To implement our integrated community development approach,we focus on the following areas of intervations

Food Security

“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

There must be a combination of food availability, food access and food utilization to reach food security. Food must be available in sufficient quantities and on a consistent basis, has to be acquired regularly in sufficient quantity and lastly it should have a positive nutritional impact on people

Food insecurity has been a general issue in Burundi and 1.8 million people are said to be food insecure[3].

The constant conflicts, fluctuation, the rising demography and the climatic shocks such as recurrent floods, hailstorms, drought and torrential rain are the main reasons why Burundi continues to be food insecure.

With the aim of building resilient food secure households in targeted communities, Help Channel Burundi focuses its interventions on the following activities: 

1. Increase agricultural production by promoting good agronomic practices e.g.: soil conservation and access to improved inputs;
2. Improve post-harvest food conservation by promoting post-harvest handling trainings & storage technologies;
3. Increase in food consumption by empowering communities on the benefits of nutritious food.

The targeted communities are the most vulnerable households who are single-parent or single-person with an elderly people living alone, households headed by women and agricultural households possessing a small land or none at all.Read more hidden text

Child centered security development

Help Channel Burundi understands that sustainable development cannot be achieved unless the needs of children are addressed in development projects. We place special focus promoting early childhood development  for young children, work with the youth to promote integrated community development and empower rural families to actively participate in activities designed to move them out of poverty. Working with Parents Teacher Associations (PTAs), Help Channel Burundi promotes access to quality primary education by providing school materials and developing the capacity of teachers and school leaders to create stimulating learning environments. We also put a special emphasis on out-of school youth through access to technical vocational education and agribusiness projects which qualify them to become self sufficient and autonomous. Overall, Help Channel Burundi supports communities to develop structures and skills needed to provide a safe and healthy environment for child Integrated development.

Environment and climate change

Burundi is mostly dependent on agriculture and the country’s natural resources have rendered nationwide poverty, recurrent food bottlenecks and famine endemic. Land pressure, the inappropriate management of soil and water resources and the overexploitation of forest resources are just some of the factors responsible for the destruction of the country’s ecosystems and the erosion of its soil and water resources. Environmental degradation and lack of access to environmental assets undermines food security and deepens poverty. Avoiding the effects of these climatic disruptions normally comes down to promoting environmental “good practices”: managing natural resources in a sustainable and rational way, supporting technological innovations. Help Channel Burundi is involved in the Implementation of the Reforestation, erosion control and rural roads rehabilitation .We implement projects that are largely focused on soil conservation and fertility restoration through erosion control through planting trees, the installation of contour lines, and rehabilitating rural roads.

Conservation Agriculture

CA  is a key in Improving food security. (CA) is increasingly promoted as an alternative for coping with the need to increase food production  and food securirty for smallholder farmers on the basis of more sustainable farming practices.

Help Channel Burundi  uses three principles of CA to help smallholder farmers increase their productivity and food security.

* Minimal soil disturbance through reduced or no tillage;

* .Permanent organic soil cover using mulches; and

Diversified crop rotations and associations (inter-cropping) with legumes

Agri business

Help  Channel Burundi supports the development of agribusiness clusters by  strengthening the market position of small scale farmers leading to reduced poverty, increased food security and community development.

It is through the Self Help Groups (Self-help, solidarity, savings and Loan groups) and Village Savings and Loans Associations( VSLA) that the representatives of the households receive various trainings allowing them to set up micro projects and other income-generating activities.

Help Channel trains the farmers’s  cooperatives on how to improve in product quality and business planning. The Cooperatives are also able to negotiate for better prices for their produce and market their produce in bulk.

Effective farmers’ organizations increase the incomes of their members through services such as supplying agricultural inputs and credit financing.