This project is part of the program “DUKINGIRE IBIDUKIKIJE – Conservation and enhancement of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity for green growth of rural communities in Burundi” which supports the preservation of natural ecosystems (including two protected areas) in the context of integrated landscape management and wants to help enhance their goods and services.
This program will contribute to sustainably improving the living conditions of the population of the areas of intervention, including displaced persons and returnees, as well as economic and social development from the country. Particular attention will be given to the communities living around the areas protected so that human pressure on them is reduced and that these communities contribute to their sustainable management.
The program is structured around three components:

• Component 1 – Governance and sustainable and inclusive / participatory management of areas protected areas, in particular the Kibira and Rusizi National Parks, are improved.
• Component 2 – Integrated land restoration and management practices and mechanisms and water resources are improved.
• Component 3 – Organization, monitoring and management of the water supply service for drinking water in rural areas are improved for the benefit and thanks to the participation of local populations, with a focus on groups in vulnerable situations.

This program will be implemented in the Kibira and Rusizi National Parks, their buffer zones, as well as in micro-basins which feed the Rusizi River and which will be identified in start of the program on the basis of environmental vulnerability criteria (the program will therefore cover the provinces of Cibitoke and Bubanza, and a municipality in the province of Bujumbura rural).
The specific objective of this contract is as follows:
Contribute to strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of actions for the protection and enhancement of ecosystem services in the Rusizi river basin, implemented under the program "DUKINGIRE IBIDUKIKIJE - Conservation and enhancement of natural ecosystems and their biodiversity for green growth of rural communities in Burundi”.
This will involve the provision of a team of experts who will accompany and support the implementation and monitoring of actions, facilitate sector coordination and provide quality technical expertise to the entire program.