Rapport de la commission Peer to Peer sous format PDF
Report Peer to peer counseling Activities
Rapport de la deuxième journée de sensibilization sous format PDF
Report of the Second Day of the Sensitization Workshop
Report of the first day of the sensitization workshop.
Sous format PDF
Report for Workshop of Organised by Amahoro Youth Club(1st Day)
Workshop of call-up of students leaders under the theme “ Call-up of Youth For Free, Transparent and Non-Violent Elections in Burundi organized by Amahoro Youth Club and held at Regina Mundi Cathedral Square on 27th and 28th April,2010.
Sixty students representing four Universities among which, University Of Burundi, Université Lumière de Bujumbura, Université des Grands Lacs and Université du Lac.
The workshop opened with the speech of welcome delivered by Armand Giramahoro, Legal Representative of Amahoro Youth Club in which he first showed gratitude and thanked the minister in charge of youth for the support he always gives for youth Organizations in general and Amahoro Youth Club in particular. He also thanked the Students leaders for the motivation they showed in responding massively to the invitation.
After giving a welcome to the distinguished guests, he presented how Amahoro Youth Club took the initiation of using exchange sessions through which different challenges that the country encountered along years were discussed and by this process, the culture of dialogue got developed among members of the Club. The Youth, he continued, have shown its inconvenience towards all these challenges and shown the will of contributing to the building of a peaceful society by using de peaceful means as the UN specifies it. He reminded the assembly about the period that Burundi is heading for, the crucial period towards true democracy and sustainable peace
Moreover, this process of peace has been a fruit of long and of high level negotiations, he mentioned. He called the Youth to the full participation and contribution in order to establish definitely democracy and peace since the youth constitute sixty percent of the population. He promised that AYC will always scout ahead the youth in reinforcing democracy and peace in our country.
To finish his speech, he called the attention of the participants to the workshop for the good understanding and reception of the message they will receive and asked them to be the model and the light of the Burundian society during the whole 2010 election process and thanked all the persons whether moral or physical who
contributed for success of this so important and beneficial activity, especially Peace Direct for the financial support it gave to AYC to organize this activity.
After the speech of Amahoro Youth Club legal representative, it was the turn of the Minister in charge of Youth to launch the workshop. In his speech, he first congratulated Amahoro Youth Club for this important activity it organized. He promised to give all his energy to support all youth’s initiatives in building sustainable peace. He reminded the youth the role to play in such a period. The country counts on the educated youth and what the youth will wish the country to be is what the country will be, he mentioned. He asked the youth to tell politicians to use the youth for the good.
He also reminded the participants that time has changed and that it is no more compulsory for young graduates to access easily to job. But to assure the youth, he said that the ministry of youth, sports and culture doors, starting by his own cabinet door are open for Youth. When the youth will need support from the ministry will be welcome.
He even announced that in order to face accordingly to the prevailing realities, the ministry of youth, sports and culture has initiated:
1. A decree project that will settle an Burundian Agency for Youth Employment ( ABEJ)
2. A decree of settling a Fund for the Promotion of Youth Employment has been adopted by Ministry Council and will support youth in Universities or candidates from Professional schools who seek for employment.
3. To give finance support for the training as 1st employment to young people in order to avoid the long experience period asked when they are seeking for employment.
He concluded by showing the participants the will of the Government in finding solutions to the problems that youth face today.
After the two important, promising and assuring speeches, the workshop entered in action by a presentation on the theme: Experience of elections in Burundi.
This session that gave participants a look at the different elections that Burundi has known in its history was a presentation of a well experienced expert in elections process in the Great Lakes and East Africa regions, the spokesperson of the Coalition of the Civil Society for the Electoral Monitoring (COSOME). Mr. Muhamed Nibaruta El Amini.
To introduce his presentation by stating that Burundi is following a right way to the process of democratic elections because in few weeks, all Burundian in age and conditions of voting will take part in communal council elections. The census of the voting population has been conduct by National Independent Electoral Commission and lists have been shown to the public to check if there are no mistakes made during the lists confection, all necessary materials are available for the successful elections. All the actors of the life the country and partners of Burundi are combining their efforts for the success of the elections. He pointed that Burundi has no tradition of elections because for about 400 years it was under monarchy and the kings where mystically chosen.
He then gave the dates of and defined the different elections that took place in Burundi since 1961 till 2005. As he mentioned, the first democratic elections that Burundi knew were held in 1961 where the Burundian people had to vote for or
against the independence. The political Parties that were (allied to UPRONA) for independence won over those that were against(allied to PDC), and any troubles happened even though there were an ethnic conflict between to Ganwa clans Batare and Bezi.
In 1965, because of the politico-ethnic division and crisis in the young parliament, the young King NtareV disbanded the parliament and called Burundians for new parliament election. The elections succeeded and UPRONA won them but that time, the number of political parties was reduced to only three parties.
From 1966, the military power took over and there were no elections held until 1982 when the second Republic organized legislative elections. The elections were given a democratic name even though it was under a military regime.
In 1984, the same regime organized presidential elections but only one candidate was present. Here again, the vote was given a democratic name.
In 1993, the politic pluralism rose again and many candidates appeared for the general presidential and legislative elections but the campaigns were given ethnic orientations, what became the generator motor of the crisis that Burundi experienced for more than ten years. It is after long and hard negotiations that the peace was established and then the country was lead to general elections of 2005. The elections were successful because what was sure was that the population was in need of peace and the experience has had shown that the problem was not ethnical.
The fear of the 2010 elections is that political parties tend to create youth groups that behave as military guardian of those parties and their leaders while the major
problem is to know who will be responsible or who will punish the misbehavior that may occur during the electoral process. He asked the Burundian youth to avoid what Kenya experienced in 2007 and be the partisans of democratic, peaceful, transparent and fair elections.
The participants acclaimed this wonderful and beneficial presentation.
The questions asked by participants were to know what behavior the population in general and the youth in particular towards elections should adopt; if as a member of an important organization that deals with election processes like COSOME he is sure of the success of elections of 2010. For the first question, he told the participants that each one has to be responsible for a better electoral process and that the youth has to be the first to sensitize the rest of the population. For the other question, he said to be 100% sure is not easy to say but the all the parameters to the success of them are already provided.
After the presentation, participants watched a movie on Kenyan crisis that the followed the elections of 2007 in Kenya.
Questions that participants responded to during the works in groups
1. What are the lessons the lessons do you get from this presentation?
If the answer is yes, what are they?
2. Do the youth have right to do politics? Why?
3. Can really the youth avoid the political manipulation? If the answer is yes, why? If no, why?
4. What do you suggest to Amahoro Youth for that this workshop be beneficial to students of Universities of Bujumbura?
5. What are the commitments to take in order to avoid to bad experience of the past?
The answers given by the different group works are the following:
Q1. -The presentation showed that the youth is actively and blindly in political activities.
-In case of elections failure, the bad consequences such as imprisonment, death or school abandonment fall on the heads of young people.
– The lesson got from the movie showing is that politicians have to learn the good management of the success or the failure of elections.
Q2. Yes. The youth has the right to participate in political activities because the future belongs to them and they have to prepare for the future leadership.
Q3. Yes. What is only necessary is to enter into politics with awareness of being vigilant and discernment (not to follow blindly).
Q4 -In terms of this workshop, a synthetic document should be made available so that participants can get it and spread its message in different universities they come from.
-Also, financial means should be made available to facilitate the transmission of the message contained by that document.
Q5. The commitments taken are:
-to be the activists of free, transparent and peaceful elections because our future depends on them.
– to stand and call-up others for free, transparent and peaceful elections.
.
PS: The activities of the first day, started at 9:00 am and closed at 5:30 pm, that’s why the report is lately delivered.
The answers of the group works questions will be sent tomorrow at the activities. The pictures videos of the activities are attached to this report.
Reporter: Jean Baptist NIYONGABO
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM MEETING HELD ON 15th March 2010
The meeting started at 16th in the office of the Club.
Chairperson: Armand GIRAMAHORO
Minutes’ taker: Jean Bosco BIGIRIMANA
Minute’s checker: Wilson CIZA
The agenda was as follows:
1° Reports from commissions
2° Reports from the exchange between Armand GIRAMAHORO, the Legal Representative and the Legal Representative of “Génies en Herbe”.
3° Other matters
After exposing the agenda; the chairperson; those who were present from commissions started reporting.
1. Reports from commissions
A. Study circle commission
The project is still moving ahead. The under commissions are working for its success. Those under commissions are: Logistics, programs and public relations. But, the activity will be postponed because of the lateness of funds. The next work is to make an action plan up to December. About the project, a seminar of two days will be organized for 60 students from 4 universities. This is a nice way of approaching young people in order to see how they have interiorized the debates. The topic is “the mobilization of young people for free, transparent, peaceful and democratic election. After the seminar the follow up about the impact of the seminar to the students will help the club setting the antennas in those universities.
B. Finances commission
It was reported from the commission, that it is better to set up an internet connexion in the office which, shall be distributed in different offices of the galaxy will bring some funds in the club. It is one of the Income generating activities. Armand did investigations from USA and they’re favorable.
C.Membership commission
The incharge welcomed the idea of extending AYC in Universities after in secondary schools in order to have more members. He is going to write a last e-mail asking the members who left without saying anything officially if they have gone or not.
Futhermore, he is going to prepare the response of the e-mail of Jan written on 22nd February. He will share with the Administrative team on Monday.
D. Commission communication
No one came to report from the commission on what is going on in it.
E. Peer to peer counseling commission
The in charge reported that the project was sent to Peace Direct and they have an action plan divided into semesters up to December. She will share with the administrative team in the next meeting.
2. Report from the talk between the representative of AYC and the one of Genies en Herbe
They agreed to change lock of office’s door in order to have enough keys. The rent contract should be revisited, discussed and renewed. Furthermore, they agreed that they’re should not be other groups coming to hold their meetings in the office.
3. Other matters
– Each commission should follow their week time table of meeting
– Bosco will skype with Jan on Saturday
– To work in harmony and transparence should characterize the club
– The representatives of 4 university students have a meeting with the in charge of study circle on Friday.
The meeting ended at 17h30
THE ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM MEETING HELD ON 8TH MARCH 2010
The meeting started at 4:30.
The chairperson: Alice SINDAYIGAYA
The minute’s taker: Jean Bosco BIGIRIMANA
The minute’s checker: Jean Baptiste NIYONGABO
The members who were present are: Jean Baptiste, Jean Bosco, Alice, Cédric, Panafrica.
The agenda was as follows:
1. OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE LETTERS FROM JAN AND LANDRY
2. REPORTS FROM THE COMMISSIONS
3. THE FORTHCOMING OF JAN OBERG
1. Observations done towards the letters from Jan and Landry:
1. It is true that there are no posted minutes during the two weeks;
2. It is true that from a far the professionalism is not seen;
3. Regarding the departure of some members, we will have a meeting with the responsible of the membership commission and others members in order to gather observations and send out clear position.
But the Administrative Team has taken the following resolutions:
– To reinforce the commission of communication by replacing Maryse who left the AYC and has not expressed her will in a written form so far. The reinforcement is about distributing different roles to different members who are willing to improve their professionalism and serve the club for the noble mission of consolidating peace in Burundi. Those roles and the takers are:
. Writing minutes: Panafrica Marie Claire
. Communication with other members using e-mails or phone messages: Wilson CIZA
. Translating Minutes and documents: Jean Bosco BIGIRIMANA and Jean Baptiste NIYONGABO
. Posting Minutes: Armel KARERWA
N. B. This is not to replace the commission of communication but to reinforce it since those who are assigned to those roles are mostly from other commissions.
– The case of Maryse MUNEZERO who left the club; she told Armand GIRAMAHORO, the Legal Representative that she does not have enough time to participate. But, the Administrative Team would like to get and see her e-mail or letter making her departure clear.
2. Reports form different commissions
1. Membership commissions
No news from the commission since no one came to represent it and report about its realizations. It is suggested that the in charge will report what is going on in the commission in the next Administrative Team meeting.
2. Finances commission
The Bank Account of the AYC will be reopened within this week in the name of the moral person and not in the name of individuals from the club. The latter case was done when the club was not yet recognized by the Ministry of Interior.
The monthly fees from members are coming well even though there still be delayers.
Jean Bosco is going to send the expenses of January and February on 10th March.
3. Study circle commission
In order to make the project about sensitizing the youth for free, transparent, democratic, peaceful and successful elections of 2010 in Burundi, the under-commissions are constituted as follows:
– Public relations: Armel; Alice; Panafrica and Cédric
– Logistics: Jean Baptiste and Steven
– Programs: Armand; Pierre and Wilson
The letters asking for sponsorship are written and will be sent on 9th March. The letters will be sent to: UNDP; BINUB; SOCAR; U. A; USA Embassy; France Embassy; etc.
Very soon, on 10th March , the commission will meet the representatives of the students in order to inform them about what it is going to take place in few weeks.
Alice reported
4. Peer to peer counseling commission
The commission finished the project in English and French. They forsee to start with fundraising by the next week for its second activity that will take place on 17th April. They are helping the Study Circle commission; that is why their activity is postponed on 17th April instead of 7th March.
3. The forthcoming of Jan
The Administrative Team has suggested that Jan would choose one or two weeks from 15 th up to 30th April. We are waiting for his answer on this suggestion.
Minutes of the administrative meeting of AYC held on February 15, 2010
Five members attended the meeting namely Landry, Alice, Jean Bosco, Cédric and Wilson.
Chair person: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-taker: Wilson Ciza
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
1. Participants analyzed what was done last week:
-Landry reported to participants his visit in Nairobi and the presentation of the two project proposals. Peace Direct asked for more details and budget clarification on both projects and gave one-month period to AYC to submit the final version of the projects before March 15th.
-Bosco had a skype talk with Jan last Saturday when they discussed different issues of the Club. Jan Oberg gave some useful pieces of advice for successful funding proposals and has promised to assist us whenever we need his inputs and we really appreciate this.
2. A study circle is planed next Sunday at Galerie Yes at 15h. Participants will continue to share their views and opinions on what could be youth behavior before, during and after elections. Landry urged participants and all AYC members to attend this meeting and to invite more people for this unique space of exchange for youth in Bujumbura. The minutes of this study circle will be combined with the ones of January and will be published; this is because it is the same topic that is still going on.
3. Finances commission has a meeting on February 16 in order to discuss different issues related to income generating activities.
4. Jan Oberg asked for an updated list of all AYC members which is available. It will be sent shortly to him by Armand.
5. The 2009 Annual report is now ready and will also be sent very shortly and posted on the blog.
6. Armand, Alice and Bosco were supposed to meet the Representative of the European Commission on February 18 but it is postponed on February 23.
7. Panafrica is available for a Skype talk with Jan next Saturday.
Minutes of the Extraordinary Administrative meeting of AYC held on January 31 2010
Eight members attended the meeting namely Landry, Panafrica, Innocent, Armand, Alice, Armel and Jean Bosco.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Armel Karerwa
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
One major point has been discussed: the participation in the Peace Exchange Nairobi 2010
Landry Ninteretse, member of AYC and local correspondent of Insight on Conflict, a project of media coverage on peace building activities run by Peace Direct has been invited to attend the first knowledge sharing meeting Peace Exchange due to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from February 8 to 12, 2010.
The first meeting will bring together a diverse group of people from around the world, all of whom share a strong commitment to conflict resolution and peace building. They will be sharing their respective experiences in conflict resolution and analyse together possibility of funding.
In this perspective, AYC could receive a grant of £ 5,000 to support its current activities. Today, AYC members discussed the best way to utilize this grant to successfully implement its current initiatives.
After sharing, the administrative team has decided to submit two proposals on:
– Public Exchanges on electoral period and citizenship
– Peer-to-peer counselling with street kids
They have decided to come up during this week with drafts of both projects and detailed budget for each. Bosco and Alice will finalised the document on Public Exchange whereas Panafrica and members of Magnus kids commission will be working on the peer-to-peer counselling document.
The next administrative meeting is to be held on Thursday February 04th 2010.
Landry is also available for skype with Jan next Saturday at 11h local time.
Minutes of the Administrative team meeting of January 18, 2010
Chairperson: Armand Giramahoro
Minute’s taker: Innocent Kwizera
Minute’s checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
Members who were present: Armand Giramahoro, Jean Bosco Bigirimana, Jean Baptiste Niyongabo, Innocent Kwizera, Panafrica Marie Claire, Yvette Ndayambaje, Adélard Kakunze, Karerwa Armel
1. Evaluation of the last week’s activities and meetings.
The meeting with all members took place on Thursday 14th 01/2010 last week. Members have been called to read the minutes of that meeting and try to make a follow up.
On Saturday 17th, AYC delegation in cooperation with young people of Magnus house went to visit street kids who live on the border of Lake Tanganyika. They brought clothes and shared with the street kid lemonades and cakes. PANAFRICA is writing an article of that activity and it will be available this week.
Bosco made copies of the status of the AYC and Armand has written a letter to request a partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sport that Mr. NYENIMIGABO asked.
2. This week’s activities
This administrative meeting aimed at lunching the work in commissions in a good manner.
The study circle commission will prepare the session of January 24, 2010.
The peer-to-peer counseling commission in collaboration with the communication commission will develop a new material which consists in making a video with the Magnus kids and AYC members.
Innocent will meet new members (membership commission) on Friday to discuss about the AYC portfolio as requested by those members.
3. Next Skype: Armand Giramahoro will Skype with Jan
4. Other issues: Yvette proposed that meetings of Magnus kids commission should be taken at Magnus home because we need to have the hand of the kids and the street kids can relax when working at Magnus home
The wireless payment will be discussed during he next meeting.
Minutes of the Administrative Team meeting of AYC held on November 09, 2009
Four members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Alice and Jean Bosco.
Chair person: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
Three points have been discussed:
1.Activities of the last week
a.Members of the study circle commission namely Alice, Bosco, Christa and Cédric met on November 6th to discuss ways to boost and increase the efficiency of Study circle which constitute one of the main activities of the Club.
Points tackled in the meeting are the following:
-Topics to be discussed in SC: Any topics calling the awareness of youth and each human being to consolidate peace should be discussed. For instance topics related to elections, youth employment, democratic participation of youth, youth integration in the development, ect.
-Going out of the study circle activities
The activities of study circle commission have to be extended in future to secondary schools and universities because leaving the discussions between members and prospective ones is not a good thing. The extension is possible by organising debates and conferences among pupils and students, so this is original initiative from AYC could reach a large number of people and contribute to establish the culture of dialogue amongst Burundians.
-Distribution of tasks
Alice in the chairperson of the commission and is in charge of internal communication within the commission.
Cédric is in charge of efficiency use of library, coordinating research and archives of SC.
Christa is in charge of public relations.
Jean Bosco programmes the activities of SC.
b. On November 8th, Christa shared with some AYC members a course on the Universal Periodical Exam. It’s a UN initiative designed to promote human rights respect through peer-to-peer examination among nations. As this initiative constitutes an new area of research, participants suggested to deepen its analyse and understanding and see ways to effectively implement it locally in partnership with other NGOs and associations.
2. Participants discussed about ways of improving participation of members in the commissions and daily activities and asked Innocent and Landry to make the personal contacts with every member to find out what can be his/her personal contribution in the advancement for the Club. The personal discussion with members is due to take place during the week (from November 9 to 15)
3. Landry expressed the necessity to add new posts on the blog as it has been a long time that the blog is not updated. A post explaining what have been in the last weeks has to be posted very soon.
Minutes of the Administrative Team meeting of AYC held on September 14, 2009
Seven members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Panafrica, Armand, Alice, Cynthia and Jean Bosco.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
Four points have been tackled
1°Study circle of September 13
The activity took place at the office. The topic was “the role of youth in the reconstruction of the Burundian post-conflict context”
Eight members attended the activity and exchanged largely on the topic. They expressed their opinions on what should be the good and positive attitude of youth. Minutes of the activity will be available very soon.
2°Update on project proposals
-UNOY sent us last week a pre-final version of Social mobilisation through dialogue project that has been presented in the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Istanbul last April.
The AYC has been asked to correct the text and to provide a definitive version of it before September 30. Armand, Landry and whoever wants to contribute among the new members will be working on it during the week.
-Our application for Africa Adapt’s Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund has not been accepted. However, there is a possibility of applying again later this year. We still keep an eye on this.
3°Members participation in daily activities
Last week, the Administrative Team exchanged different messages with Jan Oberg over the participation of members in activities. During the meeting, members discussed the best way to integrate prospective members and get them on board. To achieve this, Innocent and Landry will have individual talk with each prospective member according to their availability to ensure a better integration.
After this talk, all members should know in which task-force they are involved. We’ll then organise a General Assembly to finalize the Action Plan and IGAs. By doing so, we’ll expect prospective and old members to respond actively than before.
4°September 21
The last week was focused on preparing September 21 activities. We hoped that African Union mission in Burundi to help us organise debates amongst youth and between youth and politicians and civil society activities.
Due to internal problems of schedule within the African Union mission, this event has been postponed later. However, the Club intends to hold a press conference to explain its background, goal, mission and vision and its contribution in the reconstruction of the Burundian torn society.
The press conference is due to take place at our office. Members who were present were given specific tasks to accomplish for the success of the activities. Again, all AYC members are asked to take a significant part in the activity.
By the way, as a prelude to October 24, a global day to climate action, the AYC as an organisation that has take the lead in the 350 campaign, we intend to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change in East Africa and abroad by helping organize a “Global Wake-up Call” on September 21, when all the world’s leaders will be in New York at the United Nations General Assembly. The objective is to help our community begin to understand the impacts of climate change, and have a political impact by bringing together a small or large group of people together here in Bujumbura.
Songs and brief presentations as well as alarm clocks will be used to catch the attention of media and speak the word out.
Members from other organizations are expected to join us in the action and the event should have the number “350″ somewhere in the photo, and fit with the theme “Climate wake-up call.”
The next Administrative Meeting is due to take place on September 21 at 4:00pm
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on August 26th 2009
Six members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Panafrica, Armand, Alice and Bosco.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
Two points have been tackled:
-Planning the future study circle sessions
According to the recommendations of the task-force in charge of reforming the activity, the future SC topics should be inspired by readings and visualisation of DVDs from our library but also inspired by the socio-political context occurring within the country.
After some discussions, participants agreed to hold one well-prepared SC session per month. Alice and other members of her task-force will be in charge of the preparation but all members must show a real interest by carrying out in-dept researches.
A new idea that emerged is to associate members from other youth-led and civil society organisations in the discussions and share the outcomes in public meetings that can be press conferences, round-table meetings or workshop.
Participants appreciated the idea but noted that this requires a solid and professional preparation inside the club and additional resources. But as we intend to have an impact and a voice in Burundian society, every measure must be taken to ensure the success of the activity.
Proposal dates for future sessions are: September 13, October 18, November 15, December 6, January 17, 2010 and February 14, 2010.
Study circle of December 6 and February 14 will be followed by a public event to be specified later.
-September 21
The International Peace Day has been chosen to officially launch AYC activities. This historic event for the Club requires a solid preparation and professional organisation. It constitutes a test of our organisational and management capacities.
The administrative team commissioned some members present in the meeting with specific tasks. For instance, Armand and Panafrica will meet the manager of Amahoro Hotel where this event is planed to take place.
Landry will prepare letters to be given to potential funders.
Tharcisse will contact the Youth Ministry to get his authorization to organise fundraising for the event.
We will then approach embassies, companies, UN agencies in order to get their support.
Participants found out that it is crucial to involve other members and make them feel that they also have a role to play.
Bosco presented the financial situation of the Club after the recent donation:
-Rent: $ 426 to cover the next seven months (Sept-March 2010)
-Donation from Karsten: $ 300
-Donation from Jan & Panafrica: $ 50
Participants thanked all the donors and noted that active fundraising is still much needed and without it, the Club can not achieve its goals.
Participants agreed to organise a meeting to draft the action plan for the next six months. The meeting is due to take place next Monday 31st of August and all members are urged to participate in.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on July 23rd 2009
Five members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand, Alice and Innocent.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Two points have been tackled in the meeting:
1. Evaluation of the Action Plan. Participants analyzed what have been achieved on the action plan adopted last February.
∙ Intellectual basis: – Five study circles have been successfully organised and minutes posted on the blog;
-Training on the blog: 12 members have been trained on blog creating and updating. The rest will be progressively involved in the training.
– Library use: At this point, participants noticed that few books, videos and DVDs have been picked up as expected. Once again, the administrative team asked members to pick up the materials because it is in their interest to educate themselves and to get adequate skills in different subjects that are in those materials.
∙ Economic basis: Participants recognised that the Club failed to implement the printing service and to develop income generating activities. We have to seriously reflect on new ways to restart and boost this aspect of the Club.
∙ Organisational basis: – The registration process has been successfully completed. The Club is now legally recognized in the Ministry of Interior since July 22nd.
-Membership fees have been paid by some members of the Club, especially members of the Administrative team. We have now 30,000 FBu.
– Peer-to-peer activities with Magnus young boys. The Club organised three common activities with the boys (sports activities and movie watching) but in general this activity did not have the expected impact. That’s why members of AYC have initiated a new form of occupying them in the vocation’s period through sports activities. Bui it is obvious that new fruitful ways/ opportunities must be analyzed and proposed to them.
– Recruitment of members: the action plan stated 20 new active members who should be recruited by the end of June. The Club has invited 15 persons in study circle sessions and five of them has expressed their desire to join the Club. An information work must be done to have clarifications on the position of the others.
– Production of flyers: AYC flyers have been conceived and printed out.
– Minutes and reports available on time: Even though the minutes have not been available in 1-3 days afterwards any activity as stated in the action plan, efforts have been made to make them available as soon as possible.
2. Participation in the World Youth Alliance Conference in Nairobi. The Club received an invitation to participate in the World Youth Alliance Decade of Dignity and Development Conference due to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 4th to the 6th August. The theme of the Conference is “Peace: Our Responsibility for Integral Development” to mark ten years of World Youth Alliance. The Conference represents an important opportunity for the Club to make interesting partnerships and contacts for this organisation which intend to work with AYC in the future. Even though there is no money available for travel and registration, members organised local fund raising and got an equivalent of $ 200 from the Legal Representative of Université Lumière. After the analysis of the situation and due to budget constraints, members of the administrative team decided to send one delegate person Armand Giramahoro.
The administrative team decided to gather all AYC members in a General Assembly this Sunday 26th at 15h to discuss and analyze the current situation of the organisation.
The next administrative meeting due to take place on July 27th will plan an agenda of activities during Jan Oberg’s visit from August 11th to 24th. Members are asked to be more available and active during this period where important steps to the advancement of the Club are expected to be made.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on June 22th 2009
Eight members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand, Jean Bosco, Pierre, Alice, Aristide and Innocent.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Seven points have been tackled in the meeting:
1. Study circle: the next study circle is to be held this Sunday June 28th 2009 at Galerie Yes at 15h30. The topic is: “Peacebuilding to be integrated in education system”. Members are asked to do a deep research on the topic and to bring others members. Participants raised the idea of involving actively new members and chosen one of them, namely Aristide, to be the facilitator.
2. Magnus kids. Participants suggested contacting Ousmane and Magnus in order to analyze together what are the effective ways to help the young boys. Armand, Tharcisse and Innocent have been commissioned to do it as well as continuing to explore other opportunities which are likely to help in a professional or entertainment way the young boys.
3. Developing new projects. The AYC incredibly needs to develop new and interesting projects towards its members and the Burundian youth in general according to its mission. All participants have been asked to reflect on concrete and specific projects that can be elaborated to be presented to potential funders. They emphasized the fact that the Club should always have written proposals and accurate information and materials regarding the Club to present. Participants recommended also approaching embassies, UN agencies and NGOs to find out what are the funding opportunities.
4. Finances. Bosco urged all members to bring the receipts as he is now preparing the financial report of June. The AYC needs the money to pay the rent because the amount we have now will only cover the month of June. By the way, in order to push members to regularize their memberships fees, the date of payment for members of the Administrative team have been advanced to June 30th. With this example, we hope that others will be motivated to do the same.
5. Logo. Landry have been asked to get in touch with the person who conceive the first logo and show him that it is not correct and see how to create a new one.
6. Communication with our partners. The administrative members are now engaged to work for a real advancement of the Club and our partners should not doubt about our engagement despite some difficulties or delays we faced. Armand got in touch with the students who promised to send us books; participants encouraged this initiative because a good communication keep informed our local and international partners and is also a sign of respect and professionalism.
7. Articles for UNOY. UNOY asks the organizations member to pay what is called “peace tokens”. This is equivalent to money or other contributions through fro instance articles and reports about the country. The AYC chosen the second option and Armand asked members of the administrative team to bring eight articles describing the situation of the country in different areas before June 28th.
Regarding other issues, Landry reported to the members of administrative team his participation in the 350 Speaks Climate Leadership Workshop last week in Johannesburg. He explained that they have been trained in climate science and international policy, presentation of public narrative (story of self, story of now and story of now), effective communication, strategizing and campaigning organization in order to organize and coordinate October 24th, a day of mobilization and action all over the world about climate change issues. He asked AYC members to help him to organize this event as well as September 21st, date chosen to launch officially AYC activities. The two dates constitute serious tests for the Club and everybody has been urged to contribute substantially for their success.
Minutes of Adlinistrative meeting of AYC held on June 15 2009
Chairperson: Tharcisse NDAYIZEYE
Minute’s taker: Innocent KWIZERA
Minute’s checker: Armand GIRAMAHORO
Were present: Armand, Tharcisse, Jean Bosco, Innocent, Maryse
Four points were on the agenda:
1° AYC activities during this month of June
2° Administrative issues
Finance situation
Fixed logo
3° Communication with partners
Communication with Jan Oberg
Communication with the two young people from EPU
Communication with UNOY Peacebuilders
4° Membership issue
Regarding the first point, members did a small evaluation on how the
study circle is done since February. Members found that this activity
is going well and it is improving because we notice also that this
activity attracts other young people and many members are interested in this activity.
Members decided, as it is stated in the action plan that the next
study circle will take place on Sunday 28/06/2009 and that the theme
will be: “Peacebuilding to be integrated in education system”.
All members will be informed trough email and SMS.
About the activity with Magnus kids, Tharcisse and Alice, as stated in
the last administrative team meeting will go to meet Mme Ingrid from BINUB to see if there is an opportunity to work together and then the AYC can develop a concrete project which can help members to understand well what we are doing with the kids and the kids can also get more involved when they see the result aimed. Ailice and Tharcisse will report their work on Monday 22/06/2009.
Regarding the administrative issues, Bosco presented the finance
situation and members found that the donation from Else that cover the rent of the office is over. We still have 52.000 Bufr when the rent is 64.000 Bufr. We miss then 12.000 Bufr in order to pay the totality of
the month of June.Bosco will send the financial report of the month of June on 30/06/2006.
Regardin the logo fixed, members stated that we will wait that Landry
come back from South Africa because he is the one who is in contact
with an expert in that domain. They will go together and work on the
ancient logo. If the guy who drawn the bad logo, is not able to redo
it he will give us back the money and then Landry will work on it with
his friend expert.
The communication with Jan Oberg is not good enough these times as
Armand failed again to skype with him on Saturday. Members decided
that the minute’s taker send them as soon as possible in order to get
him informed about the work we are doing.
Members urge Armand to write him a message and tell him that the dark
period that the AYC knew these last days is finished and that the
Administrative team is working hard to get the Club moving on.
Armand has been asked to send an email to the two young people from
EPU and first thanks them for their generosity and to tell them that
we appreciate this donation. Armand will also tell them that we are
going to see possibilities trough which we can get the books but that
we count a lot on their effort because the Club do not have such money to pay the shipping and that it is also very hard to fundraise for
that operation.
We count also on TFF and Chantal for this task, more probably with the
Brussels option.
In order to pay the Peace tokens in the UNOY, Armand asked to members
to write articles related to the situation of the country and then he
will prepare a country report to be sent to UNOY in this month as the
AYC’s Peace tokens.
Regarding the membership issue, Innocent will collect all names and
addresses of old and new members since the AYC has been created and
then the Administrative Team will evaluate exactly how many members
(real) the AYC has and then it will reinforce the policy that we
stated in February. Members found that a new policy of managing this
issue is important because members need to get what to do in Club
instead participating in the study circle only.
The meeting started at 16H30 and ended at 18H45.The next one is due to take place on Monday 22/06/2009.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on June 11th 2009
Seven members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand, Jean Bosco, Maryse, Alice and Innocent.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Maryse Munezero
Minute-checker: Landry Ninteretse
One point has been discussed during the meeting: Evaluation of the advancement of AYC activities (Part II)
During the meeting, we analyzed three points:
1. Activities with Magnus Kids. At this point, we found out that the activity did not succeeded and did not have the impact we expected. Within the AYC, members seemed to have understood the goal of this activity and have shown little commitment. The kids were very enthusiastic when we proposed entertainment and sports activities which involve a financial cost and not really when it happen to do some intellectual activities like watching movies and have deep discussions.
The administrative team decided to think of other projects which could involve different partners and could benefit the kids. We decided to go and talk to them and to Magnus and analyze together what kind of initiative could have a great impact.
2. Income Generating Activities. The administrative team asked every member to investigate in order to know the opportunities existing in the field and to think of possible projects which could interest donors. The administrative team urged every member to do a sacrifice and pay membership fees to be a good model for the rest of the members.
3. Follow up of Istanbul Forum. Participants recalled that the participation in the Forum cost a lot to the Club and that every measure must be taken to ensure a good follow up. Armand explained to the rest of the team that he is always in touch with the people he met in Istanbul. The Club has provided all the necessary elements they asked and will be in competition with other projects in July on the website of Alliance of Civilizations. We cross fingers that the project finds many potential funders. Participants recommended to Armand to maintain contact with them and to always report in meetings how things are moving.
The next administrative meeting is due to take place on June 15th 2009.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on June 8th 2009
Seven members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand, Jean Bosco, Maryse, Alice and Innocent.
Chair person: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Minute-taker: Maryse Munezero
Minute-checker: Landry Ninteretse
One point has been discussed during the meeting: Evaluation of the advancement of AYC activities.
Finances
When analyzing what the Club planned to do regarding financial leg last February, participants recognized that there are very little achievements. Any embassy haven’t been approached, the printing project failed and the Club didn’t yet developed new IGAs and its financial situation remains critical as the Club still relying on donations only. This situation can not last. It is true that the lack of registration constituted a huge handicap in approaching potential funders but also even members of the Club have shown little commitment regarding for instance payment of membership funds. This situation is not normal. As the registration is to be obtained soon, participants gave themselves a period of two months to regularize the issue regarding membership fees.
Alice proposed to begin to think of possible IGAs which can be developed to sustain the Club’s finances. She asked every member of the administrative team to come with a least one idea about this in the next meeting.
Innocent added that when looking for ways to generate incomes, we must not forget to elaborate project proposals regarding the mission of the Club. At this point, participants suggested working in informal commissions that must report in the administrative meeting.
Communication
The communication within the Club and outside the Club was not perfect these last days. There must be improvement and always communicate how activities are moving on. The blog must be regularly updated and minutes sent in real time.
In order to increase the visibility of the Club, we must think of a public manifestation which involves media and other civil society organizations. The International Day of Peace celebrated each September 21st would constitute for instance a good opportunity to officially launch the activities of AYC. This requires registration; that’s why every measure must be taken to ensure that the Club gets registration before this date.
Membership
Since last February, the Club invited seven prospective members to participate in study circle sessions. They have been informed a little about AYC but they need additional information that should incite them to decide whether they definitively join the Club or not. The person in charge of the membership commission plans to meet them soon. In addition, new strategies to attract, interest and involve new members must be found and implemented.
Follow up of the Istanbul Forum
Members need to know how things are moving about the results of the Forum. They asked Armand to communicate in the next meeting the outcomes of the forum and to explain what contacts he has already made and what are the next step after the Forum.
Other points that have not been discussed in this meeting will be tackled in the next meeting due to be held this Thursday June 11th 2009.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on April 27th 2009
Participants: Armand, Innocent, Tharcisse, Maryse and Landry
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Seven points have been tackled during the meeting:
1. Registration. At the moment, all required documents for registration are being collected. Given that, the registration process took a very long time, Tharcisse who is in charge of this task asked that the rest of documents to be available before the end of this week. Then he will consult the expert for approval before going to the Ministry of Interior. Participants expressed their wish to see this issue completed as soon as possible.
2. The logo of AYC. Following the recent participation in UN Alliance of Civilizations Conference in Istanbul, we come to know that the logo currently used is not original and can’t be easily manipulated via Internet. Participants in the meeting recommended Armand to go and find the conceiver of the ancient logo and discuss with him how he can give to the Club a new genuine logo or change it. Armand will report in the next meeting about this issue.
3. Additional texts needed for the social change project. Following the recent participation in UN Alliance of Civilizations Conference in Istanbul, it has been asked to produce the final version of the project. Till now we have only the draft but it is very important for the Club to draft a definitive version according to the requirements of the funders. The commission set up to deal with this issue will meet on Wednesday and work on it. When completed, the project will be published on AYC blog and the site of Alliance of Civilizations.
4. The activity with Magnus young people planed to be held on May 3rd. Innocent will go and talk with them about what kind of activity to develop next Sunday. Participants raised concerns about the effectiveness of the activity. According to the participants, it is very useful to assess the organization, attractiveness and impact of this activity because it seems that its cost is high compared to the results it has shown till now. The activity will continue as planed for the next two months and a decision about it will be taken during the evaluation of the January-June 09 Action Plan.
5. In order to try to generate income for the Club, Tharcisse raised the idea of selling credits for mobile phones given that this sector is more and more competitive and attractive. By the way, the Club could itself buy the credits and ask its members and friends to be regular clients. Participants appreciated the initiative but suggested to first reflect and examine what caused the failure of the printer service before starting it. They asked Tharcisse to investigate more and tell the profit the Club can earn when selling credits. He will report on this in the next administrative meeting.
6. Membership fees. Landry raised the issue regarding non-payment of Membership fees by members and asked what can be done to stimulate or encourage members to pay regularly their contributions. Trying to explain the reasons of non-payment of membership fees, Maryse said that some members need more transparency in the management of funds; they want to know the income and expenditures made by the Club. Armand answered that whoever needs to know the financial situation of the Club is free to consult the Book keeping regularly updated by the financial manager. To find a solution to this, Participants suggested giving four weeks to all irregular members and the act according to the Membership policy.
In other issues, Armand recalled the importance of keeping in touch with organizations and contacts he made in Istanbul, building relationships and exploring possibilities of partnership.
Minutes of the Administrative meeting of AYC held on April 21st 2009.
Participants: Armand, Innocent, Bosco, Tharcisse, Alice and Landry
Chair person : Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker : Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker : Bosco Bigirimana
Three points have been tackled during the meeting:
1. The idea of having a permanent paid staff
The Administrative team is a central organ for the life and sustainability of the AYC As almost all members of the team are about to finish their studies and begin to look for jobs, one can easily imagine that they will focus on seeking jobs and not have no longer time for AYC daily activities. This tendency could affect negatively the life of the Club that’s why members of the Administrative team raised the idea of having a permanent paid staff within the Club.
Participants in the meeting appreciated the idea but suggested to deepen it and get inspired from other Civil Society Organizations. They have been all asked to reflect on the number of staff, the tasks assigned to the staff, the salary, the source of funding, ect.
In the next meeting, members will bring together the information they collected in order to prepare a definitive argued proposal to prospective funders of this initiative.
2. The activity with Magnus young people planed to be held on April 26th is not possible without money but participants proposed instead to organize a study circle and meet Magnus young people when the money will be available in May.
The next study will focus on the topic “Be the change we want to see”, slogan of the Club. Armand suggested keeping in mind objectives of this activity. This will help to assess the study circle and see if the achievements are in accordance with the plan or if we can introduce modifications to make it more interesting, attractive and see it have a significant impact.
3. Finances. The finances manager has been asked to record all transactions with receipts and those without receipts and notice it in the Book keeping. He recalled the principle of No transaction without receipt and urged once again participants to pay their membership fees.
Minutes of the Extraordinary Administrative meeting of AYC held on April 6th 2009
Nine members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Alice, Pierre, Bosco, Félicité, Vianney, Aristide, Innocent.
Others were excused namely Armand, Adelard and Panafrika
Chair person: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Minute-taker: Pierre
Minute-checker: Landry Ninteretse
Three main points have been discussed during the meeting
1. The Social mobilization for change through dialogue Project
The chairperson gave to participants pieces of information he had from Armand who is currently in Istanbul to present the Social mobilization for change through dialogue project. According to the chairperson, Armand is due to defend the project today before a panel of potentials funders. He is confident that the project will have supporters. Armand is expected to come back on Thursday and report to the Administrative meeting the outcomes of the mission.
2. Membership commission report
Innocent in charge of the Membership commission informed participant that three prospective members received a favourable answer to their request to become AYC members. They received an official letter from the deputy legal representative. Since then, they are considered as full members of Amahoro Youth Club according to the Membership Policy. Innocent invited the two others prospective members to act similarly.
3. Evaluation of the activity with Magnus young boys held on March 29th
This activity consisted on a football match between AYC members and the young boys held in Gatoke near IPA campus. Twelve of them were present and seven AYC members. The match was disputed in a good atmosphere of fair-play and ended in the score of 4-3 in favour of the young boys. After the match, the two groups shared a drink at “La Bouteille d’Or”.
Both groups recommended to well preparing this activity in future by informing earlier when, where the activity will take place and what it consists of.
The next activity with Magnus young boys is to be organised on April 19th.
Minutes of the Extraordinary Administrative meeting of AYC held on March 26th 2009
Twelve members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand, Bosco, Panafrika, Félicité, Vianney, Aristide, Adelard, Innocent, Fidèle and Alexis.
Others were excused namely Espérance, Alice, Maryse, Dieudonné and Pierre.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Panafrika
Minute-checker: Landry Ninteretse
Two main points have discussed during the meeting
1. The Social mobilization for change through dialogue Project
The Legal representative informed briefly participants how the project was prepared, submitted and finally selected by the committee of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. Now, the project has to be presented at Istanbul on April 6th and 7th. Armand has been designed to represent the Club in Istanbul. A committee of three persons : Bosco, Landry and Tharcisse was asked to assist Armand in the preparation of the final version of the project, but contribution from members which are likely to enrich the documents are the most welcome. The committee will meet on March 30th and 31st to finalize the project. Some participants suggested to the committee to get inspired by similar documents that have been conducted either by other local NGOs or the United Nations.
2. Activities with Magnus young boys on March 29th
The activity was previously programmed to take place last Sunday but unfortunately it failed to take place. Participants in the meeting commissioned Bosco and Innocent to meet the young boys and ask them what kind of activity they would like to develop next Sunday. Participants raised the fact that in order to conduct such an activity, a minimum of funds is required. At this point, Armand informed participants that a friend of the Club Norlin Margaretta is in touch with Jan Oberg, so the Club can expect to get some money in order to implement successfully the activity. If the money is not available before Sunday, participants agreed to look for all possible means to implement the activity with what they have.
3. Other issues
Once again, participants were asked to be more committed to the Club’s activities and contribute concretely through an active participation in meetings and activities, the recruitment of new members, the membership fees payment and the writing of articles to be posted on the blog.
Panafrika informed the participants the contact she made with a new organisation “Sports sans frontières”, an organisation which use sports activities to deal with youth occupation and trauma healing. If the Club established a good partnership with this organisation, they could help in the organization of activities with Magnus young boys for instance.
Minutes of the AYC Administrative Meeting held on February 23th 2009
Seven membres attended this meeting namely Armand, Landry, Bosco, Tharcisse, Aristide, Alice and Vianney. Adelard, Pierre, Espérance, Cédric and Maryse were excused mainly for academic reasons.
Chairperson: J Bosco Bigirimana
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Aristide Uwimana
1. Reports of different commissions
-Finances commission. The current situation of the Club’s account is 46,000Fbu. During the week, the Club made expenditures on communications and editing and printing leaflets and visit cards. The Club has also the donation from Jan Oberg and 300US$ for the rent of the office.
The finances manager recalled that the deadline to pay the membership fees in February 28th , so everybody must keep in mind that date and act accordingly. As we approach the end of the month, he promised to present the book keeping in the next administrative meeting.
– Study circle commission. The manager recalled that the next study circle is to be held on March 8th The topic to be discussed is “sustainable development and the regional integration”. Participants will reflect on the contribution of everyone to make sustainable development a reality and regional integration beneficial for Burundi. She urged participants to make a serious research on the topic in order to have materials and arguments to present.
Participants asked the team in charge of this activity to ensure a successful preparation at all levels and to inform in advance the place where it has to be held. This activity is also an opportunity to invite potential members, so everyone has been asked to think at least one person to convey in this activity.
– Communication commission: the manager informed that the training on the blog continues but deplores the fact that only one person attended the last session. However, he expresses his satisfaction because those who came regularly in this activity are making progress. For instance, it is Vianney who posted materials on the blog with a small help of the manager! This activity will continue next Saturday and those who didn’t attend the whole four sessions will be asked to come and fullfil the training.
2. The priniting service. Participants commissioned Bosco and Tharcisse to be responsible of this activity. A new specific mail account devoted to the service has been created “amahoroclub@yahoo.fr”. Armand, Tharcisse and Landry will be permanent at the office respectively Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week to implement the service. An other team will be designed to work similarly next week in the meeting of Monday 2nd of March. Tharcisse was asked to paste advertising papers in the strategic places to inform customers the existence of this service.
3. Relationships with other organisations/persons
-The legal representative recalled that AYC is the member of the month of UNOY even though it is not easy to find out where is the description of the Club due to technical problems with their website.
– A couple of Dutch young people asked through UNOY the possibility to work with us. But after exchanges within the Club and with Jan Oberg, it seems that it would be careful for us to not accept the request because it may cause trouble in the implementation of our Action Plan. By the way, the area of interest does not suit the goals and objectives of AYC. Participants asked the Legal representative to politely and in diplomatic manner refuse the request.
– There is a Danish man John Jorgensen who got in touch with the Club and who wants to support it. Participants welcome this new contact but recommend to clarify the terms of cooperation in other to work in a professional way. By the way, Jan Oberg gave some clarifications and said that for all he know he has good intentions.
4. Other issues.
The activities with Magnus young people have been postponed due to the non-availability of Ousmane. Participants asked Armand to do whatever he can to implement the activity next Sunday in order to maintain enthusiasm and good relationships with the young people.
Minutes of the AYC Administrative Meeting held on February 16th 2009
Twelve membres attended this meeting namely Armand, Landry, Bosco, Tharcisse, Innocent, Espérance, Alexis, Cédric, Alice, Maryse, Pierre and Vianney. Adelard and Aristide were excused mainly for academic reasons.
Chairperson: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Minute-taker: Espérance Ndayishimiye
Minute-checker: Armand Giramahoro
1. Reports of different commissions
– Finances commission. The current situation of the Club’s account is 73,000Fbu. During the week, the Club made expenditures on communications and reparation of the door of the office. The Club has also the donation from Jan Oberg and 300US$ for the rent of the office.
About the printing service, after investigations in different cyber-cafés, Tharcisse suggested to begin the printing service with the price of 120Fbu per page. As the new softwares have been installed, the printing service should start without delay. All participants agreed that the activity begin on Monday 23rd February 2009.
The meeting recalled that the availability of AYC members is very important to successfully implement this activity. Therefore, there must be at least one person at the office dealing with this activity; that person should somehow know how to use the computer and the printing.
The branch manager explained how the printing activity should be organised: when a customer brings copies to be printed in the morning, this one could take them back in the afternoon. If it is done in the afternoon, the customer should take his/her copies the next day morning. Therefore, the Club must ensure to have at least one person available at office from Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon. The printing service is scheduled as below:
– Morning: from 9 to 12 am
– Afternoon: from 3 to 5h30 pm
The price limit of the printing service is 120Fbu per page. It is a price cut whereas elsewhere it is 150Fbu or 200Fbu.
If the service is well managed, it could generate incomes and be beneficial for the Club since many students who are dealing with their theses are much in need with printing.
– Membership commission. On February 12th , Innocent met new members to explain how the Club is organised in general, the Membership policy, the work of commissions, the culture of the Club and the application letter that every new member might bring in order to be considered as a full member. In that meeting, it appeared that there are still a number of issues to be agreed on since no one has not yet brought his/her letter and only three members came among the five new members.
– Communication commission. Two members came last Saturday for the training on the blog. They learnt about the importance of the blog as a tool of modern communication, they also had an opportunity to exercise themselves by creating a blog. This activity will continue next Saturday.
2. Election of the deputy legal representative.
The two proposed ladies (Alice & Maryse) said that they are not available to occupy the post and the only lady present at the meeting was a new member who is not yet allowed to be elected according to the Membership Policy. However Tharcisse Ndayizeye has been proposed to be temporarily the deputy legal representative.
3. Activity with Magnus young boys
The activity is planned on Sunday 22nd February 2009. Members will be informed about the activity after having talked with Ousmane who is the facilitator in this activity and the boys.
In closure, the legal representative informed participants about UNOY. The AYC has been chosen to be the member of the month of this organisation and its description is posted on the UNOY web site. He recalled that normally every member must know that every Monday in the afternoon at 4 pm, there is an administrative meeting at the office.
Minutes of the AYC Administrative Meeting held on February 09th 2009
Nine membres attended this meeting namely Armand, Landry, Bosco, Tharcisse, Innocent, Félicité, Alice, Maryse et Vianney. Others were excused mainly for academic reasons.
Chairperson: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-taker: Alice Sindayigaya
Minute-checker: Armand Giramahoro
Five points have been analyzed
1. Follow up of the last administrative meeting
In the last meeting, it was stated that the deadline for the payment of the backs of the membership fees is on February 9th 2009. But during the meeting, it appeared that members have some difficulties to honour this obligation. It was then decided to extend the period of payment until the end of this month. Payment in parts was encouraged to allow those who have several months of unpaid membership fees.
2. Report of all the commissions.
A. Finances commission. The Club has at its account a sum of 93,000 Fbu and got a donation of 120, 000 Fbu from Jan Oberg originating from his personal efforts in his movements during his recent trip. The Club also possesses a sum of 300$ for the rent payment for next 6 months. As the Club relies on different donations and contributions, the finances manager strongly urged every member to pay the membership fees before the end of this month.
About the income generating activities, the first IGA of AYC is the printing service. But it seems that there are some problems of software in the reception of attached documents. Alice promised to see how to resettle on the other disc of the computer another system of exploitation. Tharcisse will have to continue his investigations in order to determine the price per page of printing.
B. Commission communication. The communication manager recalled that there is a work on the blog every Saturday. During this activity, new members learn how to deal with the blog and be able to update it. In February, members of the communication commission are involved in this activity and all members of the Club will have to follow this training. It was also noted that there is an improvement in the minutes-taking, now efforts have to be made in sending them without delay.
C. Membership commission. Innocent who is in charge of the commission proposed to meet the new members of the Club on February 12th to discuss all issues about their involvement and full acceptance in the AYC.
3. Evaluation of the last study circle. Seven members attended the study circle held on February 08th. The theme was “How to consolidate peace?”Debates on this theme was interesting and minutes will be soon available on the blog. The commission in charge of this activity was asked to give a the theme of study circle two weeks before the activity, so members can have enough time to reflect on the subject and to be able to do a kind of preparation /research.
4. Election of the new deputy legal representative of the Club. This election of this legal representative was put back in the last meeting due to lack of effective candidate and this happened again in this meeting. A participant suggested that the deputy legal representative should be a woman and called on a massive participation in the next meeting when the new deputy legal representative will be elected.
5. Registration of the Club. Statutes are already constituted and it remains to collect all legal documents from at least five founding members needed at the Ministry of Interior. Minutes of the General Assembly creating the Amahoro Youth Club will be annexed to those documents and sent to the notaries for a checking before transmitting the registration requirement at the Ministry of Interior. All those documents should be available before February 20th.
Minutes of the Teaching methods seminar organised by Amahoro Youth Club on February 2nd 2009
Introduction
The Amahoro Youth Club jointly with the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research- TFF, particularly its director Jan Oberg During who visited the Club from January 14th to February 4th organised a one day seminar focused on Teaching methods. The AYC intends to use Training seminars as one of the main activities and as a way to build up the skills of young Burundians from from different backgrounds. To implement efficiently this activity, the Club members needed first to be trained in some methodological and pedagogical skills. This is the reseaon of organising this seminar hosted at Magnus place, Rohero I, Bujumbura.
The seminar itself
During the seminar, participants learnt that teaching is not only the transmission of knowledge, but also attitude, values, culture. The teacher is supposed to raise awareness on something new learners have never heard before or to deal with a subject on which they need to be updated or to build up their skills. Furthermore, teaching is also a mutual learning. A good teacher must always know that he learns something new whenever he gets in touch with people regardless their intellectual level. The audience should never be treated as white sheets for everyone has an expertise in something.
In general, teaching consists of :
– telling the audience what you have to say ( subject)
– going through what you have to say ( detailed course/lesson)
– summarizing what you have said ( a short summary of the course/lesson)
Here are sixteen points to take into account when teaching developed during the seminar:
1. Know yourself. Read books, do some researches, have personal experience because you give to others what you have and well know.
2. Know about the audience. Who am I going to teach?, what is their educational level?, what are their needs in order to know what to address them?, what do they expect from me?
3. Structure what you want to say. Prioritize and select what comes firstly, secondly etc., and do it according the time you are given. It is generally recommended to start with broad themes/ overall ideas and then go to specific ones or details.
4. The first few minutes you get in touch with the audience are the most important. So be prepared to provoke a good impression and attention, otherwise you will lose your audience.
5. Choose and use examples with care. Always refer to something (stories, images, reference) people know to explain complex cases or issues in simple words.
6. Repeat things you have said but from different angles or perspectives to highlight the important aspects of the issue.
7. Be explicit about what is said. When you link theories/values with practical examples, your argument becomes strong.
8. Speak loud enough for everyone including those who are sitting in the back of the room, articulate and measure the speed. Always ensure that what you are communicating is at least heard.
9. Ask questions and invite participants to ask questions. You can for instance ask frequently “Should we take a break?” but do not allow long discussions in the middle of a lecture.
10. Speak with conviction and passion but do not preach. Teaching is different from preaching.
11. Keep on track. Follow the plan you have prepared and take into account the time you are given to treat different points of your topic.
12. Choose the best tools to use during the lecture. The simple ones (flip-chart, markers, black board) are often recommended because you don’t depend on electricity. By the way, modern technologies commonly used like power-point projection are not for teaching and may sometimes fail.
13. Explain difficult or foreign words because not everyone in the audience do not have the same educational level or cultural background like yours.
14. “There is much more interesting to learn about all this.”By telling this the audience, you invite it to self-study and encourage personal research.
15. Use different techniques: one way lecture, group work, role play, drama, theatre etc according to the audience and the topic.
16. Self-control is required when standing in front of an audience to avoid chaos and nervousness. For this, write down the essential and do not prepare yourself too much because over-preparation is not productive. You can also exercise in front of a mirror at home to test the best attitude to adopt in front of an audience.
Participants:
AYC members: Armand Giramahoro, Espérance Ndayishimiye, Aristide Uwimana, Tharcisse Ndayizeye, Landry Ninteretse and Félicité.
Trainer and facilitator: Jan Oberg
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Armand Giramahoro
Minutes of the Organization Management seminar organised by Amahoro Youth Club on January 27th 2009
Introduction
On January 27th 2009, the Amahoro Youth Club organized a second seminar focused on Organization management in order to brainstorm what are the reasons that AYC did not achieve all it planed in 2008 and to learn important ways to increase the productivity if the club in 2009.
The seminar itself
First, the facilitator recalled that he is not an expert in Organizations management but he want to share his twenty-five years experience as director of TFF to help the AYC to improve its productivity as a new type of organisation working differently from many others Burundian NGOs.
Specificity of Amahoro Youth Club
The Amahoro Youth Club is different because its members decided not to have a hierarchical structure but a circular mode of organisation. The Club comprises different commissions which work internally and report their achievements in an administrative team. The Club applies direct democracy, it means that decisions are taken by consensus and where whoever wants to influence is welcome. The Club takes into account the diverse talents and skills of its membership and wants to involve actively every member in the activities according to the principle: “If you know teach, if you don’t know learn”. AYC is a learning community where members learn, educate themselves, share and practise because they are convinced that the change they want to see in the country begins in their own life and organisation.
Why AYC did not achieve all it wanted in 2008 ?
During the exchanges, old members expressed some reasons which can explain the failure of the organisation in some areas. The reasons are:
– All beginning is difficult
– The new in which the AYC is conducted was totally new for all members
– Lack of commitment, motivation and investment in the club’s activities
– Deficient information and communication which lead to the abandon of some new members,
to conflicts and misunderstandings
– Lack of a plan indicating the priorities
– Inexperience in organizational and economical management
– Lack of interest due to the fact that some members expected immediate returns
Even though the Club fails in some fiels, it is important to mention that in 2008 there has been some improvements. Members of the administrative team learnt how to manage funds and make financial report, how to communicate with new members and how to take minutes. Further more, the Club learnt something unmeasurable like the personal relations amongst members, feeling of a family atmosphere, friendship, learning of respect and collaboration, improvement in English skills, etc
What management is?
Good management relies on some important principles which when correctly and systematically applied can lead to the success of an organisation. Those principles are:
– Productivity which is measured in terms of how much an organisation achieves given the resources (money, work, time, good planning) it put in.
– Punctuality: when we have to meet at a given time, be on time because when we have to wait for those who are late, we steal time for those who arrive on time and lose time for the work.
– Top utilization of everyone’s energies.
– Be and work smart. For this, the Club needs more committed members who know in which commission they can work efficiently. An agenda is always necessary to write down what must be done and the responsible of each task. Minutes are also essential because they give an overview of meetings to those participate in and those who were absent.
– Plan – Do – Control: we can not do anything without planification and clear strategy indicating why we should do a given task, who should do that, when, where and with which resources. Evaluation enables to measure if what is achieved is conform to what was planed.
– Routines: regular activities which are repeated again and again
– Management by Objectives (MOB) is a management in accordance with the goal and objectives of what wa want to achieve.
– Self-reliance: work with own money and avoid economical dependence of any external organisation/institution or system.
At the end of the seminar, participants agreed to have a general meeting to adopt an Action Plan for the next six months. This meeting is to be held on February 02nd 2009.
Participants:
AYC members: Armand Giramahoro, Panafrica, Innocent Kwizera, Espérance Ndayishimiye, Aristide Uwimana, Pierre Misigaro, Tharcisse Ndayizeye, Maryse Munezero, Landry Ninteretse, Jean Bosco Bigirimana, Félicité, Vianney.
Trainer and facilitator: Jan Oberg
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Armand Giramahoro
Minutes of the Nonviolence seminar organised by Amahoro Youth Club on January 21st 2009
Introduction
During the visit of Jan Oberg, Director of Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research- TFF in Burundi, an organization which supports Amahoro Youth Club as an advisor and mentor for its establishment, diverse activities have been organized including meetings, visits, recreational activities and training seminars.
On January 21st 2009, the Club organized a training seminar on Nonviolence for the whole membership of the club. The seminar was organized in two times. First, the watch of a video of Gandhi’s struggle for the independence of India and second a whole day of exposes, exchanges and debates.
The seminar itself
The movie showed the moral strength, the wisdom and the patience of Gandhi. He decided to respond nonviolently to the provocative attitude of the British empire that used military force and repression to oppress the Indian people who were mobilized to get their independence. Gandhi chose nonviolent means (march, peaceful demonstrations, dialogue, fast, etc) to resist to the British domination. Finally, India got its independence in 1948 but split in two countries due extreme tensions between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi was deeply shocked by the division and realized that not everyone didn’t understand his liberation’s struggle.
After the movie, AYC members and the facilitator shared views and opinions about it, comparing the Indian situation to Burundian context characterized by a high level of corruption, gender-violence and criminal attacks due to the failure of DDR process but also a certain commitment to achieve peace and reconciliation. Participants discussed the role Amahoro Youth Club can play to establish a culture of nonviolence in Burundi.
The facilitator explained why nonviolence is so important for the world. It is linked with mutual respect, freedom of expression and respect of every human life. In fact, violence never brings solution to any kind of problem. On contrary, violence exacerbates tensions and lead to a cycle of revenge. Nonviolence is very important because it disarms the antagonist. When you respond violently to someone who attacked first, you give him reason to continue to use violence. But when you act differently by nonviolent means, the antagonist can’t no longer continue using violence, for his/her violence is unjustified. Participants understood that nonviolence disarms the legitimacy of those who use weapons and violence.
The culture of nonviolence is not yet generalized because do not learn people how to teach peace, we do not have peace and conflict resolutions academics. The world is full of scenes of wars and conflicts because televisions report on disasters, weapons and conflicts and emphasize the military aspect of conflict. For instance, the military budget of the USA is 1,3 billions dollars which sum represents 1% of the budget the USA give to the United Nations. The history taught us that those who have military power do not always won war.
The world needs a balance between violent means and nonviolent means. When we will have a lot of people trained in nonviolence and conflict resolution, then we can hope that the world will be more peaceful. In Burundi, AYC members must be the pioneers because they are young well educated people, engaged in peacebuilding and want to see a change in the country.
Participants expressed their concerns over the high level of corruption which has become a generalized system in all areas of the country’s life and asked themselves what they can do to stop its spread. They found that immediate reforms in education, economical and legal areas must be implemented.
At the end of the seminar, participants exchanged on some Gandhi’s principles like Satia (truth), Ahmissa (nonviolence), Bramacharya (self-restraint), Tapasya (suffering) and detachment.
Learning points
– None of us can be like Gandhi but we can be inspired by him
– Gandhi was a non constitutional leader and never had any official power. Very few people can
– Sometimes, nonviolence does not achieve the expected results
– Nonviolence should not be theoretical but it must be understood in our hearts and practiced. Nonviolence is not only techniques, it is a spiritual matter.
– We can not still campaigning “we are against violence, war, corruption or division!”, we must assert what we are in favour of. For instance, peace, reconciliation, transparency and dialogue.
– Tensions which cause violences are most the time based on fear and ignorance of each other. That’s why dialogue and communication are fundamental in the process of healing divided or opposed communities.
– Violence is less than optimal realization of human potential.
Participants:
AYC members: Armand Giramahoro, Adelard Kakunze, Innocent Kwizera, Espérance Ndayishimiye, Aristide Uwimana, Cédric Ndayogeje, Tharcisse Ndayizeye, Dieudonné Ntashavu, Landry Ninteretse, Jean Bosco Bigirimana, Félicité, Vianney.
Trainer and facilitator: Jan Oberg
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Jean Bosco Bigirimana
Minutes of the Extraordinary Administrative meeting of AYC held on February 2nd 2009
Four members attended the meeting namely Tharcisse, Landry, Armand and Bosco. Other members of the Club were also invited to participate. Four of them attended the meeting namely Maryse, Aristide, Adelard and Dieudonné.
Alice, Innocent, Felicité, Cédric, Vianney, Panafrica, Alexis, Fidèle, Guérin and Espérance were excused. Jan Oberg, Director of TFF also participated in the meeting.
Chair person: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: Tharcisse Ndayizeye
Six points have been tackled during the meeting:
1. Report of different commissions
a. Financial report. By Bosco Bigirimana, Finance Manager
– Financial situation of the club. The Club’s finances relies on donations from AYC friends abroad and inside Burundi and on membership’s fees of members. The finance manager explained how the finances of the Club are managed, especially through the use of a book keeping with 8 columns which show incomes, expenditures and the remains of the club’s finances. He gave an example to understand how the book keeping works. The financial report of 2008 is available on the blog under Funding and Transparency menu.
The finance manager recalled participants that the Club is supported by a good-hearted woman Else Hammerich for the renting of its office (50 US dollar/month), but unfortunately it has been noted that the bank took a lot of fees for each transfer.
To try to solve this problem, Jan Oberg suggested to give to the Club an equivalent of 300 US dollar (an ear-marked sum) to pay the rent for the next six months to be paid back by Else Hammerich when he will get back in Sweden. This idea pleased all the participants who thanked a lot the initiative of Jan Oberg to avoid lost of the Club’s money. By the way, Jan Oberg gave to the Club a personal donation of 120.000 Fbu, equivalent to money he saved from not having took taxis during his trip in Bujumbura. The Legal representative expressed his gratefulness on the behalf of the whole membership because this is a real manifestation of the willingness of Jan Oberg to see the Club moving forward.
– Bank account situation. The Club opened a bank account since January 19th to facilitate transactions and financial operations. The money the Club has been using these last two weeks for its diverse activities come from a donation from a Danish friend Mathiasen Karsten. At this date, a total sum of 112.000 Fbu is on the bank account of the Club.
– Importance of receipts. The finance manager recalled the importance of receipts. Receipts are useful to prevent economical misuse of money and for transparency. They represent a sign of honesty and professional work. The good keeping of receipts makes the Club a transparent organisation and gives trust to potential partners. The finance manager said that some receipts of 2008 are still missing, they must be collected and mentioned in the book keeping. If there is any expenditure for Club’s activities by a member, there must be always receipts in order to be paid back the money.
– Membership’s fees. To pay regularly the membership’s fees materializes one’s commitment to the Club. The Club decided to have all its members regularize their contributions since August 2008. The financial manager urged participants to pay their contributions. The deadline given is February 9th 2009, expect for some members who will provide serious reasons for not to be able to fullfil this obligation. For new members, the payment of fees will be done according to the Membership Policy. This document must be given to every new member so he/she may know when he/she start to pay the fees.
– Printing service. It is the first IGA implemented by the Club to provide some income which will solidify the economical basis if the Club. The idea behind is not only to help students to get their papers/long essays printed out but also an opportunity to make the Club known. The printing service of the AYC is somehow original, so members of the Club are still discussing about the price to apply in other to be competitive. The final decision will be taken in the next administrative meeting to get this activity implemented without delay.
– The Funding policy has been drafted by AYC members. This rich and important document has been analyzed by all members individually and collectively. After some explanations, the Funding policy have been adopted. But it has been clearly mentioned that this document can always be enriched and improved with new ideas on point 4.
b. Communication report. By Landry Ninteretse, communications manager
First, he informed participants the current composition of his commission. The Commission has four members : Landry and Vianney, some prospective members like Adelard and Espérance will soon join the commission.
– Regarding the blog, it is now regularly updated thanks to the contributions from members who make it living, interesting and informative. He urged once again participants to consider the blog as their own and use it as a worldwide space of exchange to communicate and reach the world. A plan has been set up to train all AYC members to use the blog, so the will no longer appear as a strange modern tool and everyone will then be able to upload new posts wherever he/she is.
– About the leaflets, the first draft is available but more contributions/suggestions from AYC members are still required in order to have the final version next week.
– Minutes and reports. There have been a lot progress in taking minutes and reports but they should be released immediately after meeting, seminar or another activity. To achieve this, new members will be involved and trained to know how to take them correctly. Jan Oberg appreciated the way minutes and reports are now taken. It is a sign of maturity and professionalism.
c. Membership report. By Tharcisse Ndayizeye
– The Club have recruited five new members in January who have participated in the last activities organised by Amahoro Youth Club like seminars, meetings, study circle and peer-to-peer activities with Magnus young boys.
– An information session towards new members has been organised to explain them about the Club and give them some basic texts of AYC. They should then progressively be integrated in the Club’s activities and recognised as full members of the Amahoro Youth Club.
2. Discussion of the proposed Action Plan of the next six months
a. Intellectual basis
– Study circle. An agenda for the next six months has been set up.
– Library use. The AYC library has been installed for intellectual and educational purpose of AYC members. Rules for its functioning have been already adopted. Members are invited to use the AYC library efficiently by picking up books, videos, CD and DVD and make a short summary to be shared with others and put to on the blog under the menu “Readings”.
– Training on how to deal with the blog. An agenda is already planed. Cfr the AYC Action Plan Feb-June 09.
b. Organisation basis
– AYC registration. The Legal representative will inform the next administrative team what are the required documents to have in order to get definitively the registration which will increase the legitimacy and the efficiency of the Club.
– The peer-to-peer activities with Magnus young boys. An agenda of this activity is already set up.
– The recruitment and involvement of new members is a continuous process. Every AYC member is asked to look for potential members to increase the membership and the productivity of the Club.
– Production of leaflets. Cfr 1.b
– Minutes and reports availability on time. Cfr 1.b
c. Economical basis
– Printing service. Cfr 1.a
– Funding policy has been adopted. It should thus be implemented and solidify the economical basis of the AYC.
– The Legal representative informed participants that the Club intends to write an official letter to TFF asking the Foundation to advocate and help the AYC in the process of seeking funds for its activities and projects.
3. Memorandum of Understanding between TFF and AYC. This important document has be signed by representatives of the two organisations before the departure of Jan Oberg.
4. The Election of the new deputy legal representative will be done next Monday in the Administrative meeting.
5. Library use. Cfr 2.a
6. Other matters
– The Legal representative informed participants about the recent acceptance of AYC as a full member of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders – UNOY. He promised to provide further details in few weeks when he will have been interacting with the African desk officer of the UNOY.
– The next study circle is to be held on February 8th 2009 at Jardin public, Rohero I. Alice Sindayigaya who is in charge of this activity has been asked to prepare it effectively.
Minutes of the AYC Administrative Meeting held on January 26th 2009
Five members attended the meeting : Armand, Landry, Bosco, Tharcisse and Innocent. Two others namely Sylvère and Alice were excused.
Chairperson of the meeting: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: J Bosco Bigirimana
Five points have been discussed during the meeting
1. Financial issues
The Financial manager presented the current financial situation of the club. He explained what have been the weekly expenditures and what amount of money remains on the Club’s account. He urged participants to pay their membership fees without delay in accordance with the Membership policy.
2. Organization Management Seminar
The AYC organises a seminar on organisation management, especially the club. Thus, everyone is invited to participate actively in order to increase the efficiency and achievements of the club in 2009.
3. Printing service
Tharcisse who was commissioned to repair the printer informed participants that now it is functional. Thus, the printing service should start soon when the club will agree on all details related to the the implementation of this activity. The decision shall be taken in the Extraodinary meeting to be held on February 02nd 2009.
4. Evaluation of the activity held on January 25th 2009 with Magnus young boys at Sage plage. In general, it was a success. Both AYC members and Magnus young boys enjoyed good moments and had fun. The two groups exchanged and had opportunity to know each other more. Participants in the meeting recommended to make a plan/ calendar of this activity for the next months, so everyone will know in advance when and where the activity take place.
5. In closure, participants recommended to do whatever required to prepare the Extraordinary meeting of February 2nd 2009 and make it a success.
Minutes of the AYC Administrative Meeting held on January 19th 2009
Four members attended the meeting : Armand, Landry, Bosco, and Tharcisse. Three others namely Sylvère, Innocent and Alice were excused. Jan Oberg, Director of TFF who is visiting the club participated in the meeting.
Chairperson of the meeting: Armand Giramahoro
Minute-taker: Landry Ninteretse
Minute-checker: J Bosco Bigirimana
Five points have been discussed during this meeting:
1. Financial issues:
The Financial manager informed participants that the financial report for 2008 is already done. The financial situation of the club will be soon available on the blog.
The club opens today an account in BCB Bank in order to facilitate transactions and financial operations.
The Director of TFF gave the donation of 420 USD he had from a good-hearted Danish Karsten Mathiasen to support the AYC activities. All participants thanked him for this great donation and promise to use it in accordance with principle of good management and transparency.
2. Process of recruitment of new members has been successful. Six new members have responded positively to the invitation and during the last Study Circle four of them participated in the activity and showed a real interest for the club. New members are now being tested and will be fully recognized AYC members according to the Membership Policy.
3. The Annual report has been written and endorsed. It is now available on the blog and will be sent to all members.
4. Participants commented the last Study Circle held on January 5th . All agree that it was a success in terms of participation, innovative ideas expressed and new atmosphere in which this activity took place (Cfr Minutes of the Study Circle). Bosco was charged to prepare a short message to be posted on the blog telling the world his feelings/points of view of this activity and inciting potential web visitors in Bujumbura to participate in.
A list of the forthcoming Study Circles (dates and themes) six months ahead be soon discussed and adopted by AYC members. The commission in charge of the Study Circle was asked to make proposals.
5. Regarding the organization of the video session on Gandhi aspects and the seminar on Nonviolence, Armand and Tharcisse will arrange the logistical issues and Innocent the accommodations.
Landry Ninteretse
Communications Manager
Eight members attended this activity namely Armand, Landry, Bosco, Innocent, Vianney, Maryse, Tharcisse and Panafrika. Two were excused namely Sylvère and Alice.
This Study Circle was somehow different of how this activity is originally conceived. In fact, participants analysed one point that is the preparation of the Conflict Prevention Project in Electoral Process.
Participants exchanged views on how this project should be effectively conducted to maximise its impact. Participants found that during this period many youth associations and NGOs run similar programmes. The AYC’s challenge is then how to organise it in a different or special way but in accordance with its mission and objectives.
At the conclusion of discussions, participants agreed on following points:
– AYC must first clarify/specify its contribution in this activity in terms of objectives’ definition, message to be transmitted and strategies to use, target groups and area of operation. Everyone but especially the committee in charge of the elaboration of the project are invited to continue to reflect on this and gather ideas which can lead to the success of this activity.
– AYC membership need capacity building before carrying out such project, so they can be more effective in their role when implementing the project on the ground and have AYC financial, programmatic and administrative capacities strengthened. That’s why the commissioned Armand and Landry to contact Prof. Sururu and Kavumbagu who are experienced people in the field liable to provide useful advices about the project.
– Participants think that violence prevention in electoral period is the aim of this project. So, the message to deliver must be articulated on the main themes: Citizenship and Youth participation in a Democratic Society, Peaceful Conflict Resolution and Responsible Behaviour in Electoral Process. In addition, the programme should not only target youth leaders but also ordinary youth in urban and rural areas between 18-30 age.
– A participant expressed idea of organising this activity in ‘different and relaxing’ way by involving artists, musicians and sports events instead of classic conferences and debates. Discussions with reliable and experienced people will enable to clarify the form and methodology to adopt.
Participants agreed to deepen this issue in the next Administrative Meeting to be held on November the 17th 2008 at the end of which the first draft of the project should be produced.
Landry Ninteretse
AYC Communications Manager
- AYC Administrative Meeting – October the 29th 2008
Seven members attended this meeting : Armand, Sylvère, Landry, Bosco, Innocent, Vianney and Lauriane. Two were excused namely Maryse and Alice and four others absent Lyse, Tharcisse, Aymar and Panafrika.
One point was on the agenda that is the clarification of activities to be realised soon which are:
– Study Circle
– Peer-to-peer counselling of Magnus’ young people
– Project of violence prevention and youth democratic participation in the forthcoming electoral process
Participants expressed views and considerations on the all issues. On the first one, they commissioned Vianney, Bosco and Landry to reflect on the framework, structure and organisation of this activity and specify all its financial and methodological requirements.
About the second point, Armand will make contacts with Magnus and his young people in order to have and share accurate informations on how this activity should be implemented more effectively than before. Participants insisted on the fact that those young people need a better understand the importance and the usefulness of this activity so they can participate in a ‘relax’ way.
The project of violence prevention and youth democratic participation in the forthcoming electoral process was very appreciated by every participant. They stressed that this project should be well prepared within the club in terms of common understanding of this initiative, research and capacity building, financial and technical support. They suggested that the next study circle should focus on this issue to brainstorm all essential inputs for the successful implementation of this project. Sylvère, Tharcisse, Bosco, Armand and Landry will draft on the project document.
In closure, participants discussed about the recruitment of new members. Many believe it would be better to ensure first the participation of all AYC members before looking for new ones.
The next study circle is to be held on November the 06th 2008 at 17h30.
Landry Ninteretse
Communications Manager
Activities
- Peer-to-peer counseling in Bujumbura
Description
The bloody civil war in Burundi has had a devastating effect on the children, especially those without assistance living in streets. Most of them have been exposed in some form to increased psychological stress as result of the violence, humiliation, rape and economic that are part of their daily lives. Others have been involved in.
In 2006, a Swedish businessman established in Bujumbura welcomed 11 adolescents who previously lived in Bujumbura’s streets with the objective to reintegrate them in normal life. This initiative carried out by Amahoro Youth Club aimed to provide psychological support, mentoring and recreational activities to these adolescents in order to cope self-doubt, withdraw and sens of hopeless.
This initiative began in June 2008 and is planned to be extended in different centers of the country.
Objectives
Objectives of the initiative are:
– To provide a peaceful and reassuring atmosphere for environment to express their views, opinions, hopes and fears and find ways to deal with their stress.
– To bring young people together both educated and uneducated by creating opportunities to play, socialize and participate in social and cultural activities.
– To give hope to those former street adolescents and show them their tough past and dramatic events they have experienced they can succeed in their life.
Concrete actions
The initiative is based on counseling sessions, meetings and recreational activities held alternatively every Sunday afternoon. The AYC members used trained listening and understanding, methods of stress relief and peer counseling. Counseling and meeting are run in ways which help to build relationships and trust with adolescents by encouraging frank and open discussion. Recreational activities such us soccer matches, traditional and modern music, theaters, etc.
Specific impacts
The first results of the initiative demonstrate positive influence on the lives of adolescents. The latter are happy to interact with educated people. They discuss their problems confidently, benefit from the atmosphere of care, support and trust, knowing someone is there to listen to them without judging and to offer constructive advice. Through their increasing ability to deal with challenges and to overcome obstacles, they are developing greater confidence in themselves and in the future.
Lessons learned
Even though AYC members have some skills in social communication and psychology, it is obvious that they need capacity building in counseling and providing psychosocial support, so they can be more effective in their role.
AYC members involved in the initiative learned how to give practical advice and support and to refer more serious problems to professionals who could give specific and adequate assistance.
In order to expand the initiative reaching more former street children and make it sustainable in long term, it will require greater financial support as well as strategies to involve experienced members in psychology and/or sociology.
- Cultural Seminar
On June 26th and 27th 2008, the Amahoro Youth Club jointly with its main partner TFF organized a cultural seminar for members and partners of AYC at Saga Plage in Bujumbura. This seminar aimed at reducing misunderstanding and cultural conflicts which emerge when people from different cultures, ethnic or region groups work together.
The idea behind the seminar
Members of Amahoro Youth Club are burundians from different ethnic groups and religions. Its main partner-TFF is an international independent think tank based in Sweden. The process of collaboration between these two organizations raised some disagreements and misunderstandings based on cultural differences. The idea behind this two-day seminar was to look into culture as a potential both for peace building but also as something which can generate conflicts. The two organizations were convinced that misunderstandings and conflicts will always go on as long as there is no a basic understanding of cultural differences. The ignorance of differences leads to offending acts and misjudgment which are often committed without wanting to. Diverse themes have been discussed during the seminar. For instance, expression of disagreements, conflict behavior, personal and collective responsibility, time conception, body language, family concept, gender equality, etc.
Its aim
The aim of this initiative was to give an opportunity to AYC members and TFF representatives to learn some values characterizing burundian and western cultures in order to create a better mutual understanding.
Some learning points from the seminar
The AYC is engaged in a capacity building programme in order to improve its efficiency on the ground. The learning points of the seminar are:
– There is no perfect culture, each culture has positive and negative aspects
– Any culture cannot be considered as better/ predominant to an other one
– The ignorance of other’s culture is likely to generate conflicts which may be avoided with a minimum of dialogue and openness
– Cultural diversity is richness for the world
– Tolerance and mutual understanding are required when dealing with people from different
Cultures
– There are always some cultural differences even inside one nation any homogeneous it could be
Activities during the seminar
This two-day seminar was articulated in different moments: exposes, debates, group works, questions/answers, sketches, games and relaxation.
This initiative was followed by a one-day seminar on non-violent communication.
Landry NINTERETSE
AYC-Communications Manager
Amahoroinburundi's Blog 