The President of Burundi Takes Steps to Rebuild His War-Torn Nation, Including Demand for Accountability of NGOs and Burundian Government.

WAYNE, Pa. -- The President of Burundi, Africa, Pierre Nkurunziza, recently confided to a visiting American philanthropic advisor, Eric Thurman, CEO of Geneva Global, that new measures need to be taken to ensure the accountability of NGOs and his government in the administration of aid to the people of his war-torn country. Burundi is a neighbor to Rwanda, site of Africa's worst genocide. The conflict between the Hutus and Tutsi ethnic group occurred on both sides of the border and led to a 12-year civil war in Burundi. The civil war concluded in 2005 with democratic elections that brought Mr. Nkurunziza to power.

Mr. Nkurunziza's efforts to promote reconciliation and rebuild his country are built on his strongly held view that the allocation of funds by the government, and the distribution of aid from private organizations, need to be strictly monitored and that all transactions must be ethical.

"When it comes to changing the way people think in Burundi, one thing is management of public funds or management of the aid that should be given to the people," he told Eric Thurman, CEO of Geneva Global (www.genevaglobal.com). "As we have seen in the past, there was a lot of embezzlement of funds, of gifts that were meant for the people. An aid organization would be established, supposedly to help people in need - orphans, AIDS victims -- but it was all for their own benefit. We found out that some aid organizations who were receiving funds and gifts were using 90% of those funds or gifts for their own benefit instead of for the people's benefit, so only 10% would actually reach the people," said the Burundi president.

"That's why good stewardship is not only applicable to aid organizations or NGOs but also to the government," said Mr. Nkurunziza. "So now people are starting to see a change, a difference, since in the programs we have implemented and for which we have received many funds, they see that if we tell them that we will build schools in the communities, in the hills, we are certain that in four to five months all the primary schools will be built so primary school students can actually study in good conditions. Now the people see that things are different. All this shows that we need to be involved in the stewardship and we need to get regular feedback: oral and from the field. That also allows us to see that a rigorous follow-up is needed in order to ensure good stewardship in all areas."

"We have also passed an anti-corruption law and have implemented an anti-corruption brigade," said the Burundi president, "in order to arrest those people whether they are in aid organizations or in the government. This anti-corruption brigade will be active fairly soon since the law has already been voted by the National Assembly."

The visit with President Nkurunziza by Eric Thurman, a leading philanthropic advisor to wealthy American donors, took place in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura on three occasions, during the week of February 20th. Geneva Global is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Thurman also visited a number of local projects funded by American donors through the auspices of Geneva Global, in particular charitable initiatives benefiting the Batwa people of Burundi, also known as pygmies. Mr. Thurman reported being struck by the dramatic and rapid transformation in physical health of the Batwa in those communities benefiting from donor assistance. Remarkable, too, was his observation that the pygmies, known for their physically short stature, are in reality only stunted in growth due to malnutrition. "The younger generation, with proper health care and nutrition, can reach normal height," observed Thurman.

Mr. Nkurunziza, elected President in August, 2005, is faced with the daunting task of managing a post-war era where national reconciliation and national reconstruction drive his agenda. Burundi, one of the poorest nations on the United Nations Human Development Index, was beset by 12 years of civil war. Extreme poverty, an AIDS epidemic, a large orphan population that includes street children, war victims such as returnees and displaced people, famine and lingering ethnic divisions are among his most pressing challenges. "There is a change of mentality," he told Mr. Thurman. "There is a need for the people of Burundi to know that they should reconcile."

Geneva Global, which helps donors by identifying grassroots charitable projects that resonate with their desire to make a difference in specific targeted ways, investigates initiatives in countries like Burundi. This search for difference makers in the world's hardest places comes out of its conviction that these hard places present the greatest opportunities to invest in changing lives for the better with optimum cost-effectiveness. Based on a new trend and practice innovated by Geneva Global called "Performance Philanthropy," Mr. Thurman explained to the Burundi president that only grassroots projects at the community level are selected - those that have undergone rigorous due diligence - so as to maximize the power of each donation, and minimize chances for diversion of funds due to greed and corruption as often happens when monies flow from the top-down.

On other issues, Mr. Nkurunziza voiced his concern and plans for the young people of his country. "The problem of African societies," he said, "is that they do not support their youth in an effective way. Youth is the future of our country. It is there that we will find talents in all fields. That is why we have pushed for education as a foundation for national reconciliation but also for reconstruction and development."

"We are letting all the children go to primary school at no expense," he told Mr. Thurman. "We have gone from 250,000 children (in school) to 550,000 children currently."

"We will also introduce English into all the schools from top to bottom. Because English is now a language that is used in many countries of the world but that is not well spoken here. It is now a language used in business."

Mr. Nkurunziza told Mr. Thurman that the creation of technical secondary schools was high on his agenda. "In reality 90% of the people live from agriculture. And that is a field we have not put much emphasis on. Burundi is a country with great investment opportunities in many fields, so we need people that have a technical background, we need electricians, mechanics. We need people who work in the hospitality industry, people who know how to grow crops and how to take care of cattle. These are fields that have been neglected. In other developed countries, technical schools account for or about 90% of the school system. That is why we are trying to support the Burundian people, and our youth especially, to face life's problems," he said.

With regard to the problems of refugees and the displaced population, the president said, "There are displaced people who have now moved into the hills with the local population. There are refugees who have returned. There are demobilized soldiers who were in the army and in the armed branches of former political movements and have moved into the hills."

And there also are other issues requiring that we go beyond the ethnic and regional issues we have faced, in order to implement a democratic system that will deal with issues that relate to the entire population and without discrimination. That is our objective."

"In addition to that we have the task of national reconstruction," said Mr. Nkurunziza. "Many infrastructures have been destroyed. Plus the majority of street children have now become heads of households."

The Burundi president, once an orphan himself, said, "And we need to think about building housing for the orphans. We need to educate them so they can become responsible, and have the knowledge required to face everyday life problems."

Said Mr. Nkurunziza: "We need to involve everyone: the Burundians, the government, the religious authorities who are actively helping us find solutions. We must also not forget the role played by the friends of Burundi, the NGO's as well as the international community, through international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, the African Development Bank and the European Union. And we see actions that are being implemented in order to support the country of Burundi in its stabilization process.

Mr. Nkurunziza, a Hutu who sees himself as a man of the people, and as a unifying figure among the two dominant ethnic groups - the majority Hutus and the minority though wealthier Tutsis - says that he dedicates at least two days a week to regularly meeting the people and greeting them one-on-one.

"Not just two days per week, sometimes a week at a time," he said. "Every now and then, I actually go biking and if there is no road, I just carry my bike and go on foot and I go see the people especially in the fields, on construction sites, in schools and in hospitals."

"We try to talk about everyday issues and we try to find solutions together, combined solutions. Sometimes I stay in communities that are in the middle of nowhere."

"One night I spent with the people of Ambuye in the community of Moranvia and we ate corn and we talked together until 11 pm," said Mr. Nkurunziza. "We are trying to live in symbiosis and we are trying to solve their problems. It makes me feel good because I work for the people. There is no need for me to be in the office all the time. Sometimes I give personal contributions to orphans A week ago I gave ten million Burundian francs to some orphans who have organized themselves in an association so they can improve themselves."

"We are very involved in sports and everywhere we go we play with local teams," said the president. "End of last year I had a fourteen day vacation during which we played ten games of soccer with people of different communities. People were really happy to see the president of the Republic who actually played with farmers and shared their joy. That used to be unheard of in Burundi."