THE BURUNDI RED CROSS SOCIETY CHANGE PROCESS: FROM 2005 TO TODAY

1. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + THE BURUNDI RED CROSS SOCIETY CHANGE PROCESS: FROM 2005 TO TODAY

2. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + INTRODUCTION • In 2004, the Leadership of the Burundi Red Cross Society engaged in a restructuringprocessthatended up in the election of governancemembersatBranchlevel and organization of a General Assembly for the first time in 2005; • In 2007, the senior leadership and management decided to undertake a long process of changing the National Society from weak to a strong and wellfunctioning NS; • The story beganwith the need for renewalbecauseso far the NS reliedmuch on staff organizingvolunteers in assisting the mostvulnerable people; • The gap between the communitylevelwherevulnerable live and the head office wasverybig;

3. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + INTRODUCTION (Continued) • The NS leadership thendiceded to set up local Red Cross unitswithvolunteersworking from within the communities; • That aimedatreducing the distance thatseparates the headquarters and the mostvulnerable people in communities; • It alsoaimedatchangingmindset: attractingvolunteers to the NS to giveinstead of considering the NS as a veryrichorganization from whichtheycouldexpect to receivemanythings or much money; • The set up of local unitshelped to mobilizevolunteerswho are closer to the mostvulnerable in communities and deliver services to them on a weekly basis; • This presentationwill show the picture of the NS before the local unitswere set up and after the set up in 2010;

4. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + The structure of the Burundi Red Cross Society in January 2007

5. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Burundi Red Cross in January 2007 was like:A house without ground floor Headquarters Province Commune Project Colline Nothing!

6. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE One organizational structure withtwo main functions: • Governance • Management

7. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + 1. Governance From bottom up, Burundi Red Cross Governanceconsists of four tiers : • Local units • Communal committees • Provincial committees • GoverningBoard Withoutcommittedgovernance and volunteer service delivery on regular basis, the Burundi Red Cross Society would not exist/be

8. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + 2. Management From top to bottom, Burundi Red Cross Management consists of threetiers : • Headquarters • Provincial level • Communal level One of the objectives of the change processwas to bring staff to understand thattheirroleis to support volunteerswork and the latter are the owners of the NS.

9. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + The Structures of the National Society Governance Management National HQ National Governing Board Secretariat HQ Province/Branch BranchGoverning Board Branch Scretariat Commune Communal Governing Board Local coordinator Colline Local Governing Board 2853 Local Units /2908 collines = 98,4% countrywide with 450,000 volunteers

10. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + The change process of the NS from 2007 to 2010 • The senior governance and management crucial issue was how to encourage people, whowereused to receiving assistance from NGOs, to givetheir time, energy and resources to the NS; • The starting point was to avoidreinventing the wheel and remind people how Burundiansused to help eachother in former times « IKIBIRI »; • That helped the NS to understand theycouldrebuildvolunteering on « IKIBIRI » way of workingtogether and helpingeachother; • Another important point wasalso to bring people understand the Burundi Red Cross Society as an organizationthatbelongs to them; • That couldonly go through the set up of local Red Cross unitswithvolunteersdelivering services to the mostvulnerable people in the communities from withinthosecommunities; in otherwords a communitybasedorganization

11. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Major achievements of the change process of the BRCS • Withinthreeyears, March 2007- March 2010, 2800 local unitswere set up; • 300, 000 volunteersdelivered services to more than 150,000 vulnerable people withresourcesmobilizedlocallyalthough Burundi is one the poorest countries in the world; • Volunteersdelivered simple but useful services to beneficiaries (diggingfields, bringingill people to health centres on stretchers, fetching water, collectingwood, building thatchedhouses) • Volunteersusedwhatthey have to assist the mostvulnerable in theircommunities

12. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Major achievements of the change process of the BRCS (continued) • Today, BRCS is made up of 2853 with 450,000 volunteersdelivering services on weekly basis (2 to 4 hours) • Unlikebefore, the mostvulnerable people are beneficiaries of assistance provided by volunteers from theircommunity • So many people who used to expect assistance from NGOs have become donors in their own communities • Today, people in community believe the most important donor is “your neighbour”

13. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Major achievements of the change process of the BRCS (continued) • There has been a change in the way of workingwithin the NS for the pastthreeyears, passing fromsectorial to integrated planning and implementation of programmes; • Planning focusing on strategic objectives in the the 2010- 2013 strategic planning aimingat impact • Decentralization of structures from national level to local unitslevel • Statutory meetings heldaccording to national society statutesat all levels ;

14. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + How the NS has been working for the past 3 years • Development of partnershipswithMovement and non Movementpartnerssuch as PNS, IFRC, ICRC, Government, UNICEF, WFP, N GOs, based on eitherMoU or CooperationAgreements; • Networking withmanyactors on the field in Burundi; • Monitoring of programmes and activitiesfromgrassroots to national level of the NS ; • Internal and external audits conducted on annual basis

15. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + How the NS has been working for the past 3 years • Organization of disseminationcampains of Humanitarian Values to public authorities; • Advocacy for the mostvulnerable people in all meetings organized by the Government and otherstakeholders; • Set up of supervision system of Branches by Boardmembers;

16. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + How the NS has been working for the past 3 years (continued) • Partnership building at national and local level • Mid-termreviewexerciseseveryyearsince 2008; • Performance reviewexerciseeveryyear; • Evaluation of everyfundedprojectat the end of itsspan from 2008 to now ; • Reporting to donors and beneficiaries on the one hand and reporting to the public through radio programmes, press releases, organizedmeetings, etc. ;

17. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + How the NS has been working for the past 3 years (continued) • Set up of volunteer network nationwide and coordination of service delivery to the mostvulnerable people in local units on a weekly basis ; • Regular coordination of the MovementPartners in quarterlyorganized meetings ; • Boardmembers meeting on regular basis; • Updated NS statutestakingintoaccount the local Red Cross Units; • Volunteer management in accordance withvolonteerpolicy in French and national language, Kirundi

18. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Best practices to share • Partnerships management throughcooperationagreements, permanent consultations between senior management and partners’ delegatesat the Headquarters; • Volunteer service delivery in communitiesusing local resources ; • Volunteer service delivery to the mostvulnerable in all local Red Cross Units on a weekly basis ; • Donorscoming from withinpoorcommunities in Burundi (collection of 300 tons of freshfood in 2007 in one province calledMakamba • Great involvement of Boardmembers in following up volunteeractivites; • Today, Burundi Red Cross Society is a humanitarianorganizationthatworks from within the communitiesthanks to the large volunteer network in local units; • If one is a volunteer for the NS, she or he has to belong to a local unit wherehe or shedeliverstheir services.

19. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + The Picture of the Burundi Red Cross in December 2010 and today

20. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Burundi Red Cross in January 2013:A house with solid foundation National HQ Headquarters Province Commune Colline 2853 Local Units with 450,000 volunteers

21. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Three Key factors to success • Burundi Red Cross borrowed the former or traditionalmethod of working for mutual assistance « IKIBIRI » (Self-help) to developvolunteering in community; • A compelling vision thatarticulates an opportunitywithclarity; • Constant communication which has been the battle horse for the NS since the beginning of the change process.

22. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Main Focus today • Local unit for all: as each and everypersoncomesfrom and lives in a community, they are encouraged to volunteer or deliver services in theircommunities; • Local unit, a gateway for Red Cross activities: all activities or programmes must beimplementedthrough local unitswhere all forms of vulnerability are found and dealtwith; • Red Cross physicaladdress in each local unit: that’s the Burundi Red Cross Society leadership motto for 2013 • Burundi Red Cross Society: decentralized and democratic structures

23. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Illustrating photos Volunteer mobilisation at local level

24. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Visit and assistance to vulnerable people Building offices for local branches

25. CROIX-ROUGE DU BURUNDI + Lauchingjubileecelebrationat village site level Environment protection

26. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! TUGIRE UBUNTU! BURUNDI RED CROSS SOCIETY PIERRE BARAMPENDA BOARD MEMBER IN CHARGE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPEMENT