USAID / Burundi - Success Stories

Young people are particularly vulnerable to political manipulation and can be swayed to take part in violent conflicts. Search for Common Ground (SCG), with USAID funding, has brought together a network of youth from all the different neighborhoods of Bujumbura in solidarity-building activities to reduce instances of ethnic violence perpetrated by young people. This Youth Project has sponsored inter-ethnic youth events, such as athletic matches and music concerts.

During June-August 2001, the Youth Project organized a major music tour throughout Burundi, with the goal to bring together diverse groups of youth and to encourage the exchange of messages of peace and reconciliation. The "Nizere" (or Hope) music tour consisted of three music groups-a Burundian, a Congolese, and a reggae group, each with members from diverse geographic and ethnic backgrounds. The Nizere tour visited Kamenge, Kanyosha, Musaga, central Ngozi, Gatumba, and Nyakabiha, bringing over 11,000 people together in song and dance. In addition to enjoying the songs of peace, audience members created graffiti panels expressing their hopes for the future and the events were covered by Studio Ijambo's popular Sangwe radio program, another Search activity also funded by USAID.

On the weekend of August 24, the Nizere tour traveled to Ruyigi and played to an audience of 2000. Twenty-five girls from the commune of Rusengo opened the concert with traditional dances. After a rather formal start to the concert, the governor of the province was invited to join the musicians on the platform to sing a peace song by the famous Burundian artist Kidumu and the audience took ownership of the event, singing and dancing for hours into the evening.

In September, Nizere played at the University in Bujumbura, following news that ethnic tensions on campus had reached an extreme level, with Tutsi students armed by extremist groups and Hutu students afraid to sleep in their dormitories. SCG worked with a group of 10 Hutu students and 10 Tutsi students to facilitate the organization of the concert and printed T-shirts for them to wear as ushers during the event. The concert atmosphere was strained, but the musical event brought students of the two ethnic groups together for some common enjoyment, diffused the tension and opened the door for Search to expand its work in the University setting to promote reconciliation.

USAID/ Burundi- Success Stories