Burundi - Integrated Community Development Project (TURIKUMWE) : Additional Financing

Overview & Synopsis

The development objective of the Integrated Community Development Project (Turikumwe) for Burundi is to improve nutrition, access to basic services and economic opportunities in the targeted areas. The additional financing is proposed to cover cost overruns driven by inflation and exchange rate pressures, respond to the sharp increase in refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo amid declining humanitarian support, align operations with the country’s recent decentralization and territorial reform, and strengthen resilience to climate shocks, while scaling up effective interventions to underserved communes hosting refugees and vulnerable hosts and extending the implementation period to consolidate results. The Bank will work through inclusive, community-driven planning and delivery systems anchored in updated Commune Development Plans and Annual Investment Plans, with targeted facilitation and capacity building for newly structured communes and local actors to ensure participatory, conflict-sensitive prioritization that reflects the needs of women, youth, refugees, and other vulnerable groups. At the local level, commune grants will finance climate-resilient socioeconomic infrastructure such as schools, health centers, potable water systems, rural roads, bridges, markets, warehouses, and community spaces, using a revised allocation formula that accounts for refugee presence and dispersed settlement patterns and applying resilient design standards to reduce flood, erosion, and heat risks. Livelihoods, food security, and nutrition support will be scaled up through two operational windows: (a) matching grants for additional microenterprises selected via transparent community processes and equally accessible to refugees and hosts, complemented by business development services, financial education, and facilitation of private capital; and (b) grants to cooperatives and associations for primary production and value addition using climate-smart agriculture, improved inputs, and small-scale processing. To enhance agency and equitable intra-household decision-making, the project will introduce the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) and integrate mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Nutrition actions will expand the Parents Lumieres model with micronutrient supplements for pregnant women and young children, establishment of household and community kitchen gardens using climate-resilient inputs, and social and behavioral change communication, including community radio. Project management and monitoring will be reinforced through georeferenced tracking, a digital planning and monitoring platform interoperable with related operations, regular technical and fiduciary audits, and an accessible grievance redress mechanism, alongside structured stakeholder engagement and social cohesion activities. The operation will strengthen national and local capacities, including institutional support to the National Office of the Protection of Refugees and the Stateless (ONPRA) and training for communal administrations, while advancing prevention and response to gender-based violence and to sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment through contractor requirements, survivor-centered referral pathways, and continuous awareness building. The project intends to expand access to services for host and refugee communities across 11 communes, deliver additional climate-resilient infrastructure and basic water services, create more and better paid jobs through labor-intensive works and productive inclusion, increase dietary diversity for women and young children, enhance food and nutrition security, leverage private capital alongside matching grants, and strengthen social cohesion and local governance, thereby improving resilience to climate and displacement-related risks and supporting the Government’s community-based refugee inclusion strategy.