Thursday 21st October, 2021,
Jean Berchmas Siboniyo,National coordinator of Together for a new Burundi was chosen to give a speech during the GLOBAL LEADERSHIP FORUM (GLF), Humphrey Perspective: Session on Economic Development, in Washington D.C. An opportunity he earned from a tough competition with other fellows at Cornell University under Humphrey Fellowship program. Jean Berchimas opted to talk about the importance of integrating Women and Youth in a sustainable development. A speech that he matured from 5 years of experience and Youth empowerment through Association of Mentors for Business and Entrepreneurship (AMEBE) NGO . AMEBE is a local NGO founded and directed by him, which works with youth and women empowerment through economic resilience, business entrepreneurship. Among others, he is also the CEO and founder of SACOR Services cooperation, a social enterprise working for social innovation providing services such as car rental, language translations, driving school etc.
Humphrey Fellowship Program
Jean Berchmas explained how Together for a new Africa has prepared him for this particular moment. “Together for a new Africa has helped me to open my leadership skills at the global level : Seven countries with different backgrounds, different people, different ages, different universities, different professors, languages and cultures. This has opened my eyes and seen that we can not think alone, we can think about global development, we can think about other parts of Africa.
He also noted that Together for a new Africa is promoting new kinds of leaders, ready to face local challenges and also ready to dialogue with other cultures and disciplines. “…Leaders exempt from corruption, civil wars,…we would be giving an example to the global level. The fact of being multi disciplinary, multicultural and coming together as different people for one project :to develop Africa, has pushed me to see far and think further on other projects that can have an impact at global level. Thats why am not afraid when I meet people from Europe, Asia, America and working as one team in this fellowship”
Humphrey fellowship program is an international program that enhances leadership among international professionals who collaborate to address local and global challenges and foster change for our collective good. Through academic study and professional development with U.S. counterparts, this growing global network shares best practices and builds expertise in fields of critical importance to advance societal and institutional capacity, promote human rights and freedoms, ensure sustainable environments, and develop thriving communities.
Jean Berchmas decided to pursue Rural and agriculture development studies which focus on community organising, development and agriculture. He is more than convinced that to understand women the role of women in development one needs to understand the role of agriculture in the process of developing a country, especially in Africa where countries still rely much on agriculture.
Why Women and Youth ?
Jean Berchmas underlined the need for inclusive policies to promote the role of women in economic development. “ Africa depends on agriculture at 90 percent. In Burundi, for example, 55 percent of the working forces are women and they have no access to the land. Africa mostly depends on Agriculture, which is mostly done by women who don’t have access to the land. It is a problem. We need policies that can enhance development and can help women to have access on land. That would be a boost to the development”
Young people on the other hand, as explained by Jean Berchmas, are a very powerful tool for innovation. He argues that whenever there are plans or community organising or any kind of decision in countries, they are left behind. They are often not considered in the decision process even when the decision regards them. A behaviour that needs to change because young people are drivers of change and are more capable than what they are limited to accomplish.
He condemned the behaviour of excluding Youth and Women in decision making and also said that sometimes the agenda regarding them fails because they were excluded in the decision. ” Most of the time the plans fail because what is done without them is actually against them. A quote he borrowed from Nelson Mandela.
“ What is needed is Including young people and women in decision making. No one should decide for them, they are there to decide for themselves. This approach should be a fruit of Interconnection, Understanding , and collaboration. We should be collaborating because we can not think about economic development without pillars of development: women and young people”
