17 Dec 2007 - The International Rescue Committee is launching an innovative joint one-year project to help displaced women and youth in southern Burundi develop their economic skills and ability to earn a livelihood. The pilot project is part of a larger three-year global study being conducted by the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children aimed at improving the economic opportunities of displaced women and children.

The project seeks to improve access to savings and capital acquisition by creating local village savings and loans associations. The program’s staff will also conduct discussion groups with association members and their spouses to help them develop new skills and to promote more equitable roles between men and women in household decision-making.

The Women’s Commission study is funded by the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and will test the theory that increasing a woman’s economic and social power decreases her vulnerability to violence in the home. The IRC project in Burundi is one of six such pilot projects around the world that is part of the larger Women’s Commission study. 

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