Research

Conflict and Fragility

Reports and papers

Early Economic Recovery in Fragile States Case study Burundi: operational challenges

21 Jan 2010 - 00:43

This paper aims to illustrate the need to prioritize economic recovery in Burundi as a requirement for creating a peace dividend and maintaining stability. In addition to this, it underlines the fact that early economic recovery is also of critical importance because it produces the impetus that will increase the chances for sustainable development. International efforts in Burundi are still aimed mainly at security sector development (SSD) and democratic governance through the organization of elections. Even though these efforts can represent a major step in the process of political stabilization and the consolidation of new state institutions, the legitimacy of the democratization process depends largely on an improvement in the population's standard of living. In Burundi, this peace dividend has not yet been achieved for the population. The forthcoming elections planned for 2010 and the newly developed Vision 2025 offer a window of opportunity to redirect the focus on to economic recovery.