Among the social problems affecting various countries globally, poverty has been an enormous problem and a hindrance to a country’s development. Poverty is a problem that affects the immediate citizens of the affected country. In this case, Burundi has been affected by this social problem of poverty. This country is among the East African countries, a land-locked and more densely populated currently ranked as the poorest country not only in Africa but in the entire world (Kircher, 2018). Most citizens in the whole country live below poverty level.
The social problem of poverty in Burundi can have many stimulants, one of them being inadequate access to food leading to hunger. This is an alarming problem, with fifty-two percent of children suffering from malnutrition among the rural societies in this country (Jones, 2021). Despite women being good family caretakers, social injustice has been encountered concerning the national association of social workers (NASW) (Hebenstreit, 2017).
The rationale for studying poverty as a social problem in Burundi is that it will help to combat poverty through the advocacy plan at the end of this paper. If the advocacy plan is implemented, the project may lead Burundi to move out of the third world countries to developing and developed countries in the future. This paper focuses on poverty as a social problem concerning human rights violations, social injustices, and traumatization in Burundi.
Burundi is the chosen country in this paper, a third-world country in East Africa in the continent of Africa. Family planning is an important aspect to check on for the child and maternal health regarding public health. This factor, if considered, may lead to the betterment of this country’s population health, which will help eradicate the social problem of poverty.
Farming is one of the major activities carried out in Burundi, it is a cultural factor leading to poverty. The primary source of livelihood to nine out of ten Burundians is agriculture (Ndedi & Nisabwe, 2017). This reason is that the majority of the citizens look upon farming to earn a living which means excellent competition in agriculture. In seasons of less harvest, the majority of the citizens experience starvation which influences their health as well as social work (Muchiri & Nzisabira, 2020). If not catered for, hunger may lead to more deaths than diseases and epidemics. As a result of enthusiasm concerning poverty, the citizens are influenced to trauma due to distress and lack of food. Long-time trends in exposure to hunger traumatize the citizens emotionally and physically as food is essential for human growth and energy generation to work.
From the social aspect view, gender-based violence is the leading cause of poverty in Burundi. As the primary keeper of their families, many women are the poorest among the population, which is essential for human growth (Muchiri & Nzisabira, 2020). Women depend on their husbands to provide for all the basic needs of all family members. This reason, therefore, becomes a catalyst to poverty in Burundi. The dependence on men becomes a burden, meaning no or little progress in the country’s economic development; hence, poverty eradication becomes a problem. Gender inequality which makes women not interact with men in cases of decision making since the majority of them are illiterate. Therefore, this makes Burundians women be traumatized emotionally as they have no say since they are taken to be inferior to men.
The social problem of poverty in Burundi has resulted from various political issues. Conflict is one of these political factors whereby Burundi has been involved in cycles of civil wars since when this country got its independence from Belgium colonialism in 1962 (Mercier et al., 2020). The episodes of civil war claimed more than five hundred lives of the citizens and have produced more than a million refugees (Mercier et al., 2020). Political instability to any global country means no appropriate progress since for a country to excel, there must be political stability to enhance peace in the entire region. When the citizens are in harmony, outstanding achievements are possible since there is no fear of contradiction towards the country’s economic development. Since the backbone of Burundi’s economy is agriculture, the government can excel more in farming in times of political stability than during periods of political instability. Shortage of food in times of war means an increase in prices due to the high demand by the citizens. This factor will affect the livelihoods of many families, which in turn will increase their susceptibility to repetitive natural threats.
The state in this country regularly interferes with the country’s economy and subsidizes fuel, which supports electricity. Inappropriate management of public finance and public resources by the state marks an economic factor leading to poverty in Burundi (Youngseung, 2019). Financial freedom is not allowed in Burundi, which weakens the entrepreneurial activities of willing investors. The government does not disallow economic freedom but also takes away private property from its citizens. Upon these government activities, citizens are discouraged economically; hence the poverty problem becomes a considerable problem to eradicate in Burundi. Therefore, the majority of the citizens and investors are traumatized emotionally as they are restricted from carrying and practicing their entrepreneurial skills towards economic growth.
Human Rights, Social Justice, and Oppression in Burundi
The citizens’ rights in Burundi have been violated in various ways regarding the social, cultural, political, and economic systems adopted in Burundi. For instance, restrictions to practice entrepreneur skills upon the willing investors are limited or tied by the government not to progress (Human Rights Violations, 2017). Taking away private property from the citizens’ marks adverse traumatizing and violation of human rights to acquire property. This issue, therefore, denies the Burundians citizens their social justice as they may even lack the freedom for expression as a result of how this government treats its citizens. Social injustice means oppression to the victims, and attempts to combat and eradicate poverty as a social problem in Burundi becomes an onerous measure accomplish.
Taking women as inferior to men and not educating them marks another human right violation among Burundians women. Their social justice is not catered for, and hence a cruel and unjust practice leading to women’s oppression is observed. The cultural norm of women being just home caretakers denies them the majority of human rights, being education. Their illiteracy, in turn, denies them the freedom and say in regards to opinions and idea-sharing with their husbands. This means that women in Burundi are oppressed and traumatized emotionally as most of their rights are not catered for, which in turn contributes to poverty progression as women share no ideas.
Politically, human rights were violated due to the civil wars during the civil war cycle periods. Most people died, and others ended up being refugees who fled away to other countries searching for peace, food, and shelter. The victims were traumatized and oppressed both emotionally and physically due to the infliction of pain resulting from war leading to deaths. Many other victims ended up being physically disabled due to physical traumatization as a result of the civil war. Emotional oppression resulted in the denial of peace and the necessities for survival of human beings. Therefore, their social justice was not regarded during the civil war period. Many deaths, injuries, and fleeing of refugees progressed poverty in Burundi.
As a result of adverse poverty in Burundi, the country is ranked among the last countries, whereby eight or nine out of ten Burundians live below the line of poverty. This is a result of the impacts of the long period of fighting. The fighting was highly disruptive to agriculture which is the backbone of the economy of Burundi and the primary source of livelihood for nine out of ten Burundians. Also, the destruction and looting of crops and livestock inclusion of the general insecurity has put rural Burundian citizens under severe strain. Despite Burundi being able to rely sufficiently on its agricultural produce earlier on, the conflict led to it depending on imports, and international food aids in some regions due to drought (Ndedi & Nisabwe, 2017). The government of Burundi created social policies by enhancing policies such as; poverty reduction, justice, social security, and recouping agriculture and the economy. Fortunately, the country is recovering from the political and ethnic rivalries, and farmers are trying to recover from the conflict and its aftermath hence alleviating poverty with time.
Justice is one of the created social policies by the government of Burundi, has not been fully accomplished. Despite educating women in Burundi, boys have always been treated well than girls in terms of education. This challenge still contributes to poverty as men still have more say than women who lacks contributions in terms of decision making. This act continues to violate the social right of education to women fully. Women are therefore traumatized emotionally as they are valued less in society.
The Advocacy Plan
Upon the efficient social policy proposal, gender and equity constraint would be an efficient approach to address the general public of Burundi. This policy would change the service delivery to all genders, including the women whose educational rights have been violated. This would help to eliminate restrictions to the gender of women from accessing vital, relevant services like men (Ndedi & Nisabwe, 2017). The social policy will also enhance equity among both genders regarding home issues, and both genders will be relied on. This policy would ensure human rights promotion of social justice to both genders to change injustice.
Gradual healing from the emotional traumatization of women will be achieved as both genders will receive equal treatment from the government. The education sector in the government will implement this plan whose target will be young boys and girls. Resources will come from the treasury budget as part of government expenditure. The plan to evaluate the success of the plan will involve the passing of the bill through the parliament for approval.
The intended consequences of this social policy would be equality and equal treatment of both genders in Burundi. These consequences would be positive as the procedure will benefit individual citizens, their societies, and the country by providing equal measures towards poverty eradication. Harmful unintended consequences would not be considered as they will drag back poverty elimination in Burundi. The main goal is to enhance equality among both genders, positively impacting the community. Other goals may include education for women and social relations stability. Potential partners will be media houses, the general public, and the government will provide education necessities, including the construction of more classrooms to help make the advocacy plan happen. The audience will include all the Burundian citizens who will all benefit from the plan and hence conquer poverty.
Conclusion
Conclusively, gender and equity constraints will be an essential approach to consider. This will be achieved through a code of conduct with guiding principles such as commitment, integrity, teamwork, objectivity, confidentiality, and growth in the education system. This growth will, in turn, have a positive impact on the social, political, cultural, and economic development in Burundi. This will ensure stability in all sectors as education is the key to nearly all success.
Learned people always get good and well-paying jobs which means improvement in social status upon the implementation and success of the advocacy plan. A good education for both genders will also reduce the economic inequalities of all the social classes in the country. This activity will enhance social justice for women as social ethics demands to conquer poverty in Burundi. Better education will also facilitate modern farming and food conservation which will provide more agricultural produce; hence the problem of hunger will be eliminated. In addition, human rights will be honored, and poverty will be eradicated in Burundi.
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