Quality meat and animal welfare in Burundi In November 2010, the public abattoir in Bujumbura was privatised. The abattoir, built in 1958, nowadays is in the middle of the city and as such poses a serious threat to public health and hygiene. In addition, the current lay out, the equipment and the lack of infrastructure at the slaughterhouse does not allow for professional, animal and environmentally friendly slaughtering of animals.Local partner SOGEAB (Société de Gestion de l'Abattoir de Bujumbura) is a group of ten businessmen who bought the abattoir when it was privatised. It is their wish to build a modern abattoir outside the city, which meets the current animal welfare, hygiene and food safety standards.The applicant in this project is Ets. Katoni. Ets. Katoni has its own farm (livestock as well as agriculture) and operates Uvira's sole butchery. The family company slaughters its animals at the Bujumbura abattoir since 1968, and as such is interested in improving the quality of the slaughterhouse on the one hand, and to become a shareholder on the other.Two potential project sites have been identified. Both plots are outside Bujumbura and have ample space surrounding the property for live stock traders to fatten their animals before selling, and for a separate live stock market to be established.Establishing this new abattoir would alleviate the burden on public health in Bujumbura as the current abattoir is surrounded by schools, a university and residential areas. Furthermore, with modern slaughtering techniques better attention will be paid to animal welfare. In addition, the burden on the environment will be lowered as waste water will be separated from blood and other offal, and side products will be separated better in order to make additional money (blood meal, cow dung etc).Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The relocation of the abattoir in itself is already a major measure to alleviate the social and environmental burden which the current abattoir imposes on its environment.The new abattoir will be HACCP certified. In terms of animal welfare, there are no internationally applicable rules, yet the government of Burundi already established regulations for livestock transport, slaughtering processes and transport of meat long time ago. Unfortunately no entity in the chain currently can adhere to these standards. With the new abattoir however, the partners intend to meet these regulations.For staff, the partners will provide a safe and healthy working environment. Salaries are above the local minimum wages, medical costs are covered for 100% for both employee, spouse and children and each employee will have 20 days of paid leave.The joint venture will keep proper accounts and will not give in to corruption.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsThe project partners will provide decent working conditions.Medical costs will be paid for, for employee, spouse and registered children. Social security will be paid for as well (INSS) and employees are encouraged to voice their ideas on the company management.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeThe current abattoir dates from 1958 and has not seen any serious upgrades ever since. With this project the partners will introduce a modern abattoir, implying a properly designed building (adapted to the capacity needed nowadays, and capable of separating waste streams in a better way), proper equipment (semi-automated slaughtering line) and properly trained staff (in terms of hygiene and animal welfare).•	Chain effectsAs the project mainly supplies services to clients, the number of local suppliers is limited. One only finds the usual suspects like water and electricity providers, fuel suppliers, insurance providers and a security company to guard the premises.After the PSI phase, the abattoir will move into cutting and deboning of meat as well, and acquire its own cattle, in order to add additional value. During the spin-off phase, more local suppliers are therefore expected to be contracted.The impact on both customers (livestock traders, cattle breeders and butcheries) and end consumers will be substantial. As this will the first HACCP certified, modern abattoir in the country, people may expect to get better quality meat in a more hygienic manner.•	Impact on the sectorThe partners expect that opening up a modern, HACCP-certified abattoir will encourage other entities to invest in the meat processing industry as well. As modern standards will be introduced, it will become possible to better select particular pieces of meat, which can yield higher prices in the market. It will be interesting for other investors to tap into these opportunities.Furthermore, it is likely that a separate cattle market will arise in the vicinity of the new abattoir. There is ample land available outside Bujumbura to organise such a market.•	EnvironmentThe reduction of the environmental burden, which the current abattoir imposes, will be enormous. The new abattoir will have a proper waste water treatment facility, preventing the abattoir from polluting nearby rivers or Lake Tanganyika which the current abattoir does.Furthermore, blood will be properly separated from the water stream and manure and other offal will be separated as well.As the old abattoir will remain to be used for sheep, goats and pigs, there will still be some burden on the environment, but the partners intend to phase out this part as soon as possible and integrate the slaughter line for these animals in the new abattoir as soon as funds are available.•	Position of womenFifteen women will be employed on basic-level and 2 on medium-/high-level, simply because a slaughterhouse traditionally is no place to work for women. To establish a modern abattoir in Bujumbura, capable of slaughtering 100 cows on a daily basis for the local market as well as for neighbouring markets in Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda.