In April, I attended a stakeholder workshop held in Bujumbura, Burundi, to discuss and reflect upon ways in which the aims and findings of the Hidden Peacebuilders Network could be reflected within Burundi’s policy landscape. Further, the workshop was a way to reflect upon areas that could be improved upon with further research and new collaboration with the network. The workshop was a great success, and I felt privileged to be able to speak with different Local Faith Actors (LFAs), academics, and Civil Society Organisation (CSO) leaders from Burundi.

Held in the central and panoramic Martha Hotel, with views overlooking a stormy Bujumbura, the day began at 9am, commencing with a group ecumenical Christian prayer, a Muslim prayer, and some introductory speeches from me (translated to Kirundi by Charles Rukundo) and Canesius Ndayikeza, our Research Assistant on the Burundi team. After an engaging presentation synthesising the main findings of the Hidden Peacebuilders Network’s action research in Burundi, Canesius then led a question-and-answer session allowing the researchers, practitioners, and LFAs to probe certain points, and identify any blind spots in the research.

One key identification was that future projects needed to include representation from traditional religious actors known in Kirundi as ‘Umupfumu’, as their presence and intangible power have real, but unmeasured, effects on Burundian society. Umupfumu translates roughly to English as ‘witch doctor ‘, and these traditional religious actors are believed by many in Burundi to have the capacity for foretelling the future and the power to heal. However, there is also the prevalent belief amongst Burundians that the Umupfumu represent an ‘evil power’, or ‘negative energy’, that can be used to harm or kill people. In general, there is a lack of research on these traditional faith actors – especially of the participatory nature central to our project – from both within Burundi and wider academia. Ignorance on these traditional intangible/spiritual practices leads to mistrust, or a general perception that such forces are inherently malign. Therefore, any future research project on the role of local religious leaders in peacebuilding in Burundi should attempt to include those who practice as Umupfumu, in order to be fully representative of Burundi’s spiritual, cultural and religious demography.

The integration of LFAs into marital disputes was another key area that stakeholders argued should be integrated into policy in Burundi. It was widely agreed that LFAs should be given a more active role in attempting to mediate marital disputes prior to official legal action being taken. This would function as an attempt to prevent the unnecessary breakup of families, an issue identified as a major barrier to peace in Burundi. As well as this, it was generally accepted by the attendees that there was a need from NGOs and INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organisations) to implement some of the spiritual authority and intangible elements of faith within wider peace building programmes in Burundi.

Alongside the stakeholder workshop, we ran our network-wide webinar in partnership with the Joint Learning Initiative (translated into French for our Burundian audience), which gave our Burundi LFAs, CSOs, and local public authorities, a chance to interact with our wider network. This was a great success, as our workshop participants Emmanuel Wakana (CSO leader), and Marie Chantal Hakizimana (LFA) both gave updates on their work in Burundi to our wider network.

Later on in the workshop, our stakeholders were split into groups, and given the opportunity to discuss and prioritise avenues for future research into the role of religious leaders in peacebuilding in Burundi. The groups were also tasked with analysing the strengths and weaknesses of methodologies used in each study. A key issue raised in this part of the workshop, was that the ‘cellphilms’ (short videos taken by LFAs to discuss their personal experiences in everyday peacebuilding), elements of the action research, were not subsidised by the project. This made it difficult for some LFAs to participate as they had to upload the videos using their own mobile data, and set aside time which was not remunerated to reflect and record. This was a key takeaway from the workshop which will be used to improve the coordination of future research projects which use this and similar methodologies.

All in all, the whole day nurtured an open and participatory space, in which stakeholders were able to explain their perspectives and discuss ideas for the future of peacebuilding in Burundi. Moreover, the workshop reinforced the pressing nature of integrating the intangible contributions of faith within peacebuilding policy, research, and practice.

Photo: Painted map of Burundi in the hotel lobby, showing its Presidents, and last King, from independence to the present.