issues that need to be
taken at policy level in the framework of repatriation
and reintegration policy. The program started recently
an initiative on reintegration of ex-combatants.
Governance and participation.
In a context characterized by top down decision making
processes, ACORD has embarked in partnership with IFAD,
4 other international and local NGOs( Africaire, Care,
Prefed, Twitezimbere ) that ACORD coordinates and to
whom it provides methodological support in strengthening
the empowerment and participation of communities in
bottom up development planning and control process. This
process, beyond the dynamic of structuring and
supporting the emergency of local leadership through the
community development representatives, it is providing
space for dialogue and influence with local authorities
and technical state structures. It provides also
capacity building in area of participatory approach,
gender and community leadership to the local authorities
and communities development comities.
Livelihood: considered like entry points and basis to deal with
the above issues, the program has since a while been
implementing a micro-finance schemes sensitive to
conflict affected and deprived communities that is built
around social trust and community group solidarities.
ACORD is also supporting communities mainly returnees
and displaced people to reconstitute their food
security( displaced and returnees) through rebuilding
their means of production in area of livestock and
agriculture. The approach is that the community
organizations and social systems around these livelihood
activities, including the emerging structures, become
segments of the social movement that demands and claim
for its rights.
The issue of Gender and HIV are cross –cutting and
ACORD has managed to build a very high profile on the
work of engendering policies and programmes through its
initiatives of training and sensitizing of decision
makers, MPs, Medias, ministries, international
organizations operating in
Burundi.
ACORD Burundi has been very instrumental in the
revisiting and elaboration of a government policy on
gender. The same process is underway with the HIV
perspective where the issue of stigma and discrimination
is very high on the agenda.
Who do we work with?
ACORD in Burundi is working with various actors. At
community level, the IDPS, refugees, returnees, host
communities, CBOS, CDC, other traditional local
structures.
ACORD works with at least 15 national non governmental
organizations and is part of a bigger network of women
and civil society organizations to whom its provides
regular support but also they work together on the issue
of conflict and governance. Acord is playing a role of
coordination and harmonization and methodology support
in the program carried in partnership with IFAD and
government. Those NGOS are Care, Africare, Prefed and
Twitezimbere.
ACORD is part of international NGOs Network, has strong
partnership with UNDP, FAO and state ministries at
national level and decentralized level.
Advocacy area
Mainstreaming of gender in policy, HIV, stigma and
discrimination, and social exclusion and issue of
reintegration and communities social contracts.
Beyond,
Angola has committed to a political decentralization framework in a
context where the capacity, the structures and the people and leaders
mind set still inclined to a very high top down approaches and do not
have implementation capacity.
The civil
society‘s capacity and NGO movement is very weak and most of them is
involved in contractual service delivery. The current political and
economical governance system offer very limited space for
accountability and citizenship movement despite the peace accord
arrangement and its positive effect on security of the country.
Angola
experiences a huge level of social and economic inequality and
disparities between regions and social classes due to the inheritance
of colonialism, the collapse of the socialism and the implication of
an open policy of liberalization that has promoted systemic dynamic of
corruption, marginalization, elitism and social classes.
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