Burundi is one of the smallest countries on the African continent, with a land mass of 27,830 km², only slightly larger than neighboring Rwanda with which it has much in common. Like twins, these two countries share the pain of a bloody decade marked by genocide and "hate media". In 1960, Burundi had only one National Radio, one daily newspaper (Le Renouveau) and only one private newspaper, “Ndongozi", of the Catholic church, published in Kirundi. The advent of multipartism in 1990 introduced different private radios, TV and newspapers. Burundi currently has 15 radio stations, 5 TV stations, online media and more than 15 newspapers as well as news agencies.
 
In spite of this encouraging trend however, Burundi has no journalism programmes at any college or university. This project will therefore attempt to rectify the situation by collaborating with various partners such as the Ministry of higher education and gender, UNICEF, lawyers from Burundi Bar association, Human rights activists and the other media associations in order to design relevant course modules to deliver practical radio training in Burundi on the following issues: Human rights reporting with a special focus on issues related to children and women’s rights; News reporting (radio); Legal instruments to protect children and women in the laws of Burundi, Universal declaration of human rights, Children’s rights declaration, Declaration on the elimination of discrimination against women, Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women, and the Convention on the rights of the child. Reference will be made to the UNESCO model curriculum. A one day sensitization/advocacy meeting is also proposed for the various radio station managers in Burundi to emphasize the importance of increasing the coverage of issues concerning children and women both in quality and quantity. Journalists trained will set up a network covering human rights issues and a website to act as a resource for the media established.