TRAINING ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR MEMBERS OF KIRUNDO CUMMUNE CRC ('Comités de reconnaissance collinaires)

No doubt, land certification is now of primary importance in the process of proving land ownership in Burundi. Many of the communes in the different provinces of the country are now equipped with functional communal land services with staff and ‘CRCs’ that are up to the task

Since the commune of Kirundo via its communal council deliberated for the creation of the land service, the latter was not yet functional due to the lack of setting up and training of the members of the ‘CRCs’. On this day, the 14, 2021, APDH is pleased that the CRCs have already been set up on all the municipalities of the commune and their capacities have been built especially on the ethics of their tasks. Soon the staff of the communal land service will be complete, as the communal administrative authorities have admitted.

In close collaboration with the newly established CRCs, we have no doubt that the work of land certification in the commune will begin soon and will be done well, with a major effect on the increase of the communal fund, the socio-economic development of households and the improvement of social cohesion in the community, and this will have a positive influence on the reduction of conflicts in general and land conflicts in particular.

The CRC is normally made of 7 people per municipality from 3 different categories, including local elected officials (3), people of integrity (3) and a representative of the communal administration (1) as specified in article 394 of the land code currently in use in Burundi. The latter must have a minimum knowledge of land management and the functioning of the communal land service in order to carry out their mission properly. It is with this in mind that APDH is organizing this training for them and will continue to intervene in capacity-building as much as possible and needed.

The session took place in two sites where two zones met per site to facilitate participation: Cewe and Kirundo rural zones met at ECOFO Munzenze on one hand and Kirundo center and Gikuyo zones at ECOFO Gikuyo on the other hand. The objective of the session was to give the necessary capacities to the members of the land recognition commissions on some key concepts of land management and to exchange on a better  ethics that should characterize a member of the commission and to propose sanctions in case of violation of the pre-established principles.

During the session, participants understood their role, the values and morals that should guide their work and the different stages of land certification, but also, they were able to acquire a minimum of knowledge on the functionalities of the communal land service and this will allow them to better assist the population that needs this service so urgently. They also understood that this work is of a voluntary nature and requires a sacrifice from them that will germinate the spirit of consolidation of peace and reinforcement of rights in the families and grassroots communities.

 The participation was massive because all the municipalities were represented almost to the maximum, except for some cases of the representatives of the administrator who will be changed because; a member of the commission must be a resident of the area.