Burundi Friends International

Programs: Education pillar - knowledge is power. Bfi works to expand opportunity in burundi by providing learning materials to the seventeen provinces to propel education and support burundians in their search for knowledge. Specifically, we have sent over 94,000 english language books to burundi's universities, schools, and english clubs. It is our hope the people of burundi can use these resources to learn english, so they will be able to fully participate in the political, economic, and social aspects of the country. Over 33,000 students have been served in basic english education, this includes children and youth individuals. We have 3,208 volunteer instructors in all 19 provinces of burundi. This year 42 scholarships were awarded, which included 4 graduate students. Also, 3 studnets were mandela washington fellows.

economic empowerment pillar - we believe that self-sustainability and economic empowerment are created through education not hand outs. We have been working with women coffee growers to achieve this and meet our goals of ending poverty in burundi. Specifically, we have done the following:we have provided 2 goats to approximately 110 women. The goats are valuable economic resources in the region. The goats produce manure to fertilize the womens coffee plants, and provide milk and butter for their children. In the future, the offspring of these goats will pay for the childrens medical fees and school tuition. We provided funding to approximately 50 small business women to help support their business endevaours. It is our hope they will be successful and be able to earn a living to support their family. We have created 557 groups of five student savings groups and 299 women's economic groups. These groups will help young people to save for the future and further help women advance and grow their businesses in the region.