From December 2020 to November 2021, Search implemented, with support from the Federal Government of Germany, the program “Supporting a New Generation of Women Leaders to Advance Peace and Security in Burundi.”
The project was designed to empower a new generation of women leaders in the peace consolidation process, both by ensuring that an intergenerational cohort of Burundian women have increased technical and financial capacity and confidence in their ability to participate in peacebuilding efforts, and by increasing overall community support for women’s participation.
Through combined empowerment and outreach strategies, the project contributed to significantly increasing the visibility and the recognition of women’s role as key peacebuilding champions. 96% of respondents cited at least once women as actors contributing to conflict transformation, an improvement of 38 percentage points as compared to the baseline. This was accompanied by a perception of a decrease in conflicts in target communities. The project also contributed to an increase in community support for women’s participation. This was observed through an increase in the level of engagement of community members in women-led economic initiatives, including among men, and the transformation of some cultural practices. Finally, the project solidified women’s role as leaders in target communities – an additional 45% said they play a role as leaders and an additional 29% said their confidence had greatly increased by the end of the project, as compared to the baseline.
