BURUNDI – The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has greenlighted the award of an over US$20 million grant to Burundi to implement the Agro-Pastoral Entrepreneurship and Professional Development Project for the Youth and Women.
The project, worth a total of $23.26 million, is financed by the Bank Group (87.9%) and the Government of Burundi, which is contributing $2.81 million, or 12.1% of the cost.
The Bank’s concessional lending window African Development Fund is providing US$12.20 million of the funding and a further US$8.25 million will come from the Transition Support Facility.
According to AfDB, the project will be implemented over a five-year period (2022-2027) by the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture.
Its overall objective is to increase agro-pastoral output toward improving the contribution of selected sectors to GDP growth, while also targeting the structural transformation of the Burundian economy.
The specific objectives of the project are to improve the technical and professional skills of the youth and women to enhance their employability and access to export opportunities. It will also contribute to improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Although the two main investment sites are the Rusi Regional Training Centre and the ISABU Gisozi irrigation site, the project will have national coverage.
The beneficiaries of the project include: unemployed university, high school and secondary school graduates; youth and women’s cooperatives and groups active in agro-pastoral value chains.
Teachers at the RUSI centre, institutions that finance youth and women’s initiatives, including the Program for Young Graduates Economic Empowerment (PAEEJ), as well as private investors are also expected to benefit.
The RUSI Regional Centre is the main beneficiary in terms of vocational training and will receive multi-faceted support.
Some 2,000 students (30% of whom are girls) will gain access to certificate or diploma courses. About 3,000 cooperatives representing 15,000 people (50% of whom are women) will receive capacity-building. In total, the project could create 3,000 direct and 7,000 indirect jobs.
As of 30 August 2022, the African Development Bank’s active portfolio in Burundi comprised one private sector project and 16 public sector projects with a total commitment of about $321 million.
The portfolio covers energy (46%), transport (39%), agriculture (11%), social (3%) and multi-sector (1%) projects.
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