Gervais Abayeho, Minister for East African Community affairs, Youth, Sport and Culture (far left); Hendrina Chalwe Doroba, head of the Education and Skills Development Division for the East Africa region at the African Development Bank Group (centre) and Jean-Claude Nsabimana, specialist in the social sector at the Bank's Country Office in Burundi (far right).
The African Development Bank's head of the Education and Skills Development Division for East Africa, Hendrina Chalwe Doroba, met Burundi's Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, François Havyarimana, and his colleague responsible for East African Community affairs, Youth, Sport and Culture, Gervais Abayeho, to discuss training and entrepreneurship for young people in the country.
At the meetings held in Gitega on 25 October, Minister Havyarimana paid tribute to the African Development Bank Group, which is Burundi's only partner in higher education. The Bank supports Burundi through the ''Regional East African Nutritional Sciences Institute'' project.
''Before the Bank's involvement, nutritional sciences and food processing had never received any technical or financial support. Going forward, we will have specialists in nutrition and food processing thanks to the actions of the African Development Bank,'' said Mr Havyarimana.
''This project in Burundi focuses on training and research, with an emphasis on nutritional sciences and food processing, and is targeted at all countries in the East African community,'' he added. He also stated that a total of 129 students of various nationalities are taking in-person courses at the institute.
He also praised the Bank's support for connecting Burundi with the Songhaï Agro-Ecological Centre in Benin, and sought its backing to help the draft partnership agreement between this centre and the Regional Polytechnic Training and Vocational Retraining Centre in Rusi, in Burundi, become a reality. The Rusi Regional Centre develops vocational training programmes that are better suited to the specific needs of Burundi.
Ms Hendrina Doroba said the Bank was ''ready to work with member states and support them in their initiatives'' in the area of technical and vocational training. She took the opportunity to share the content of the Bank Group's Skills for Employability and Productivity in Africa Action Plan (2022-2025) with the minister. The plan aims to address the skills gap in Africa, remedy the shortage of appropriate skills in response to the fourth industrial revolution (4RI) and respond to the digital transformation in the labour market.
She also set out the training opportunities that the Bank can offer to member states, inviting the government to include training issues in its priorities when developing the Bank's Country Strategy Paper for Burundi for 2024-2028.
For his part, Mr Abayeho praised the implementation of the Agro-Pastoral Entrepreneurship and Vocational Skills Development for Young People and Women Project funded by the Bank. ''This is a project that will help diversify the sectors that provide job opportunities for young people in Burundi. We are pleased to see this same project support the vast Youth Economic Empowerment and Employment Programme, as well as two other financial institutions, the Youth Investment Bank (BIJE) and the Women's Investment and Development Bank (BIDF),'' said Mr Abayeho.
The project plans to connect 10 vocational training centres of excellence, which will be built and equipped, as well as digitizing the banking system between the BIJE, BIDF and the Start-up, Guarantee and Support Fund (FIGA).
Contact:
Alexis Adélé, Communication and External Relations Department, [email protected]
