Burundi

The first social protection laws were introduced in Burundi before independence in 1960. Thereafter, family allowances and sickness and maternity laws were introduced as part of social insurance. The first social assistance programme was the transfer to support the socio-economic reintegration of people affected by the conflict in Burundi, abbreviated as the PARSPAC-B. As of 2012, the programme paid US$8.29 as cash for work per day. Two other cash for work related programmes were introduced in 2010 and 2011 in other districts and these are Burundi Intensification and Agricultural Development Support Project (PAIVA-B) and the Programme de Développement des Filières (PRODEFI), respectively. The social assistance expenditure spent on each poor person in 2012 was US$17.25, assuming that the poor were targeted successfully. In 2012, the programmes covered a total of 27,835 participants. Burundi’s social assistance expenditure is largely dependent on external aid, much of which is for emergency humanitarian assistance.