Burundi programme 2018 1. Political update 2018 More than two years after the political crisis erupted in the run-up to the 2015 elections, there is no comprehensive and sustainable solution to the conflict in sight. The EAC-led dialogue on Burundi, facilitated by former Tanzanian President Mkapa has not yet succeeded in bringing the key protagonists around one table to negotiate on the key issues. Parallel to this process, the Government of Burundi and in particular the Ombudsman have started new initiatives for political dialogue with opposition in Burundi, offering opportunities for a breakthrough. Nonetheless, the government of Burundi is simultaneously exploring the possibility of constitutional reform enabling President Nkurunziza to run for a fourth term. 

The political landscape continues to be characterized by decreasing political space, polarization, exclusion of political opponents and marginalized groups from politics and decision-making and low-intensity political violence. Most political actors have moved from contestation around the 2015 elections to preparation for the next elections, scheduled for 2020. Anticipating these elections, major areas of concern are the regulatory environment for (opposition) political parties and the legitimacy and capacities of political parties. Additionally, in this context of limited political space, promising openings for working on democratic culture are to be found at the local level.

• Outlook for 2018
The challenges Burundi is facing are huge and many fall outside NIMD’s sphere of influence. Still, experiences in the past two years have shown that NIMD is in a position to contribute to some of these issues. A key systemic obstacle for peaceful politics is the closed regulatory environment for (opposition) political parties. Investing in a revision of political party legislation and its application is one of the preconditions for a fruitful dialogue process and for the end of the political crisis. The different ongoing dialogue processes need to address this in order to yield sustainable results. NIMD contributes to this by stimulating a bottom-up agenda on this issue from the parties through discussion and dialogue, fed by analyses. Together with an investment in the capacities of political parties as legitimate and capable conversation partners for both the Burundian government and for the international community, we aim to get this topic on the agenda of ongoing dialogue processes. 

Credible and legitimate political actors remain invaluable for long-term democratic development in Burundi. The focus in 2018 will be on supporting the organizational development and vision formulation of political parties through strategic planning. Exploiting political space on the local level, activities that link former and current students of democracy schools with local branches of political parties strengthen the space for democratic diversity and democratic behaviour. Lastly, actions plans for improved participation of women formulated by female representatives in 2017 will be followed up with activities that engage political party leaderships on the need for and benefits of increased participation of women. Political actors are defined as the combined main target group of the Strategic Partnership: - (representatives of) political parties - politicians - (Members of) Parliament and its Committees - Other elected representatives at local levels. NIMD will primarily focus on political parties.