This was mentioned during a session of awareness raising about the project, held on Tuesday April 22, 2025 in Gitega (central Burundi), for opinion leaders from various parts of the country. “The purpose of this meeting is also to familiarize you with the content of the project and ask you to take ownership of it in order to contribute significantly to its sustainability,” the prepared presentations explained.
In the educational sector, schools with canteens will be electrified and equipped with improved stoves. As a result, it is expected that school performance will improve due to the provision of meals for students, as well as the lighting of school infrastructure. “All these combined elements will allow students to study more easily, and teachers will be able to enhance the quality of lesson preparation,” emphasized the speakers.
In the health sector, only public health centers located in remote areas of the country, inaccessible to REGIDESO electricity, will be electrified. According to the presenters, this will have a significant impact on lighting, medication storage, and the improvement of administrative services.
For rural households, it was noted that improved stoves and lighting equipment, certified with durability guarantees, will be made available to improve their living conditions. Sales points for these items will be accessible to the public in need.
The participants in the session were clearly asked to actively engage in raising awareness about the benefits of the project, maintaining the project equipment, combating theft of materials, reporting the trade of such equipment, and dispelling misconceptions about the aforementioned items.
A key point raised during the discussion was the urgent need to electrify additional health facilities, especially communal hospitals, to ensure reliable power for operating rooms and mortuaries. UNICEF, the World Bank and the Burundian government will collaborate on a mission to assess the feasibility of this critical request