Burundi Businesses benefit from Local Expertise

Burundi businesses benefit from local business expertise

Fiona Bruce MP led a new business initiative to Burundi in Africa recently. A team of six hand picked business specialists, including local accountant Adrian Veale of Mitten Clarke Chartered Accountants, volunteered as part of Project Umubano which has been working in Rwanda and Sierra Leone for the past 7 years. The word ‘Umubano’ means working together.  Over those years, in the business development section of the project, devised by Fiona Bruce MP, nearly 1000 businesses in Rwanda have received training in all aspects of business, in some cases leading directly to accessing finance to expand or start their businesses in a country with very high unemployment and poverty.

The Prime Minster, David Cameron, who initiated the Project Umubano in Rwanda 7 years ago, specifically requested the Project visit a new country this year, and Burundi was chosen as it was in the bottom 5% of poorest countries in the world.

Over 4 days, businesses including a soap manufacturer employing some 1000 people, bottled water manufacturers, IT specialists, and many others received specialist training in business skills, finance and marketing, and on the final day 2 TV crews and a radio station turned up and the Project was heavily featured on the national news all over Burundi.

Wenceslas Bagona, one of the delegates sent these words to us. 'It is a very big pleasure for me to have met such wonderful men and women from Europe and especially to learn a lot from them. We are eagerly and impatiently waiting for you to come back.' Emmanuel Gahungu wrote 'the training was very important for me and the business of producing drinking water and I hope relations will continue.'

Talking of his experiences in Burundi, Adrian commented “it was incredible to receive such a warm welcome in this part of East Africa. Burundi wasn't a country I knew much about, but now I'm really hoping I get the opportunity to return to help the businesses there grow and employ more people. This is a country desperately in need of investment from Europe and has a great desire to trade with the western world.”

Aside from business training and visiting local businesses, banks and the Burundi Chamber of Commerce, Fiona, Adrian and the team also managed to see a family of hippos in Lake Tanganyika which the capital Bujumbura is on the shores of, and joined a group of drummers to show how much they lacked the rhythm of the locals!

Fiona Bruce MP commented

“It was both enjoyable and rewarding to work with local accountant Adrian Veale on a pioneering new aid project in Burundi, a country with so much need.  Helping businesses to grow in a developing country is an important element of job creation, community stability, and ultimately potentially much needed tax revenue which is an essential step to help a developing county move out of aid dependency”. 

“What Project Umubano shows is that not only medics and teachers have something to offer in terms of aid work, but that everyone – even business people! – can make an important contribution in supporting some of the most neediest communities on earth.  It is a tremendous privilege to work with like minded and enthusiastic volunteers such as Adrian and we hope that this first visit to Burundi will be followed by many more.  For me it is particularly exciting that Adrian first read about Project Umubano through an article in the Congleton Chronicle.”

Democracy Building in Burma

Fiona Bruce MP works with Burmese Government on Democracy Building

Fiona Bruce, MP for Congleton, has spent part of her Parliamentary recess working with the Government and Members of Parliament in Burma.

After sixty years of dictatorial military rule the country of Burma held elections two years ago during which the world renowned campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament.

 

At her request, the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, led a delegation of 3 MPs, one from each of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, including Fiona Bruce, to work with Parliamentarians on strengthening the democratic structures in Burma, without which long term peace, stability and freedom of speech, belief and action will not be achieved.

Fiona Bruce said “It was a great privilege to be involved in this delegation; the country of Burma still has a long way to go in terms of respect for human rights, individual freedom, justice and the rule of law. Anyone under the age of sixty has virtually no experience of living in a free country and the democratic structures in Burma are still very weak. So individual MPs asked for our help in how to represent their constituents, the Parliament needed advice on how to work democratically – we ran a session for example on the function of Select Committees and how these are meant to scrutinise and challenge Government – not do its bidding – and Aung Sang Suu Kyi herself requested research help.

The Constitution requires redrafting – for example, and importantly, at present it prohibits anyone who has married a foreigner from standing for election for President. This would exclude Aung San Suu Kyi herself (she married an Englishman who has since died) and advice on a review of the Constitution to enable her to stand for President in 2015 is therefore imperative.

Despite the elections, severe fighting still exists amongst several ethnic groups in parts of Burma. We met with several representatives from different groups and proposed the appointment of an independent international mediator to facilitate peace talks between them and including the Burmese National Government – much as Senator John Mitchell facilitated talks in Northern Ireland.

During a meeting with the current President of Burma, we challenged him to use his authority to stop this fighting and to arrange the immediate release of those people imprisoned by the previous regime for criticising it and therefore classed as political prisoners. We raised cases of torture and imprisonment without trial and ask for these to be looked into urgently. A particular request was for access to all areas of the country by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief.”

At a particularly moving speech given by John Bercow in the University of Rangoon campus where many students lost their lives, gunned down by the army fighting for freedom for their country only a few years ago, the Speaker of the House of Commons said the following speaking to a hall of some 200 students “A free, peaceful and democratic future for your country can be built on these foundations – the release of political prisoners, legislative and constitutional reform, a nationwide peace process involving a political dialogue leading to a federal system in which equal rights are protected and diversity is celebrated. There is, however, one further element without which peace and democracy cannot be achieved...respect for human rights, including religious freedom, justice and the rule of law.”

Reflecting on the eight day working visit, Fiona Bruce said “Some people may ask, why undertake this kind of work? One very clear reason is that helping to promote peace and stability in another country is of itself helping to promote this across the globe and this in turn benefits us all.”

 

 

A full copy of the speech of the Speaker of the House of Commons at Rangoon University, Burma, on 1^st August 2013 can be found on the Government website https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/speech-of-house-of-commons-speaker-at-rangoon-university-burma

Alsager Friends of the Christie

Alsager Friends of Christie Raise over £1000 at Civic Fayre

The Alsager Friends of The Christie raised over £1000 at their Alsager Civic Fayre recently supported by Fiona Bruce MP.

Fiona Bruce said “Barely a family in the land is unaffected by Cancer, which is why the work of Christie’s Hospital in Manchester is so critical and that of the Alsager Friends Group so important. There are, for example, an estimated over half a million people living with breast cancer in the UK and a further 50,000 women and 400 men diagnosed each year.

At Christie’s centre of excellence innovative world class research is undertaken to understand how cancer develops aiming for improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure. Congratulations to everyone involved in Alsager Friends of Christie’s, not only for raising a four figure sum on this occasion but also for their continuing work throughout the year.”

 The next event will be on Saturday October 26^th and will be the ‘Early Bird Christmas Fair’ at Alsager Civic Centre from 9.30am to 1pm!