Success stories

Burundi is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa with an agriculture-focused economy employing 80% of the population. Burundi’s exports are primarily coffee and tea, which accounts for more than half of foreign exchange earnings, sugar, cotton, and crops - strategic commodities cultivated in the project area by smallholder farmers.

1.3 Million people live around the project area, a remote part of the country internationally renowned for its exquisite floral Burundi Gitega coffee of exceptional quality. The Gitega Governorate is indeed the third largest coffee-producing governorate in the country, with its more than 3.4 million coffee bushes.

Located on the southern coast of Africa, Mozambique has put a strategic focus on its fisheries and marine industry, which employs more than 800,000 people on industrial, semi-industrial, and artisanal levels. Nearly 75% of the total fish production stems from marine fishery, 20% from inland fishery, and the remaining from aquaculture.

As one of the fastest growing economies and populations in Africa (resp. +6.2% and +2.8% in 2022), Uganda has a diverse healthcare system made up of government-funded, private, and public-private partnership facilities. Quality public healthcare is a vital basic need to ensure the well-being and good health of its population, and more specifically in the project areas.

Agriculture is a leading driver of Mozambique’s economy, employing more than 75% of its national workforce. Investing in agriculture human capital is a key ongoing development strategy to prepare youth to successful careers in the agricultural industry, drive inclusive growth, and enhance food security. Several universities and training centers have blossomed throughout the country; this new education project will contribute to empowering youth, with a focus on agriculture.

Burkina Faso has been investing for decades in building multi-purpose dams, with the aim of enhancing food security and generating low-carbon electricity, as the country works towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Climate Action Agenda.

    Indeed, the agriculture industry employs nearly 80% of the population and is a major driver of the country’s GDP. This sector faces, however, severe droughts and erratic rainfalls, based on the season, which impacts the daily lives of more than 250,000 local inhabitants and farmers. Such weather hazards have been further amplified with the severe impact of climate change, these past years.

To enhance regional integration and open access to the sea to Rwanda and Burundi, two landlocked countries with fast growing economies in East Africa, an ambitious joint “Great Lakes States” program has been launched along with several development partners to build strategic rural roads, including the African Development Bank, the Exim Bank of China and other ACG members.