Learning from Burundi: Lessons for Post-War Development and Reconstruction

Burundi has one of the world's youngest and poorest populations. With a median age of 17 years, only seven countries have younger populations. The country's poverty situation has been called "clearly one of the most extreme in the world, with 93% [of Burundians] living below a poverty line of $2 a day,"  and nearly two in three Burundians (61.9%) enduring severe poverty. Although it is known as an overwhelmingly rural-based nation (89% of its population live in rural areas), Burundi's urban growth rate is among the world's highest.

These defining characteristics shaped my field research that I undertook in late 2012 on the state of Burundian adolescents and the role of violence in their lives. Although I originally carried out the research for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Burundi, all views expressed here are mine alone. The purpose of the research was to probe the world of ordinary Burundian adolescents (in this case, those aged 13-18) in the aftermath of Burundi's profoundly destructive civil war that took place from 1993-2005.[1] I conducted field interviews in rural and urban areas to detail and analyze their situation and examine how violence, and the threat of violence, impacts adolescent lives.

What follows draws from two passages in a recent publication, Adolescents and Violence: Lessons from Burundi, published in May 2013. The first sheds light on what I found in rural and urban Burundi. The second lists twelve lessons (or insights) that I drew from field research in Burundi, which promise to apply directly to other post-war development and reconstruction contexts.

Youth in Burundi Tell Their Story

The initial interview question that I asked adolescents, youth and adults in Burundi invited them to detail the situation of adolescents in their area. Their answers collectively illustrate the sort of hardships and limited opportunities that most Burundian adolescents face. The most upbeat response came from an 18 year-old boy in rural Burundi, who said that adolescents in his area "have a good life, except for poverty." "We have good lessons at school," he continued. He also noted that "some schools are not in good shape." He has to share textbooks with other students and sits in a classroom with 62 other young people.

The emphasis on schooling as a way out of farming was a central theme in rural areas. Yet dropping out of school proved to be much more pervasive. A 22 year-old female youth characterized the situation for adolescent girls and female youth in her area in the following way:

"Our life is digging every day. Most of us girls are at home. Some try to attend school, but few girls can finish because their families cannot afford to pay for school. Most drop out to go back to the family land to dig. It's a hard situation because sometimes you don't even have enough money for soap."

The issue of soap proved to be no small concern, and regular mention of it by adolescent boys and girls was but one example of the widespread focus on somehow finding enough money to pay for basic items. As the female youth continued, "For girls, soap is very important, but also food and body oil, because when a girl is dirty, it's shameful." Many adolescents and adults explained that not being clean shames entire families because it implies that the family is destitute and disrespectful of others. A dirty person also cannot attend church on Sundays, which is of great importance to many Burundians. In addition, girls (and women) are expected to wash their bodies and clothes with soap before using body oil. This makes them attractive, and it seems to be widely believed that regularly using soap and body oil will help an unmarried girl attract boys and young men. Just perhaps, one might ask the girl to marry him.

Girls and boys in rural areas who are not in school can dig for others for small amounts of money – in Gitega (in central Burundi), the most common daily rate was USD $0.53 (800 francs), while in Makamba (in the south), the most customary reported wage was nearly a dollar a day (1,500 francs). Yet even the comparatively grand Makamba wage is a paltry amount of money, considering rising costs for basic foodstuffs and other necessities. Adolescent workers often must pay parents or guardians a portion of the money that they earn. The high demand on tiny earnings makes saving to construct a house – which adolescent boys and male youth must undertake before they can marry and be considered men – difficult, if not virtually impossible.

What about adolescents in urban Burundi? The situation that adolescents and adults described in Bwiza, a commune (or neighborhood) in Bujumbura, was generally dire. A 25 year-old male youth, for example, observed that most adolescent girls in Bwiza "are prostitutes. Some are students during the day. Then they work as prostitutes to pay for school." An adolescent boy of 16 commented that although some adolescents "are well-off, those who are doing badly come from poor families. They do things because of poverty, like robbery and smoking marijuana and cigarettes. They don't go to school."

12 Lessons

Struggling and usually failing to remain in school, working difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs while saving little, thinking about food and soap, aiming for marriage and adulthood that may be out of reach – these aspects of life for many, if not most, adolescents in Burundi underscore the challenges they face and the stunted vistas they foresee. They also illuminate the following important lessons/insights which promise to be highly relevant to those working in other post-war development and reconstruction contexts:

1. Connections between Hunger and Deprivation to Education, Transactional Sex, Crime and Domestic Violence
In Burundi, hunger and hardship correlated with a host of other pertinent concerns. Many children who were unable to pay a variety of school expenses, and were often sent to school without food, were forced out of school entirely. These circumstances helped make girls vulnerable to sexual manipulation and exploitation by their teachers, other men and even male youth, by offering food or a false promise of marriage in exchange for sex. Hunger led some young people to steal for food and other necessities. And in certain cases, parents were found to be hitting hungry children until they stopped asking for food. None of this is specific to Burundi: these conditions and behaviors are likely to apply to other contexts where hunger and desperation are ubiquitous.

2. The Expansion of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Alcohol and illicit drugs (marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and so on) are ubiquitous in many war zones, and offer a response to the diverse difficulties that civilians and former fighters face after wars end. It was difficult for most young Burundians to find work or become adults. Turning to alcohol and drugs helped ease frustration and feelings of failure. Male youth and adults related how some young Burundians used beer and drugs as a salve against hunger and weariness.

3. Diverse Challenges to Achieving Universal Primary Education (United Nations Millennium Development Goal 2)
The Burundi case sheds harsh light on the tendency of the development community to correlate cuts in school fees with positive trends in school attendance. My research revealed that eliminating school fees did not mean that school was free — a host of expenses remained. In addition, some Burundian officials used threats and force to drive children into primary school. The case of Burundi ultimately reveals that getting children into primary school and then finding ways to help them stay there is far more difficult than many suppose. In all probability, simply removing school fee payments will not, by itself, do the trick.

4. The Significance of Corruption, Nepotism and Rage
The fact that some government officials receive low salaries made the reported reliance on corruption by those officials for additional income unsurprising. Nepotism, symbolized by the belief that connections are usually required to secure a salaried job, fuels much more than cynicism about governance in Burundi. The anger that so many expressed during interviews over being disregarded, manipulated and cheated by government officials, was striking. It is a factor that likely plays a powerful, if latent, role in other post-war contexts as well.

5. The Dramatic Expansion of Orphan Populations Due to War
In the wake of war, it is likely that sizable proportions of children, adolescents and youth are orphans, particularly where local definitions of orphan include those lacking only fathers. In Burundi, no one was sure of the exact size of the orphan population, but it was widely thought to be huge. Many orphans were aware of their vulnerability to exploitation. Research in Burundi highlighted how reliance on local traditions of orphan childcare, such as allowing the aunts and uncles of orphans to assume custody over them, may endanger orphans. Aggressive advocacy and support for orphans is no doubt necessary in all post-war contexts.

6. The Influence of Demography on Adulthood
The number of young people in many war-affected states makes the transition to adulthood ever more difficult. More than ever before, Burundian youth are seeking access to land, housing, schooling and jobs. Immersed in environments of intense competition, young people (male youth in particular) may be required to secure some or all of these assets before they can be recognized as adults. The increase in youth populations is helping to make many family land plots miniscule throughout Burundi. For many in war-torn countries, where governments and economies are often weak and violent threats are often strong, this may be impossible. Even when governance and economic conditions are promising in some respects, such as in post-war and post-genocide Rwanda, youth may be haunted by an inability to gain recognition as men and women. In Burundi, but even more so in Rwanda, failed adulthood stands as an ominous and potentially volatile security threat.

7. The Power of Social Embarrassment and Cultural Taboo
In rural Burundi, condom use is taboo and unmarried mothers pervade; connections between the two are not often made, even though they create disastrous circumstances for unmarried mothers, their babies, and their families. Despite this, public admissions of the existence of unmarried mothers and their children are infrequent at best. International agencies should be on the lookout for similar situations in other war-affected countries.

8. The Devastating Consequences of Transactional Sex
The tendency for desperate adolescent girls and female youth to exchange sex for a meal or simple commodities proved all too common in Burundi. Agreeing to have sex in advance of a promised marriage is an especially cruel practice, particularly given the profound consequences that face unmarried mothers from such interactions. It is entirely likely that many desperate girls and female youth in other war-affected countries are taking similar risks, risking social condemnation if they become pregnant or contract HIV/AIDS.

9. The Profound Vulnerability of Adolescents to Sexual Violence and Pedophilia
It proved impossible to ascertain just how great the rate of rape and sexual violence was in Burundi, but all reports suggested that it was alarmingly high, with the chances of being prosecuted for such were extremely low. Moreover, no one seems to take notice of indications that pedophilia may be a potent threat to adolescent girls. Similar threats and conditions of impunity are likely to apply to other war-affected contexts as well.

10. The Invisible Lives of Urban Underclass Youth
Overwhelmingly, development and reconstruction attentions are focused on rural Burundi, which makes sense given that Burundi's population is primarily rural-based. However, there is little attention paid to the dangerously exploitative situations that many urban adolescents face, including those working as prostitutes, housegirls and houseboys. The violence and impunity which play central roles in city life are similarly disregarded. Overlooking adolescents and youth in war-affected cities in favor of those in rural areas is a mistake, particularly when cities boom and are crucial to the livelihoods and futures of so many young people during and after wars.

11. The Towering Importance of the Police
The police force in Burundi, particularly in Bujumbura, appears to be a largely unchecked institution. While this issue on its own is potentially explosive, the threat that police impunity poses for the protection of children could be immense. When rapes and other crimes are unaddressed or unreported, and extortion runs rampant, the door would seem to be open to many forms of child predation. The behavior of the police and other state security forces is directly connected to the protection of children. During or after wars, when the rule of law and governance are generally weak, this issue promises to be even more important.

12. The Influence of Hidden Threat and Surveillance
Burundi's undercover Imbonerakure (the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD party) signify how latent and concealed forces may pose significant threats to civilians. While direct information about their actions and membership was thin, all signs pointed to the Imbonerakure as an intimidating security and surveillance force that operates with at least some degree of impunity. Uncovering the existence and activities of such institutions is crucial to development and reconstruction, as they may jeopardize the protection and rights of ordinary children, youth and adults.

By Marc Sommers, an internationally recognized youth expert, an experienced researcher and evaluator, and an award-winning author. His most recent book is Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood. He wrote most of his forthcoming book on war, development and Africa's youth as a Wilson Center Fellow in 2011-2012. It is nearly complete.

Photo attributed to IRRI Images on Flickr Creative Commons

[1] Note that the end of the civil war is debated, as many consider the civil war to have been ended only when the FNL (Forces nationales de liberation, or Forces of National Liberation) agreed to end their violent resistance in 2009.