Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Activity
u s a i d Amahoro Iwacu Project: – Peace in My Home
contact:
Cécilia Suarnet, Consultant Adrienne Lemon DM&E Specialist – East and Southern Africa Diego Murangamizwa, DM&E Coordinator Search for Common Ground Janvier Ndagijimana, DM&E Assistant N˚32 Avenue Kunkiko - Bujumbura Paul Vincent Ntiranyibagira, Project Coordinator +257 72 148 553 [email protected] Joséphine Ntahomvukiye, Project Assistant
Floride Ahitungiye Country Director - Burundi Search for Common Ground N˚32 Avenue Kunkiko - Bujumbura +257 72 148 553 [email protected] Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 5 Abbreviations 5 Partners of implementation 5 Executive Summary 6 Youth-to-Youth Research Approach 6 Key Findings 6 Conflict management: mechanisms that empower youth attract youth 6 Community engagement: youth want to and do participate 7 Available livelihoods for youth: the impact of poverty 7 Recommendations 7 1. Background Information 8 Project Context and Conflict Analysis 8 Project Overview 9 2. Methodology 11 Research Team: Identification of 42 Youth Leadership Committees 11 Approach to Research 11 Research questions 12 Target Population and Sampling 12 Researchers’ Data Collection Activities and Tools 15 Data Analysis 15 Limitations and programmatic challenges 16 4. Findings 17 Description of the respondents 17 Topic 1: Conflict situations management by the youth 18 Majority of Youth Claim Not to Have Resorted to Violence 18 Manipulation is the Main Driver of Youth Political Violence 21 Youth are Involved in Different Types of Violent Conflicts 23 Youth Recommend Dialogue and Training to Improve Their Peers’ Management of Political Conflicts 25 Topic 2: Opportunities and Obstacles for Youth Community Participation and Engagement 25 Youth Do Engage Actively in Their Community 25 Politicization and Poverty are the Main Brakes to Community Participation 28
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Youth Bring Ideas for Community Participation and Development 30 Topic 3: Available Livelihoods for Youth 30 The Large Majority of Youth Consider that hey are in a Situation of Extreme Poverty 31 Unemployment is the Main Cause of Youth Poverty 33 Poverty is Creating a Vicious Circle with Other Negative Phenomena 35 Family Support is the Most Used Resource to Avoid Falling into Poverty 36 5. Conclusions 37 Conflict Management and Resorting to Violence 37 Community Engagement 37 Youth poverty and livelihoods 38 6. Recommendations 39 Recommendations from the Youth Leader Committees 39 SFCG and partners’ recommendations for future youth programming 40 6. Appendices 41 Annex A: Additional Information on Training 41 Annex B: Chosen Research Questions 44 Annex C: Additional Information on the Young Researchers 47
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Tables
Table 1: Number of Interviewees per Province 13 Table 2: Types of Community Participation Activities 26 Table 3: Reasons for Not Participating in Community Life 28 Table 4: Perception of Representativeness of the YLCs, Disaggregated per Group Represented 49
Figures:
Figure 1: Map of Burundi with the project’s communes of intervention 10 Figure 2: Age of Interviewees 13 Figure 3: Types of Key Informants 14 Figure 4: Level of Education of the Interviewees (%) 17 Figure 5: Occupation of the Interviewees (#) 17 Figure 6: Have You Ever Resorted to Violence to Solve a Conflict? 18 Figure 7: Have You Ever Seen Youth Resort to Violence to Solve a Conflict? 18 Figure 8: Declared Use of Violence, per Province 19 Figure 9: Map of Perception of Insecurity from the Conflict Scan 20 Figure 10: If You Did Resort to Violence to Solve a Conflict, Why? 21 Figure 11: If You Did Not Resort to Violence, According to You, Why Do Some Youth Do It? 22 Figure 12: Local Specificities About Violence and Conflict Management 24 Figure 13: Do You Engage in Your Community Life? 26 Figure 14: Youth Active Community Participation, per Province 29 Figure 15: Do You Consider that You are in a Situation of Poverty? 31 Figure 16: Youth Considering Themselves in Extreme Poverty, per Province 32 Figure 17: Most Cited Causes of Poverty (#) 33 Figure 18: Most Cited Livelihoods (#) 36 Figure 19: Pre- and Post-test Results 43 Figure 20: Level of Education of Youth Leaders (%) 47 Figure 21: Occupation of Youth Leaders (#) 47 Figure 22: Perception of the Representativeness of the YLCs by the Youth Leaders (%) 48
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Acknowledgements
This report was made possible by the many young people and other stakeholders who participated and supported the Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Activity in Burundi. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Abbreviations
CPAJ Collectif pour la Promotion des Associations de Jeunes (Collective for the Promotion of Youth Organizations)
CRS Catholic Relief Services
FGD Focus Group Discussion
IGA Income Generating Activity
KII Key Informant Interview
L&L Conversations Listening & Learning Conversations
REJA Réseau des Jeunes en Action (Youth in Action Network)
SFCG Search for Common Ground
USAID United States Agency for International Development
YLC Youth Leadership Committee
Partners of implementation
Réseau des Jeunes Collectif pour la Promotion Catholic Relief Services en Action des Associations de Jeunes
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Executive Summary
In a context of post-electoral political crisis in Burundi, USAID and SFCG – partnering with CRS, REJA and CPAJ – began a peacebuilding project in September 2015 called “Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home,” aiming at enhancing the resiliency of urban and rural youth against political, communal and inter-personal violence. Youth-to-Youth Research Approach
Youth-to-Youth research provides an opportunity for youth explore their communities through research. The approach combines research and praxis, providing a platform for youth leaders to build critical skills and share their ideas and knowledge about local and national issues concerning youth with political and traditional leaders. 1 The Youth-to-Youth research took place between March and June 2016 in 42 communes across seven different provinces. SFCG identified 223 youth leaders to study three main topics, selecting for political, ethnic, and gender representation:
1. Youth approaches to conflict management
2. Opportunities and obstacles for youth community participation/engagement
3. Available livelihoods for youth
In total the team reached 596 people through questionnaires, conducted 193 interviews and organized 44 focus groups. The youth leaders analyzed data and made recommendations that SFCG then aggregated to make programming 2 recommendations and share with Burundian youth, donors, partners and authorities. Key Findings
Conflict management: mechanisms that empower youth attract youth
52% of youth said that they have never had to resort to violence to solve a conflict, an important indicator that other mechanisms do exist for youth to solve conflicts. The degree of violence reported depended on the location and the timing. The periods directly before, during and after the elections were the most violent. Acts of violence were related to political conflicts, “love” and land issues. However, the analysis reveals that political manipulation is by far the main driver of youth violence. Qualitative data shows that youth are likely to be manipulated to perpetrate violence because their strength and dynamism are useful for politicians. They are vulnerable to political manipulation due to their high rates of poverty and unemployment. Involvement in political groups makes youth feel strong and valued in a context where they are often marginalized and lacking access to power.
1 “Communes” refers to a specific administrative unit within Burundi. The country is divided first by provinces, then communes, then collines (hills). 2 This research has some specific limitations inherent to the fact that it was carried out by more than 200 non- professional young researchers in a short period of time. During fieldwork, youth had to navigate a climate of insecurity; in some communes people were less willing to talk because they feared for their safety. However, the young researchers still reached more people that they were expected to.
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Community engagement: youth want to and do participate
More than 75% of respondents said they are engaged in their communities. Community works attract the largest 3 portion of respondents, although solidarity and aid works also account for around 29% of the activities mentioned. Politicization of community works is still the main obstacle to participation for some youth who feel excluded or threatened. Moreover, the level of poverty among Burundian youth is high and prevents some from engaging in their community, as they must focus on securing daily income. Available livelihoods for youth: the impact of poverty
There is a strong interest in associations for Income Generating Activities (IGAs) and lending-saving in solidarity groups. Almost two thirds of interviewees said they were in a situation of extreme poverty (63%). Unemployment was identified as the main cause of this poverty, followed by issues related to agricultural activities and lack of the necessary capital or credit. Researchers also focused on negative consequences of poverty, which might force a cyclical pattern. School dropouts are a major symptom of this pattern, and can further entrench youth in poverty. For example, the proliferation of school dropouts (due to the steep fees), the discouraging unemployment rate of graduated youth, rural exodus and emigration to foreign countries, drug consumption and/or undesired pregnancies. Recommendations4
1. Promote the establishment of platforms for the youth to express themselves;
2. Support the creation and activities of associations for mutual assistance, IGAs, etc. This is an efficient way to help youth to help themselves out of poverty and foster their community engagement;
3. Support youth to sensitize the community on development issues;
4. The Burundian Government and NGOs should provide access to credit and capital for youth IGA development;
5. Increase trainings of youth on topics such as conflict resolution, good governance, entrepreneurship or the elaboration and planning of micro-projects.
3 The last Burundi conflict scan produced by SFCG showed a decrease in the politicization of community works. However, this research shows this remains a problem. 4 Recommendations are based on the research findings and the young leaders’ recommendations.
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1. Background Information
Project Context and Conflict Analysis
On April 25, 2015 CNDD-FDD, the ruling political party in Burundi, officially nominated President Pierre Nkurunziza as their candidate in the 2015 presidential election. The news triggered mass demonstrations and protests throughout the capital, plunging the country into a deep and protracted political crisis. Burundi experienced repeated waves of protests and counter-protests pitting “anti-third term” protesters against the national police and the ruling party’s youth wing, the Imbonerakure, culminating in an unsuccessful coup d’état. Parliamentary and presidential elections were respectively held in late June and late July to the dismay of opposition groups, civil society, and the international community, who argued that the current environment was not conducive to free and fair elections.
5 According to OCHA , since April 2015 1.1 million people in Burundi have been exposed to physical and psychological threats, intimidations and other abuses. At least 743 people have been killed and many more injured, while around 250,000 have fled the country and 70,000 been internally displaced.
In the wake of the crisis and violence that followed, rebuilding bridges between Burundi’s youth, who are at the forefront of the clashes between the ruling party and the opposition as well as most likely to be its victims, is a critical challenge. While the “third mandate” issue catalyzed the crisis, its intensity and duration indicates deep dissatisfaction and a widening gap between youth of different parties.
More research is needed to understand the motivations behind youth participation in recent violence. However, two key grievances historically help to explain the particular vulnerability of youth. Firstly, large segments of the youth population feel excluded from the political system, due to impasses on issues of land, justice and constitutional reform, coupled with a perceived narrowing of political space and a lack of support from the state. Secondly, the viability of agriculture as a means of subsistence – traditionally the primary form of livelihood in Burundi, is reducing. The situation is particularly dire for rural female youth, who cannot legally inherit land and are largely marginalized from community decision-making. Rising prices, dwindling harvests, and limited off-farm work have forced both male and female adolescents to drop out of school or migrate to a city to find work, uprooting them from established support networks.
6 According to a growing body of research , the high expectations of youth, compounded by these factors, fuels frustration and leads to crime and violence. There is a wide range of forms of abuse and violence in which youth are 7 especially vulnerable to participate in and of which they are victims. Burundi’s youth have also struggled to remain in school and to find work. With one of the largest youth bulges in the world – 74.5% under the age of 308 – young
5 Humanitarian Response Plan, OCHA, March 2016. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/fr/system/files/ documents/files/bdi_2016_hrp_english_0.pdf 6 Especially the work of Uvin and Sommers in various reports, such as Youth in Rwanda and Burundi. Contrasting Visions. Marc Sommers and Peter Uvin. Special Report 293, United States Institute of Peace. October, 2011. 7 Low Horizons: Adolescents and Violence in Burundi. Marc Sommers. UNICEF Burundi. March, 2013. 8 Elizabeth Leahy, with Robert Engelman, Carolyn Gibb Vogel, Sarah Haddock, and Tod Preston, The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World, 2007.
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Burundians are understandably doubtful that they will be able to translate their aspirations into a productive and fulfilling future. Project Overview
9 USAID and SFCG – partnering with CRS, REJA and CPAJ – signed an agreement in September 2015 for a peacebuilding project called “Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home.” This project is based on lessons learned from a former project “Intamenwa – The Undivided” focused on youth political manipulation and violence during the pre- and post-election periods.
The 36-month project aims to enhance the resiliency of urban and rural youth against political, communal and inter- personal violence, in line with the theory of change that if urban and rural youth have an increased sense of hope for and control over their economic and political future in the post-election period, then they will be less likely to engage in various forms of political, inter-communal and inter-personal violence. This goal will be achieved through two objectives, reflecting a multi-pronged intervention on the individual/youth and the community level:
Objective 1: to build skills and alternative channels for dialogue and decisi on-making on key issues that involve young people - Result 1.1 Increased community awareness of the key drivers of youth vulnerability and violence
- Result 1.2 Youth have the skills and networks needed to constructively engage with their communities
Objective 2: to support youth in mobilizing local resources to invest in productive activities that strengthen social cohesion and economic integration - Result 2.1 Youth manage their social and financial resources in SILC to promote economic well-being and social cohesion
- Result 2.2 Youth have the entrepreneurship skills to make profitable investments in livelihoods that promote their economic integration
10 With youth as the target group , the project aims to increase mutual understanding and inclusion among groups. It follows a people-to-people approach by working with key people – influential youth leaders who demonstrate leadership among their peers – to reach more people – vulnerable youth, aged 18-30, including migrants, returnees, 11 former combatants, Batwas , unmarried women, widows, orphans, etc.
The project is implemented in seven provinces (42 communes): five zones in Bujumbura Mairie, nine communes in Bujumbura Rural, six in Makamba, four in Bubanza, four in Cibitoke, eight in Kayanza and six in Kirundo; as shown in the following map.
9 Youth in Action Network (Réseau des Jeunes en Action - REJA) ; Catholic Relief Services (CRS); and Collective for the Promotion of Youth Organizations (Collectif pour la Promotion des Associations de Jeunes - CPAJ). 10 Youth in general is defined as young adults from 18 to 30 years old as it is a group that considers itself, and is considered as being, separate from children but still not “fully” adult. Youth often share the same issues with children, such as financial dependency on their families. 11 Batwas are pygmies, part of the ethnic group Twas and are a minority group in Burundi.
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Figure 1: Map of Burundi with the project’s communes of intervention
Kirundo
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Bubanza Cankuzo
Muramvya
Bujumbura Bujumbura Gitega Ruyigi Mairie Rural Mwaro
Rumonge Rutana Bururi
Makamba
To reach their goals, SFCG and its partners planned various and complementary activities:
- Identification of Youth Leadership Committees (YLCs) - Youth-to-youth research and learning with YLCs - Roundtable discussions - Community youth fairs - Youth quiz radio program - Experience sharing talks - Youth-led civic engagement activities - Establishment of Saving and Loans Groups (SILC) and related activities
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2. Methodology
The main objective of the youth-led research activities was to gather youth of both genders from different political parties and ethnic backgrounds, along with youth from civil society and make them work together on issues of salience to youth across the country as well as their locality. Research Team: Identification of 42 Youth Leadership Committees
Youth Leadership Committees (YLCs) carried out the youth-to-youth research and learning exercise, and will continue to support project activities, such as the youth quiz components, experience sharing talks and civic engagement activities. They will serve as a critical link between the project team, local youth and the wider community.
Identification field missions were carried out from February to April 2016 in the 42 communes to identify the 12 following for each YLC :
• Two youth members of the ruling party (CNDD-FDD),
• One youth member from an opposition party active in the locality,
• Two youth members of local partners’ networks (one from REJA and one from CPAJ).
Gender parity is almost impossible to reach in many places as the leaders in political parties are generally men. However, SFCG ensured that each group had at least one female member. Moreover, based on information gathered through our local partners, the ethnic diversity of the groups was ensured – sometimes by adding a sixth member from civil society.
13 14 223 youth between 18 and 28 years old were identified :
• 84 from the ruling party, 50 from opposition parties, 89 from civil society;
• 167 from Hutu ethnic group, 51 from Tutsi ethnic group, 5 from Batwa ethnic group;
• 60 women and 163 men. Approach to Research
The youth-led research had three core objectives:
12 They were chosen amongst 18 pre-identified youth leaders according to different criteria: ability to read and write, experience in civil society activities, motivation and availability. 13 At the training, one of the youth sent someone else to replace him, but this was not accepted, as the new youth had not been identified according to the criteria. During the field phase, two members of opposition parties in Bujumbura Mairie left the country, one for the University in Uganda, the other one for other reasons we could not identify. Both of them will be replaced for future activities of the project. 14 Additional information on the Young Researchers can be found in Annex C.
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• Promote youth interactions between leaders and others, including men and women, different ethnic groups and political parties. Youth interactions first took place within the YLCs, as they had to work together for the field research regardless of their different backgrounds and opinions. These interactions also 15 took place between the youth leaders and the youth interviewed.
• Provide skills and knowledge to youth leaders on research objectives, methods and tools.
• Provide a holistic assessment of youth realities according to youth leaders: this included push and pull factors for participation in violence, existing entry points for engagement, the influence of government policies and donor initiatives, strategies for increasing the participation of young women and vulnerable groups, and the relevance issues of land access, elections, and livelihood. Research questions
In order to determine the research questions, during the training each SFCG trainer asked the youth leaders what they wanted to learn about youth in general. From their feedback, the following three main research topics were identified:
1. Conflict situations management by the youth
2. Opportunities and obstacles for youth community participation/engagement
3. Available livelihoods for youth
For each of these topics, one compulsory research question was developed based on the youth’s most frequently asked questions:
1. Why do some youth use violence to manage conflicts?
2. Why are some youth not involved in community life?
3. Why are some youth in situations of poverty?
While these research questions are not completely neutral in their formulation, this process was also about encouraging youth to ask the questions most important to them. Then, for each topic, each commune group added one or two other research questions of their own. This allowed for comparability of research topics between the different provinces, while still encouraging individuality within each group. Details on the sub-topics of focus are in Annex B. Target Population and Sampling
The sample defined based on the mobility of the youth in a three-week timeframe, with a limited budget for transport and communication. Therefore, they were asked to fill in a minimum of 10 questionnaires, randomly identifying their interviewees – but were free and encouraged to do more. In the end, 596 youth were interviewed in the survey, divided between the different provinces as shown in the following table.
15 The use of Listening and Learning conversations shifted the act of gathering information from a one-sided, “subject- interviewer” dynamic, to an equitable exchange of experiences, wherein youth researchers themselves participated in the sharing of personal views, experiences, and emotions.
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Table 1: Number of Interviewees per Province
Targeted Total number of Province communes interviewees
Cibitoke 4 42
Bubanza 4 50
Bujumbura Mairie 5 66
Makamba 6 67
Kayanza 8 79
Kirundo 6 120
Bujumbura Rural 9 172
The main target population was youth in general, even if some YLCs also interviewed other target groups. Some groups did interview people older than 35 with their questionnaires, but in a small proportion, as presented below. Figure 2: Age of Interviewees
221
180
95
26 35 27 12
16-17 18-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 Older than Unknown 35
These interviewees were 38% female, and 61% male (the information was not available for 1% of them). While youth had been asked to interview as many women as men, they had an easier access to boys and men, who were also more comfortable speaking to the interviewers.
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Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
In total, 193 key informant interviews (KIIs) were carried out with various types of informants as shown in the following graph: mainly parents, local authorities, administration members and political leaders.
Figure 3: Types of Key Informants
Others, 1% Abatwa, 2% Adults, 3% Local Leaders, 3% Religious Leaders, Parents, 26% 4%
Teachers / Educators, 8%
Civil Society, Associations, 10%
Local Authorities, 17% Administration, 13%
Political Leaders, 13%
FGDs were organized by some teams when they felt enough at ease or if they had a good place to gather a group. In total, 44 FGDs took place in 17 communes and more than 384 people participated in these focus groups with at least 145 women (some information on gender of participants is missing). In some cases, the youth researchers did not target a specific group but took a group representing their community while other teams really put into practice what they had learned and organized different focus groups. For example, in Mugongo Manga (Bujumbura Rural) they did four FGDs for women, youth, the Batwa community and parents.
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Researchers’ Data Collection Activities and Tools
Youth Survey
16 The youth designed their questionnaires themselves during the training , with support from SFCG and partner organizations. A model questionnaire was presented during the training so that they could see what the preliminary information they should ask for. During the different sessions they were trained to phrase closed and open questions and to understand the differences. In their own questionnaires, they were encouraged to use open questions in order to foster the conversation.
As explained, each questionnaire contained the three compulsory questions and then teams in each commune added their own questions on the topics that interested them the most. The three compulsory questions were:
- Have you ever resorted to violence to solve a conflict? If yes, why? If no, why do you think some youth resort to violence?
- Do you engage in your community? If yes, how? If no, why?
- Do you consider yourself in situation of poverty? If yes, why? If no, what is your livelihoods?
Only these specific questions allowed the team to analyze the data quantitatively, as the sample was statistically significant (596 youth surveyed). For the chosen questions, the findings were used to complete the quantitative results and try to cross the data between the different communes that had decided to study the same aspects.
Key Informant Interviews
The groups understood this method in different ways. Some of the groups, especially in Kirundo, went to interview other target groups, such as parents or local authorities, but still used a kind of questionnaire for survey format, more than a flexible discussion guide that would have helped for leading a good Listening & Learning conversation. However, some groups also had in-depth conversations with some authorities and it was a very interesting exercise for them. The qualitative findings gathered from these interviews were used to complete the survey findings.
Focus Group Discussions
Youth leaders were not SFCG staff and did not have any specific legitimacy to do this work, except that SFCG and its partners had obtained authorizations from the authorities. Respecting the “Do No Harm” approach, the youth were told during the training that they should not organize FGDs if they did not feel comfortable or if the community was reluctant to it. Data Analysis
As the youth researchers did not have samples that were large enough for quantitative analysis, they were asked to qualitatively analyze the data they collected. To guide them into this process, each team received a mini-report template (available in Annex A). SFCG’s agents helped the youth to work on their analyses. Their recommendations informed those found in this report. However, for future similar activities, more time should be allowed for the
16 Additional information on the training can be found in Annex A.
15 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home analysis in order to really immerse the youth in the reflection process.
The database gathering all the answers to the compulsory questions was analyzed by the Consultant using Excel. The analysis was based on quantitative statistics drawn out from the closed questions’ answers and completed with the answers to the related open questions, which provided explanations for each result. The open answers were coded.
For the chosen questions, the strategy adopted was first to gather the chosen research questions that were similar (or sometimes already exactly the same) under main research questions - presented in Annex B. Then, for each chosen question of each commune, the Consultant synthesized the answers in a table allowing for selecting and seeing the answers per research question, per province or per commune. The Consultant also held short meetings with each of the staff that had entered the data in order to ensure that the answers were completely understood and to acquire more information of the context and specificities of each location. Limitations and programmatic challenges
The findings of this research provide insight on how youth live in Burundi and on how youth leaders regard their peers and interact. Having the youth conduct the research themselves was highly valuable, but it also implied many limitations.
Youth researchers were spread across multiple geographical locations. There were 223 youth researchers across 42 communes, and in each commune they were often not living in the same “collines” (hills). This meant SFCG’s 17 agents were not able to accompany all the researchers during the data collection process. To mitigate this, the team monitored the groups through calls, messages and documentation.
Security risks to the researchers had to be taken into account throughout the process. The research was conducted in a tense security climate. The crisis in Burundi stabilized to a certain degree, but the threat of violence was still very real. During the training a complete session was dedicated to research risks, ethics and constraints to ensure the young researchers would be aware of the “Do No Harm” approach and would not risk their own security. A majority of the groups said, during the national workshop and in their mini-reports, that while they still managed to reach the goal of 10 interviewees, some people were not comfortable talking with them. The presence of youth from the ruling party helped the teams to work freely. However, in a few locations (especially in Bujumbura Mairie and Bujumbura rural), the authorities were reluctant and SFCG had to intervene.
Community expectations had to be managed by the researchers. During the training, SFCG advised youth to be completely transparent with the respondents that the survey was not leading to any specific aid or activity. However, the main difficulty for the young researchers dealing with potential interviewees who asked for money or for “a beer” to talk to them. They assumed that the youth researchers were paid and wanted them to share this income. However, the youth were receiving only a small stipend for their transportation and communication expenses and they were forbidden from giving money to anyone in the context of the research project.
17 Moreover, the activity coincided with the first months of implementation of the new Burundian law forcing the NGOs to have only their foreign currencies in the Burundian Central Bank. This led to delays in getting the money out of the bank and prevented the staff from doing some of the field missions that were planned.
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4. Findings
Description of the respondents
The youth surveyed were 38% female and 61% male. The level of education and occupation of interviewees were also collected in order to gain a better understanding of their situation and to try to cross the data with some of their answers.
The level of education of the youth surveyed is quite low compared to the level of education of the youth leaders carrying out the survey of which 80% had completed or were attending Secondary school (see Figure 4 below).
Figure 4: Level of Education of the Interviewees (%)
Many interviewees are still studying in secondary school or university (27.9%). The proportion of unemployed interviewees is quite high (31.5%) (see Figure 5 below). Figure 5: Occupation of the Interviewees (#)
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Topic 1: Conflict situations management by the youth
The young leaders were especially interested in understanding the causes, justifications and consequences of the use of violence in political conflict resolution.
Majority of Youth Claim Not to Have Resorted to Violence
The compulsory question “Have you ever resorted to violence in order to solve a conflict?” was phrased in a direct way in order to push the youth to speak about their personal experiences and actions. The objective was to avoid talking 18 about “the youth” in general, and delve deeper into their peers’ lives.
The youth from Kirundo did not want to ask this specific question. Kirundo is located near Rwanda which poses additional challenges in terms of conducting research. They were permitted to instead ask “Have you ever seen youth resort to violence to solve a conflict?” The comparison of the findings is interesting.
Figure 7: Have You Ever Seen Youth Resort to Violence to Figure 6: Have You Ever Resorted to Violence to Solve solve a Conflict? a Conflict? 96 interviewees in Kirundo. 463 interviewees in Bujumbura rural, Bujumbura Mairie, Bubanza, Cibitoke, Makamba and Kayanza.
No, but I could see it, 16%
It is clear that the way the question was asked impacted the responses. The main difference is between the proportion of people saying that they resorted to violence and the proportion of people saying they saw youth resort to violence. Based on this, two possible conclusions are:
• The youth who engaged in violence often were able to acknowledge it, but the ones who engaged only once or a few times could not (perhaps because they were ashamed of it).
• The youth in Kirundo were influenced by rumors and the media and were expressing more a perception than the reality they personally experienced. Without a question asking for examples it is difficult to know.
18 This question carries a risk of bias, as people are not always willing to be open about their own use of violence, especially in front of members of political parties.
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The proportion of those claiming to have resorted to violence varied by province. In Bujumbura Rural and Cibitoke youth recognized the use of violence more, as shown in the following map showing the percentage of youth having answered “yes,” “often” or “yes. but rarely or only once.”
Figure 8: Declared Use of Violence, per Province
Kirundo
48%
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Bubanza 14% Cankuzo 12% Muramvya 72% Buj. Urbain Bujumbura Gitega Ruyigi Mwaro 14% Rural
Rumonge Rutana Bururi
Makamba 24%
The way the question was asked could have influenced these trends. Sometimes the researchers “generalized” the questions when expressing them orally leading the interviewees to answer more on behalf of youth generally, than them personally. The most surprising finding is the low rate in Bujumbura Mairie. The last conflict scan carried out 19 by SFCG in February and March 2016 shows the highest level of insecurity there.
19 In order to do a quick analysis, the conflict scan was conducted in only one commune per province.
19 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Figure 9: Map of Perception of Insecurity from the ConflictS can
Kirundo
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Bubanza Cankuzo
Muramvya
Buj. Urbain Bujumbura Gitega Ruyigi Mwaro Rural
Rumonge Rutana Bururi % OF RESPONDENTS WITH A NEGATIVE PERCEPTION OF CURRENT SECURITY
0-15% Makamba 16-25%
26-35%
36-45%
Source: Conflict Scan 3, Impore Iwacu project (UNICEF-SFCG), March 2016
Some teams chose to study the patterns of youth conflict management more in-depth. Based on the data they collected, they all found that political violence is directly related to the electoral process. However, whether this 20 was before, during or after the elections depended on the commune. This diverges from the last conflict scan, which found that participants felt that the further they are from the elections, the more people start to trust each other 21 again.
Two communes of the province of Kayanza (Kabarore and Kayanza) were interested to know the types of violence that were committed. They received a wide range of answers, some were listed more often: intimidation, stealing of flags, violent words, protests and injuries. However, when two YLCs (Musigati, Kanyosha-Musaga) studied the consequences of political manipulation, the answers were much more serious: killings, arrests, and escapes. In Kanyosha-Musaga, an area of the city of Bujumbura which was, and still is, very affected by the current crisis, they also listed torture, school or university drop-outs, trauma or the consumption of drugs.
20 Data from Kanyosha-Musaga, Kayogoro and Kabarore. 21 Conflict Scan 3, Impore Iwacu project (UNICEF-SFCG), March 2016. https://www.sfcg.org/wp-content/ uploads/2016/07/Burundi_CS3_Report_FINAL.pdf
20 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
It is interesting consider this data in light of the monthly reports released in 2015 by the Armed Violence Observatory 22 23 (OVA). For the last three months of 2015, between 107 and 144 incidents were reported per month - mostly in Bujumbura Mairie (between 31 and 59 per month). This is consistent with the answers given by the interviewed 24 youth.
This discrepancy between locations can be explained by the fact that Kayanza was far less affected by the 2015-2016 crisis than the city of Bujumbura and the province of Bubanza (Musigati). Thus, we can see that political violence manifests differently according to the location. In less affected areas, even news about the protests and a coup d’état have been listed as violent acts despite that they were not experienced directly.
Manipulation is the Main Driver of Youth Political Violence
The 176 who answered they did resort to violence (excluding Kirundo’s respondents) justified their violence in many ways. Figure 10: If You Did Resort to Violence to Solve a Conflict, Why?
Manipulation by politicians and political tensions are the most cited. This led many teams to studying decide to delve deeper into the phenomenon of manipulation. When those who said they did not resort to violence were asked to explain why some youth do, the answers were very similar (see below).
22 Supported by the National Permanent Commission against proliferation of light and small-caliber arms (CNAP) and the NGO Action On Armed Violence (AOAV). 23 In December it was mainly the police (50.5%), the CNAP offices (22.4%) and sanitation groups (15%). 24 This report presents data only on armed violence.
21 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Figure 11: If You Did Not Resort to Violence, According to You, Why Do Some Youth Do It?
The graph below represents why, according to the 194 who answered they did not resort to violence (excluding Kirundo’s respondents), other youth resort to violence.
Manipulation was found to be the main driver of youth political violence. Youth are the most targeted group for manipulation because of their strength and “warm blood” (energy, dynamism) as it was often described. This is not just based on the youth interviewee feedback. Some local authorities and parents in Kirundo (Bugabira and Bwabarangwe) and Bujumbura Rural (Mubimbi, Mutambu) also confirmed this. However, two authorities and one parent wanted to insist that in their community violence was not used because of good guidance and sensitization on peaceful conflict resolution.
Eight communes had assumed from the conception that manipulation was the main driver of political violence and had decided to focus on the causes of manipulation itself. The answers converged towards two main conclusions:
• Politicians manipulate the youth in order to win elections or stay in power, and they prefer the youth because they are strong and dynamic and often not aware of the consequences of what they do.
• Youth are very vulnerable to manipulation because they are unemployed and poor – “Based on observation, youth of this commune and politicians promise them jobs and give are affiliated to the different political parties and them money – and because they are not live in situation of poverty and consequently they aware of good practices in politics. This last accept everything that their leaders ask them to aspect is also related to the fact that youth do in exchange of money to satisfy their needs.” are not represented in decision-making (Youth having organized the focus group in institutions and therefore do not have peers Isare, Bujumbura Rural) give them advice.
22 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
25 In the last conflict scan, poverty was also mentioned as a weakness in the face of attempted manipulation. It is also consistent with the findings of the former project Intamenwa’s evaluation, whose data provided insight into the reasons why young people allow themselves to be manipulated, which include poverty, unemployment, lack of 26 knowledge, and self-interest of political parties.
However, a different story emerges when we analyze the occupation of the respondents who admitted having resorted to violence. While 20% of unemployed interviewees said they had often resorted to violence, 29% of the 31 interviewees who claimed to have business activities said the same. The high level of youth involved in business having resorted to violence could be explained by the fact that manipulation is often conducted through shop or bar managers – because they are paid or forced to give beers in order to recruit people. However, if we cross reference the data on whether they resort to violence with whether self-reported poverty (or lack thereof ), a slightly higher percentage of those who consider themselves in extreme poverty (22% of 298) than those who consider themselves in poverty (20% of 91) said they had often resorted to violence. A considerably lower percentage (13% of 64 respondents) of those who do not consider themselves poor said they had often resorted to violence.
The commune of Mutambu (Bujumbura rural) tried to evaluate the responsibilities of the different stakeholders, especially parents, politicians and administration in this violence. It is interesting to see that the majority recognized having partial responsibility for the youth resorting to violence. Parents said that “some parents” do not give enough advice to their children, or even push them to come back with money if they are being manipulated. Authorities and administration are more cognizant of the fact that some of them manipulate the youth, and one politician also “We, administration members, sometimes said administration members sometimes “[closed] their close our eyes and ears if we hear about acts eyes” on some violence and hate speech. However, when of violence or hate or divisive speeches that they are personally interviewed on how they react when (Member they face violent youth – like in Mubimbi (Bujumbura are happening on the hills we rule” of administration, Mutambu, province of rural) – they all declare advising the use of dialogue and Bujumbura rural) resorting to justice (not vengeance) in the worst cases.
Youth are Involved in Different Types of Violent Conflicts
Many communes (25) chose to study the causes of conflict and violence. The answers are very similar to those of the compulsory questions. Some local specificities can be highlighted according to what the youth decided to study – which does not mean that the issues are not the same in other provinces.
25 One individual recommended the improvement of “development projects and the financial situations so that they [youth] will have less opportunities to be manipulated and less involved in politics. When you are hungry it is easy to get angry” (Participant, Bujumbura Mairie). Conflict Scan 3, Impore Iwacu project (UNICEF-SFCG), March 2016. 26 Intamenwa - Mobilizing Youth for Peaceful Elections - project final evaluation (USAID-SFCG), January 2016.
23 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Figure 12: Local Specificities About Violence and Conflict Management
Kirundo
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Cankuzo Bubanza
Muramvya
Buj. Urbain Bujumbura Gitega Ruyigi Rural Mwaro
Rumonge Rutana Bururi ARMED GROUPS
LAND CONFLICTS Makamba FEAR OF SPEAKING
"LOVE" CONFLICTS
PERSONAL JUSTICE
. In Ngagara-Kamenge (Bujumbura Mairie) mentioned violence related to “love” conflicts, some resulting in deaths. According to SFCG staff, this is a common issue across the country but especially in popular neighborhoods of Bujumbura or in the commune of Bukinanyana (province of Cibitoke).
. In Cibitoke-Kinama (Bujumbura Mairie), almost half of the interviewees refused to answer the question. This area was emptied during the 1993 crisis and the two neighborhoods have different ethnic groups (Hutu in Cibitoke and Tutsi in Kinama), which is the reason why SFCG decided to combine them. Therefore, the youth leaders explained that it was difficult for them to go to the other neighborhood and they had to divide the work, but still answers were not easily collected.
. In Bwiza-Nyakabiga (Bujumbura Mairie), they decided to work on the youth carrying out their own justice, an issue that is common to the whole country according to SFCG staff but more visible in popular 27 neighborhoods.
27 The general frustration with the court system was shown as well by the last conflict scan findings: “In one example, a participant explained that in the three to four months the case may take in court, the amount of money that would be lost by not being able to use the disputed land to farm rice during that period would cost so much that it would seem economically beneficial to use violence instead, in order to end the dispute quickly. Another participant cited that if someone went to court to fight over 100,000BIF in property loss, they would pay 80,000BIF to the court, making the process too expensive.” Ibid.
24 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
. In most of the province of Makamba, there was reported to be a high level of land conflicts (Vugizo, Mabanda) and related tensions between returnees and residents (Nyanza-Lac). The proximity to Tanzania and the high proportion of returnees who came back from the camps after the 1972 crisis may explain this. Makamba is also considered as a more fertile and rich province, so the land may be more hotly contested, 28 for this reason. The youth also underlined this issue in the commune of Bubanza.
. In Rugombo (Cibitoke), the young researchers tried to understand why some youth were joining armed groups. This commune is very close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and many armed groups recruit in this area, and were doing so even before the current crisis in Burundi. The main reasons are the same: manipulation, poverty and ignorance.
Youth Recommend Dialogue and Training to Improve Their Peers’ Management of Political Conflicts
Action-oriented questions were not encouraged because the objective was to have the youth focusing on understanding the phenomenon and its causes. However, some of the communes still insisted on focusing on opportunities to solve the issues.
This aspect was studied by the commune of Kibago (Makamba) as well as during a focus group in Gihanga (Bubanza). The data reflected recommendations to foster youth dialogue and to develop trainings on peaceful coexistence and 29 social cohesion. This echoes what was found in the last conflict scan. Topic 2: Opportunities and Obstacles for Youth Community Participation and Engagement
The fact that youth leaders’ had very different understanding of this topic prior to the research showed that participation and community engagement are not very institutionalized across Burundi. Community participation is either understood in terms of community works – which are a national and institutionalized practice in Burundi – or in terms of economic development (IGAs or any activity that can make someone wealthier). Nevertheless, the youth research on this topic highlights many insights on social cohesion and areas for improvement in terms of solidarity and dialogue.
Youth Do Engage Actively in Their Community
The compulsory question gives us a first insight on how people understand community engagement and on how they participate.
28 The last conflict scan also revealed that “land related conflicts were the most significant source of violence for the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Cibitoke, Kirundo, and Makamba.” Ibid. 29 The last scan reported: “69% of people felt positively that the education system prepares youth to handle disputes either ‘well’ or ‘very well’ without resorting to violence” – especially referring to some civic courses children get in grades seven and eight, which are still pointed out as too weak because they are “too short and infrequent to make a lasting impact on students’ capacities to resolve disputes without violence.” Ibid.
25 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Figure 13: Do You Engage in Your Community Life? 566 respondents from the seven provinces provided the following answers.
Several teams said they had been surprised by the proportion of youth participating in community life. Almost all parents interviewed (three of four) in Kabezi (Bujumbura rural) even said that the youth of today is more active than the youth of previous generations. The answers presented above were verified by the open question that followed, asking how they were participating. Therefore, these findings do reflect reality, although, as we said, different individuals can have differing understandings of the concept of community participation. However, there can always be a bias from the fact that people know it is socially valuable to participation in the community and want to be considered a good person.
The main activities listed by the interviewees are presented in the following table.
Table 2: Types of Community Participation Activities
% of respondents # of times Type of activity (422) who mentioned30 mentioned it Community works (Travaux communautaires) 124 29% Solidarity / Mutual assistance 75 18% Associations 34 8% Reconstruction of public infrastructure 25 6% Help / First aid / Visits to the vulnerable (ill people, poor 22 5% families, disabled…) Advice / Sensitization 19 5% IGA groups 17 4% Peaceful resolution of conflicts 17 4% Agriculture – Cattle management 14 3% Help family 10 2% Help the children 9 2% Clean the colline 8 2% Be a member of lending and saving groups 7 2%
30 The interviewees could give two answers.
26 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Community works are the main activity for community participation, and some people conflate the two as if they were the same thing. Solidarity or mutual assistance were mentioned by 18% of the interviewees and, if you combine it with first aid and aid to vulnerable people, advice and sensitization as well as help to children, it represents 29% of interviewees in total.
The last conflict scan showed that in some cases, local administrators recorded attendance to community works in notebooks. While the intention behind this may be good – i.e. to foster the participation of everyone in the community and limit political or ethnic segregation – some “participants felt that if they did not have good attendance, they could potentially be excluded from opportunities, or denied support when handling bureaucratic matters in the future. 31 In other cases, participants believed they would have to pay a fine or face similar consequences if they did not attend.” Therefore, it is not surprising that community works attendance is reported as high.
There were also a wide set of associations mentioned. Many were for IGAs – that is why they were put aside – but some people also mentioned sports or game clubs, as well as peace associations. Some of them have legal status, but others are just gatherings of people. Two areas of Bujumbura Mairie focused on the existence (or not) of associations and on what they actually do. In Ngagara-Kamenge, the majority of interviewees (eight of fourteen) said that there were only a few associations or no association at all (five). In Buterere, the existence of many associations was asserted by half of the interviewees (six of eleven) and they mostly cite the ones for mutual assistance and lending and saving groups.
The case of Kayogoro (Makamba) can be specifically underlined, where a relative majority “I don’t have time.”; “In my opinion, it does not have (five of twelve) talked about works in churches. As any importance for me.”; “I won’t enjoy anything”. noted previously, in this province many people are (Reasons for non-participation given by returnees from camps in Tanzania, and in these focus group participants in Cibitoke-Kinama, camps Protestantism and Christianity prevalent, Bujumbura Mairie). meaning that many returnees came back with skills as religious leaders and the concentration of churches is high.
31 Conflict Scan 3, Impore Iwacu project (UNICEF-SFCG), March 2016.
27 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home
Politicization and Poverty are the Main Brakes to Community Participation
The research question “Why do some youth not participate in community life?” has been negatively formulated by the youth themselves, showing their a priori about the youth not engaging and being lazy. However, the answers enlighten us both on why they participate and why they do not.
Table 3: Reasons for Not Participating in Community Life
% of respondents # of times Reason for not participating (137) who mentioned mentioned it
Political aspect of the community works 35 26%
Poverty / Unemployment 26 19%
Not interested 23 17%
Lack of consideration of the youth 15 11%
Lack of time 14 10%
Lack of information - sensitization 13 9%
Other reasons / No answer 11
As community works are the main activity, it is also the main reason for not engaging in the community. Indeed, in many locations, some of the interviewees said community works are instrumented by the ruling party and you can even see people working with t-shirts of the party or singing related songs. Some youth explained they were excluded because of their political beliefs, others that their parents prevented them from going, others even said they were hiding from the ruling party. The politicization of community works is therefore a common issue in the whole country and it limits social cohesion and community development. This is consistent with the fact that there is a lower rate of active participation in Bujumbura Mairie than in other provinces, even if everywhere more than 40% of the youth declared participating “a lot” in their community’s life.
However, the case of Bujumbura Mairie can may also be different due to the fact that it is “I imagine that youth community participation the capital city and youth have other interests could do a great change in communities’ life. Youth’s and activities than in the provinces. This is actions may seem invisible but if these actions were supported by some of the answers that were well organized in the framework of their community heard in Cibitoke-Kinama’s FGD. development, I think that their strength would be useful this time to do something important. (Inhabitant of Nyanza-Lac, Makamba)
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Figure 14: Youth Active Community Participation, per Province
Kirundo 48% 76%
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Bubanza 44% Cankuzo 54% Muramvya 58% Buj. Mairie Bujumbura Gitega Ruyigi Mwaro 42% Rural
Rumonge Rutana Bururi
Makamba 52%
According to the last conflict scan findings, this politicization is however on a decreasing trend: “communities largely reported that weekly community works events had changed quite dramatically in recent months. A recent ban on wearing politically affiliated t-shirts to community works events has opened up community works to be more inclusive and has improved attendance from people of all political parties. During elections, community works were heavily seen as being 32 associated with only the ruling party, and people from other parties reported feeling afraid to attend” . Nevertheless, the young researchers still found it was the main obstacle to community participation for a quarter of the respondents who said they were not participating.
Moreover, youth are sometimes also excluded only because they are young and not considered. This relates as well to their absence in decision-making institutions and creates frustration. The YLC of Busoni (Kirundo) interviewed five “chefs collinaires” and two of them openly said that they would not invite youth in community works because “they are not useful” – one of whom added “like women”. However, the other local chiefs and parents said they were
32 Ibid.
29 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home encouraging youth participation. Some authorities in Kabezi (Bujumbura rural) even said they were offering to the youth a framework for dialogue and exchange.
When the question is asked directly – as with the compulsory question – the youth do not talk about laziness. But when the YLCs decided to study this aspect more in-depth, laziness is much more often cited. They often talk about ligalas, which are the informal gatherings of youth who are not doing anything specific but often drinking alcohol or taking drugs (cannabis). One of SFCG staff said that she was surprised because some of the youth said that they were in ligalas because it was where they could talk and debate with others. She said the perception of this phenomenon is usually negative but she discovered, through the work of the YLC of Bwiza-Nyakabiga (Bujumbura Mairie), that it could have this positive effect of encouraging youth dialogue.
Some communes decided to understand why it was important for some youth to participate (Musigati in Bubanza) and why some youth understood this importance and others did not (Matongo in Kayanza). It is interesting to see that what the youth valued more was social cohesion, development of friendships and peace, even if local development is mentioned as well. There is therefore room for more youth participation – outside of community works – that can probably be leveraged.
Two communes also decided to focus on environmental protection (Vugizo and Makamba in Makamba). In Vugizo, they have a natural reserve that is threatened by bush fires, hunting and cattle feeding. In Makamba, they have environmental issues related to brick fabrication and tree cutting that are threatening the stability of the land when heavy rains occur. They were trying to understand why the youth do not engage in these issues. Mostly, they found that poverty and ignorance are the main reasons, but the inaction of the administration was also mentioned in Vugizo, as one youth association that had been created there was not allowed to keep working on these issues.
Youth Bring Ideas for Community Participation and Development
As they were not encouraged to study action-oriented questions, only three communes decided to focus on this. However, this aspect is also shown in the recommendations the others made.
In Kibago and Mabanda (Makamba), the accent was put on subscribing to associations and especially lending and saving groups. Participation is therefore understood as economical and, for them, community development can be made through the enrichment of individuals. In Kabarore (Kayanza) however, answers were more varied and more “politicized” as they mentioned community works and community meetings organized by the authorities. Sensitization was also an important part of how the youth could engage in their communities. Topic 3: Available Livelihoods for Youth
Poverty was one of the most cited topics when the youth were brainstorming. It is interesting to see how they relate every issue they face to poverty, even youth leaders who are generally living in better conditions than the “ordinary” youth. The objective was also to make the youth identify some opportunities for income generating activities that are efficient in the current context.
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The Large Majority of Youth Consider that hey are in a Situation of Extreme Poverty
Figure 15: Do You Consider that You are in a Situation of Poverty? 585 interviewees in the 7 provinces.
, 7%
7% 23%
63%
Only 14% of the interviewees said they were not in situation of poverty while almost two-thirds of them consider their situation as extreme. Even if we can observe some discrepancies between the different provinces, extreme poverty is always mentioned by more than half of the respondents, and when the rates are lower, like in Bujumbura rural and Kirundo, it’s because more said that it was depending on the periods (respectively 27% and 34%).
“My hope to see the youth exit poverty is almost inexistent. In front of a young population so numerous, which keeps growing every day while nothing is done to help them develop, it is without any doubt that we are going towards an unfortunate situation for the youth. I shake with fear when I start thinking of what will do these youth who run every morning to their respective schools believing they will get diplomas which could be useful for their job search.” (Participant in a focus group, Kayogoro, Makamba)
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Figure 16: Youth Considering Themselves in Extreme Poverty, per Province
Kirundo 54% 69%
Cibitoke Muyinga Ngozi
Kayanza
Karuzi Bubanza 67% Cankuzo 74% Muramvya 56% Buj. Mairie Bujumburraa Gitega Ruyigi Mwaro 70% Rurall
Rumonge Rutana Bururi
Makamba 76%
Poverty is a relative concept and therefore two communes decided to focus on the signs of poverty (Muhanga and Kabarore in Kayanza). Answers relate mostly to what the young researchers had identified as consequences of poverty: cited several times are theft and small criminality, ligalas, prostitution, school drop-out, undesired pregnancies, early marriage, rural exodus and unemployment. Hunger or begging were only cited once, so extreme poverty does not seem to be strongly related to malnutrition for the interviewees. It was interesting to see that some respondents said they were “like the others” but they answered either that they were extremely poor either that they were not because they thought it was not extreme poverty if almost everyone was in the same situation. It depends therefore to whom the interviewees compared themselves to.
Other teams tried to characterize this phenomenon and especially how the youth were dealing with this poverty. In Bukinanyana (Cibitoke), they were interested in knowing what the level of trust and hope in their future was. On nine interviewees, only two said they were not confident in their future, four that it was depending on the periods but they were hoping to receive financial support from the government and associations, and three that they were confident “despite everything”. We need to specify that this commune is highly linked to the ruling party
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and therefore it fosters trust among inhabitants. These quite positive answers can be related as well to an increased optimism in security improvement that was shown by the last conflict scan, with “levels of optimism for future security 33 significantly improved, rising to 48% from 30% at CS2 and 13% from CS1” .
Three communes focused on discovering if the youth were or not actually making some efforts and caring about income generating projects (Kanyosha-Musaga in Bujumbura Mairie, Gihanga in Bubanza, Mukike in Bujumbura Rural). In general, respondents consider that the youth are trying to associate but that the lack of projects and training as well as their despair prevents them from succeeding. The group of Mugina (Cibitoke) wanted to see if there were some youth who wanted to live without working and surprisingly, nine out of ten said yes and that the youth (but not themselves…) were lazy or stealing. This commune is located at the border with DRC and many thefts are happening.
Unemployment is the Main Cause of Youth Poverty
The open question following the compulsory one was intending to understand the causes of this poverty and over 505 respondents who said they were in a situation of poverty (extreme or depending on the periods), the following 34 reasons listed in the graph were the most cited . When other groups such as parents, authorities or civil society representatives were interviewed on this question, their answers were very similar, with the insistence on the lack of an national employment policy. Figure 17: Most Cited Causes of Poverty (#)
169
62
50
33
29
28
33 Ibid. 34 Each respondent could give one or two causes.
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It is striking that the absence of income generating occupation is the main issue for the youth, and in some cases the interviewees added “after completing school/studies” – showing that studying is not a guarantee for them to find a job.
Agricultural issues are very important as well – mostly due to the very high density of population – and were worsened “It is very long to explain because even the by the floods, as shown in the Humanitarian Needs people who could hire us, give us work, they Overview: “The government’s assessment shows that 30,000 fled because of the prevalent situation in people were affected by the floods that occurred in November (Participant in a focus group 2015 when more than 5,000 homes and 13,000 hectares of Burundi.” 35 in Musaga-Kanyosha, Bujumbura Mairie) arable land were destroyed or damaged” . And other catastrophes happened in the following months.
“Youth live in a situation of poverty Moreover, the quite frequent mention of their family’s poverty shows that social reproduction is an important phenomenon. because their parents are poor as well 36 and the proverb says: the descendant of Seven communes wanted to understand why the youth were a monkey spends his time climbing on not doing activities or associating for their own development, trees”. (Administrator and his adviser starting from a negative a priori. Mostly the answers are interviewed in Musigati, Bubanza) the same but we can notice the more frequent mention of exclusion, especially in Nyanza-Lac (Makamba) where more than half of the 10 interviewees said discrimination according to the originating region was the main obstacle. As we said, this province is at the border with Tanzania and knows among the highest rates of returnees.
Seven other teams, all in the province of Kayanza, chose to try to understand why the level of poverty kept increasing. “If the same amount of money and energy as It is probably mainly due to influence between groups the one used during the elections was invested during the training, as Kayanza does not show the worst 37 in development projects for the youth, no levels of indicators in terms of needs . Answers are the doubt that the issues related to youth poverty same on economic issues (unemployment, lack of capital…) with the addition of more political aspects (exclusion, would be solved automatically”. (Participant in a focus group, Makamba, bad governance, patrimonialism and manipulation) and Makamba) personal ones (lack of knowledge, laziness).
35 HNO, OCHA, February 2016. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/fr/system/files/documents/files/bdi_2016_ hno_english.pdf 36 Makamba, Nyanza-Lac, Mabanda and Vugizo (Makamba) and Muruta, Butaganzwa and Gahombo (Kayanza) 37 Different types of needs presented in the HNO, OCHA, February 2016.
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Poverty is Creating a Vicious Circle with Other Negative Phenomena
The researchers often wanted to focus on different issues which were not directly related to the three topics at first sight, but were correlated with poverty, either as causes or consequences: school drop-outs, rural exodus and emigration, drugs, undesired pregnancies…
38 School drop-outs was focused on in eight communes (including three in Makamba and three in Bujumbura 39 Mairie). Respondents said almost unanimously that drop-out rates are very high. The main cause mentioned was that the poverty of the family pushes the children/youth to start looking for a job or renders them unable to pay the fees anymore. The youth’s quest for “quick” money was also cited. Other reasons mentioned were undesired pregnancies or prostitution (for girls) and influence of their group (ligalas) or drug consumption for boys. Lack of confidence in the “fundamental curriculum” was also mentioned, demonstrating a mistrust in the education system. According to SFCG staff, this aversion to school could be partly related to the recent “doodle” events, which resulted 40 in a real confrontation between pupils and authorities. One of the communes focused on the specific case of the Batwa community. Indeed, in Buganda (Cibitoke), the Batwa are quite numerous and one of them was a member of the YLC who wanted to better understand the difficulties of his community. Poverty and vulnerability are the main reasons Batwa youth are dropping-out, as well as lack of self-confidence and lack of sensitization.
41 Rural exodus and emigration to foreign countries were studied by five communes. For rural exodus, two main trends were revealed. First, the youth are fleeing the countryside and agriculture, being attracted by the city and its leisure activities. The other dynamic is linked to poverty. Respondents explained that youth are leaving in order to find a place where living decently should be easier and where they could find jobs. The people interviewed on emigration, especially in Bujumbura Mairie, mentioned the same search for better economic prospects. The other main reason cited was insecurity, especially in Ngagara-Kamenge. For Nyanza-Lac, proximity with the Tanzanian border and access to Zambia through the lake (job opportunities) explains the interest of the team in this question. According to the interviewees, insecurity, intimidation and rumors of insecurity are the causes of youth emigration in this commune.
42 Drug consumption was another issue which attracted the attention of three communes. It was also often given as an explanation of youth poverty or non-participation in the community life. Unemployment was most often cited as a trigger for drug consumption, as well as the influence of (unemployed) groups – especially ligalas. It was also often reported that drug consumption helped youth to forget their worries and despair in the current context. One of the respondents even explained that he was on drugs to be able to work hard in the construction sector and make money.
Undesired pregnancies were also studied in Bubanza (Bubanza) and Buterere (Bujumbura Mairie). The main reason given was poverty, however the link between the two was not clearly explained. Others mentioned the weakness (or absence) of family planning institutions and girls’ ignorance. Some of them also talked about porn movies that are
38 Makamba, Nyanza-Lac and Vugizo. 39 Buterere, Ngagara-Kamenge and Bwiza-Nyakabiga. 40 Some pupils doodled on the President’s photo in their books in certain schools and some of them were arrested. Some are still in jail. More information can be found in this article – among others: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/20/ dispatches-students-jailed-doodling-burundi 41 Rural exodus by Makamba (Makamba) and Muruta (Kayanza) and emigration by Nyanza-Lac (Makamba), Bwiza- Nyakabiga and Ngagara-Kamenge (Bujumbura Mairie). 42 Bubanza (Bubanza), Buterere and Cibitoke-Kinama (Bujumbura Mairie).
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screened in some small cinemas where, according to SFCG staff, even young teens despite their not being ready or mature enough to process the images they see.
Family Support is the Most Used Resource to Avoid Falling into Poverty
For those who responded that they did not consider themselves in a situation of poverty, the researchers tried to know how they made a living. In 80 interviewees, the most cited answers are listed below. Figure 18: Most Cited Livelihoods (#)
This is consistent with the obstacles highlighted by the other ones: poor family, land availability and productivity issues, and then the lack of access to credit and capital to start activities. As we can see, the support of the family is much more important than associations or solidarity groups. There is, therefore, room for improvement on this side.
43 This is what has been identified as well by the respondents when they were asked by eight teams how the youth could get out of poverty. Indeed, associating with others for IGAs is the main advice given, while others insist more on access to micro-credit. The role of the government is often mentioned as well, especially in order to develop a real employment policy working on youth’s access to jobs. Eventually, a few of them also said that youth should stop “being lazy”, consuming drugs, spending time in ligalas and stop denigrating some types of job. In Kayogoro (Makamba) they wanted to go deeper and asked as well which type of contributions could help the youth and who should provide this support. Interviewees equally talked about training, credit (without mortgage) and employment policy. About who should provide support, the government was cited by eight out of twelve, and then came the NGOs (3) and the youth themselves.
43 Mabanda, Nyanza-Lac, Vugizo, Kayogoro, Makamba, Kibago (Makamba), Musigati (Bubanza) and Kanyosha-Musaga (Bujumbura Mairie)
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5. Conclusions
General conclusions were made by the young researchers and compiled in their mini-reports. The conclusions presented here are based on these as well as on the analysis of all the research findings at the national level. Overall, what was striking for the different teams was that Burundian youth, despite their differences, share the same difficulties in daily life and are ready to associate in order to work together towards development.
Conflict Management and Resorting to Violence
Youth violence exists but does not concern a majority of youth. Only 21% to 25% of youth said they had often used or seen violent acts. It is highly linked with the electoral process and tends to decrease with time, as shown as well by the last conflict scan SFCG carried out in March 2016. Election periods foster political intolerance and the youth are more prone to be attracted to violence as they lack political knowledge. Moreover, acts of violence can refer to many different degrees, from flag stealing to arrests and killings. Therefore, each province has its own reference framework and, surprisingly, the results in Bujumbura Mairie did not match the level of insecurity showed in the last conflict scan – suggesting that actors other than youth are also responsible for the climate of insecurity.
As shown in the findings at the national level, manipulation by politicians is by far the main driver of youth violence. The young researchers insisted on its direct link with poverty, which is an undoubted weakness for them. Indeed, some political leaders will not hesitate to offer money or jobs to the vulnerable youth, in exchange of illegal services. Moreover, youth are an interesting group for these manipulating leaders because of their strength and ability to react strongly and quickly. Eventually, many groups concluded that the lack of youth consideration and representation in decision-making institutions and their ignorance of good practices in politics were some aggravating factors of youth political violence.
It is important to notice that the current political conflicts are not the only ones concerned with the use of violence, as different teams showed that other types of conflict were very badly managed as well such as land conflicts – especially in areas with many returnees like in the province of Makamba – and “love” conflicts.
Community Engagement
Having surprised many teams, the findings show that a majority of youth declare significant participation in the community’s life. Disaggregated per province, the data shows that in each province, this statement is shared by at least 42% of interviewees. Community works is the main activity mentioned (29% of respondents) but solidarity actions in a broad sense are equivalent in terms of proportion.
Community works can be a good opportunity to gather the different groups but, for this, they should not be politicized – as they were during the elections and the following months. Even today, the young researchers revealed that this politicization was still the main obstacle to participation. Poverty is an important curb as well, as the youth are continuously looking for jobs and money and cannot find time and energy for their community.
Findings revealed that there is a room for youth participation out of community works as the respondents were valuing social cohesion, friendship and peace development. Ligalas for example are generally seen as negatively
37 Search for Common Ground | BURUNDI Youth-to-Youth Research and Learning Amahoro Iwacu – Peace in My Home influencing youth behaviors and limiting community engagement, but they can constitute as well a space for debate and exchange.
Youth poverty and livelihoods
Youth poverty was the main finding for many of the teams. They concluded that poverty and unemployment are plagues for Burundian youth and engender a vulnerability to political manipulation and exclusion as well as a limitation to community participation. Still, poverty is relative and for them the main signs of it are theft, ligalas, school drop-out, undesired pregnancies, prostitution, rural exodus and unemployment.
Indeed, unemployment has been identified as the main cause of poverty. This issue is even worse as even the youth who studied face difficulties in finding jobs. Land issues also engender poverty as there is lack of available and productive land for agriculture – the main economic activity in the country. Even when they try, youth have trouble associating and launching IGAs, mostly due to the fact that they cannot access credit and suffer from exclusion (political or other discrimination, lack of consideration of their projects). Their lack of knowledge, especially in terms of entrepreneurship skills, and the lack of youth-targeting development projects were additional issues that the different teams highlighted in their conclusions. The research also revealed that some negative behaviors are strongly correlated with poverty, as consequences that can worsen the situation of the concerned youth. The young researchers especially focused on school drop-outs, rural exodus and emigration, drug consumption and undesired pregnancies.
The few youth that did not consider themselves as poor were on the majority receiving the support of their family. Agricultural income was often cited, but this success concerns only a tiny part of the population having agricultural activities. The findings show that there is room for improvement and leverage for poverty reduction through associations, especially the ones for IGAs development or lending and saving groups.
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6. Recommendations
Recommendations from the Youth Leader Committees
As this activity was aiming at opening a space for expression for the Burundian youth, it is important to share here the recommendations made by the young researchers themselves.
To the youth, they recommend, in order to improve their economic situation, to not be lazy and not denigrate some jobs, to avoid fleeing the countryside and to join associations. They insisted as well on the fact that the youth should resist against manipulation. To the politicians, they ask them to stop manipulating and start providing solutions to youth issues.
NGOs and the government are called upon to develop youth training on different aspects:
- social cohesion, peaceful coexistence and conflict resolution (also for administration members) - good practices in politics during the electoral process - resistance to manipulation (and consequences of manipulation for political leaders) - auto-development and entrepreneurship - elaboration and planning of micro-projects - patriotism (also for political leaders) - community activities (including community works) - public infrastructure protection
They are also asked to provide financial support to youth projects – especially through micro-credit and by easing access conditions – and to create frameworks for dialogue for youth, children and parents, people and leaders… The young researchers also recommend that NGOs support the youth in developing games aimed at fostering peace and security.
To the government especially, the youth had many recommendations, which they were able to express directly to the Ministry of Youth representative during the final national meeting. They recommend the development of projects with innovative tools like a specific funds and increased engagement in improving youth living conditions. In terms of policies, the main request was for the launch of a real employment policy, but other reforms were recommended especially for education sector – with, for example, the development of technical schools. The teams also concluded that there is a huge necessity for youth representation within decision-making institutions, and for laws that would discourage manipulation. Freedom of speech without fearing any injury was also mentioned among the different recommendations.
Eventually, the young researchers recommended to SFCG and its partners to continue supporting the YLCs and training them, to extend the project to the whole country, to provide identification material for the teams and to give them documents for them to disseminate the research’s findings.
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SFCG and partners’ recommendations for future youth programming
A few main recommendations can be highlighted for future programming taking into account SFCG and its partners’ resources and capacities.
o The integration of youth into decision-making institutions and/or the establishment of expression platforms for youth can help reduce incidences of resorting to violence, first because the youth in these institutions would be able to inform their peers of good practices in politics and then because poor and unoccupied youth would be less frustrated from feeling abandoned and less vulnerable to manipulation. On SFCG’s side, this has to be remembered through the different activities of this project.
o Support to association creation: The youth have a real interest in associating for their own economic development but also in helping their community and the most vulnerable. Groups working on mutual assistance, IGAs, lending and saving or others seem an efficient way to exit poverty. The work of Catholic Relief Services during this project will be a good start that could appeal for other activities of this kind.
o Youth engagement exists and must be valued even when it is not translated into participation in community works – which are highly politicized in some locations. Sensitization about the means of action and solidarity could be led by the youth themselves. They have a real interest in helping others and associating for the group’s development, so a deeper analysis of the type of activities that could be developed on this aspect could provide SFCG with innovating ideas for social cohesion reinforcement.
o Access to credit and starting capital are determining conditions for IGA development by the youth. CRS’ SILC groups will be a good way to mitigate these difficulties but this work should be combined with advocacy towards the government and financial partners to make sure these efforts are spread out and that the laws are allowing for their success.
o Multiplying trainings on the different topics mentioned by the youth is also necessary, even if a real reflection has to be launched on the framework for this type of training and its follow-up. Many NGOs are doing sensitization activities and the request always seems important, so it is useful to look for a way to leverage this work for a wider and stronger impact.
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6. Appendices
Annex A: Additional Information on Training
Taking into account first, the number of researchers and second, the objective of supporting them in developing their own research questions, the training timeline allowed them to create their research project step by step. In the meanwhile, SFCG worked on harmonizing the research questions chosen by the youth from the whole country to identify three main topics, and for each of them a compulsory question that the youth had to insert into their questionnaires.
The following training modules were developed before the training: The Project and the Activity, What is research and why it is interesting? Research Methods and Tools, Research Ethics, Constraints and Risks and Data Treatment and Analysis.
The three-day training took place in each province in April, assembling youth researchers from the different communes. Group work sessions were organized for them to develop, step by step, their own research project with their own research questions, hypotheses, target groups, risks, constraints, and methods and tools. However, practice is really important to improve research skills so the training should be longer and reinforced on this aspect.
The training was planned following the schedule below:
TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
08.30 - 09.00 Welcome participants
Pre-test and presentation of the project and activity Data collection method and Risks and constraints and how What is a research and why tools they can be avoided 09.00 - 12.30 should we carry one? Coffee Break
Exchange around the main How to analyse data and Practical exercises research questions produce a report?
12.30 - 13.30 Lunch Break
The concepts to address Guided group works on the Guided group works on the research projects Defining the research project research projects 13.30 - 16.00 in groups Final Q&A session, and post- Exchange around data Exchange around possible risks test collection methods & tools and constraints
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The research project template contained the following sections:
1. Objectives of the research (half page)
2. Research questions, hypotheses and targets (one page and a half )
3. Methodology table with methods and tools used, related research questions, targets and locations (two pages)
4. Identified risks and constraints and mitigation strategies (up to two pages)
5. Planning and roles table (one page per week)
The mini-report template was developed as follows:
- Half a page to remind their research’s objectives, questions and hypotheses.
- Half a page to write about the context of the country, province and/or commune.
- Half a page to develop on the difficulties and constraints they had during the field work, and to present the solutions they implemented while facing these difficulties.
- Half a page to synthesize their observations.
- Three pages – one per topic – to describe the results of the survey and potential KIIs and FGDs and compare them to their hypotheses.
- Half a page to draw some conclusions and recommendations.
The educational background of youth leaders and their level of experience differed. Only 39% of them had already participated in research activities in the past. However, the training tools were designed to allow everyone to understand them and be able to carry out basic field research after attending the training: at the end of the instruction,
- 88% (197) of the trainees said they felt very well prepared,
- Four youth said they felt prepared but not totally at ease,
- 11 said they learned things but did not feel well prepared and
- Only one said he/she was not ready at all.
Pre- and post-tests were graded over ten, and the following graph shows the progress of the group’s average in each province.
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Figure 19: Pre- and Post-test Results
According to their post-training comments, they liked the fact they had acquired new skills on research activities (115) and they said the topics were interesting as they were targeting current youth issues (28). Some of them also said it was good because the groups were representing Burundi’s diversity (22). The trainers’ methodology was appreciated as well (21) even if they said the time was too short to really remember all the information provided. The main recommendations they gave were to organize other sessions to gather different youth groups, to involve vulnerable youth in the next activities and to ensure the intensive monitoring of their field research.
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Annex B: Chosen Research Questions
The youth had to add one or two research questions to the compulsory ones. Here is the synthesis:
Topic 1: Conflict Situations Management by the Youth
Number of Research questions communes studying it
What can we observe about youth and political violence?
• Is there any political conflict in the specific commune? 2
• What are the types of violence committed? 2
• When can we observe these conflicts? 2
• What categories of youth are committing acts of violence? 1
• What are the harmful consequences for manipulated youth? 2
Why do the youth experiment discrimination, suspicion and resort to violence? 8
• Between youth from different political parties? 7
• Between returnees and residents? 1
• About land conflicts? 4
• Before, during and after the electoral period? 3
• Why do the youth join armed groups? 1
• Why do some youth prefer to take the law into their own hands? 1 Why is there youth manipulation from politicians? Why are politicians manipulating youth?
• Why do politicians manipulate the youth? 7
• Why do youth let themselves being manipulated by politicians? 1
• Why don’t the youth get what was promised to them? 1
How can the youth manage political conflicts? 2
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Topic 2: Opportunities and Obstacles for Youth Community Participation/Engagement
Number of Research questions communes studying it
What can we observe about youth engagement?
• What are the methods of youth participation? 5
• Do the youth join associations? 2
Why don’t the youth engage in their communities? 9
• Why aren’t they interested in? Why don’t they understand the importance? 7
• Why don’t the youth engage in environmental protection? 2
• Why do some youth spend all their time in ligalas? 1
How can the youth develop their commune? 3
Topic 3: Available Livelihoods for Youth
Number of Research questions communes studying it
What can we observe about youth poverty?
• What are the signs of poverty? 2
• What is youth’s level of trust/hope in their future? 1
• Why don’t some politicians care about youth? 1
• Are the youth interested in income generating projects? 4
What are the reasons of youth poverty? 10
• Why don’t the youth initiate activities for their self-development? 7
• Why does the rate of poverty keep increasing? 7 What are the factors and consequences of youth poverty?
• Why do the youth abandon school/studies? Why are Batwa less attending school? 8
• Why is there rural exodus and/or migration? 5
• Why do some girls become prostitutes? 1
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• Why do the youth get married late? 1
• Why do some girls have undesired pregnancies? 2
• Why do some youth consume drugs? 3
• Why do some youth steal? 1 How can youth poverty decrease?
• How can the youth exit of their situation of poverty? 5
• What are the ways for youth self-development? 3
• What kind of support can be provided to the youth? Who can contribute? 1
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Annex C: Additional Information on the Young Researchers
In the framework of the baseline data collection for the whole project, the youth leaders were surveyed themselves – especially to know their level of education and their occupation. Because of logistical issues, the youth leaders of Kayanza could not be included in time in this survey and will be interviewed later. However, the survey was done on 100% of the 170 youth leaders in other provinces.
According to the surveys, the majority of youth leaders attended or were attending secondary school (80%), which shows their relative high level of education when compared to the general mass of Burundian youth. Figure 20: Level of Education of Youth Leaders (%)
Source: Amahoro Iwacu project’s baseline survey for youth leaders, May 2016 (without the province of Kayanza).
However, most of the youth leaders are still unemployed, which explains their high level of motivation to receive the training and to participate in this activity. Figure 21: Occupation of Youth Leaders (#)
Source: Amahoro Iwacu project’s baseline survey for youth leaders, May 2016 (without the province of Kayanza).
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The YLCs members were also asked to give their feedback on the representativeness of the YLCs’ composition with the following question: “Do you think that the YLC of your commune represents the diversity of Burundian youth at the political, ethnical and religious levels?” The majority thought that the committees were representative of the youth, but with unequal proportions.
Figure 22: Perception of the Representativeness of the YLCs by the Youth Leaders (%)
Source: Amahoro Iwacu project’s baseline survey for youth leaders, May 2016 (without the province of Kayanza).
This is not surprising as the ruling party was always represented by two youth while only one person per group, chosen between different opposition parties, represented the opposition. However, taking into account the current political situation, this proportion was decided upon in order to ensure that the authorities would let the youth participate. Disaggregating this data per party/civil society leads us to better understand the tendencies according to the different groups represented.
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Table 4: Perception of Representativeness of the YLCs, Disaggregated per Group Represented
Answers of the youth leaders
Yes, but No answer / Total with Yes, totally No unequal proportions I don’t know
Ruling party 24 29 9 1 63
Opposition party 5 15 15 1 36
Civil society (REJA 12 32 16 5 65 or CPAJ) Group represented UNIPROBA (Twa 2 1 2 0 5 ethnic group)
No answer / I don’t 0 1 0 0 1 know
Total 43 78 42 7 170
It is indeed visible that opposition parties’ members were less convinced by the group composition than the ruling party and even the civil society – even if they still had some reservations.
They were asked then to comment on how to improve the representativeness of Burundian youth diversity in the committees. Based on the fact that there was more youth from the ruling party than from the opposition ones, almost 89% of them said that the next activities should include youth from the different parts of the society not only 44 at the political level but also at the religious and ethnic levels . However, they did not give any details and ideas of what the repartition should be. It will be interesting for the team to follow-up on this issue and make sure their recommendations are understood more fully.
44 The rest of them did not answer (5%) or did not seem to understand the question as they instead advised for increasing transparency in the elections (3%) or for looking after everybody’s interests (3%).
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