EADI virtual dialogue: Citizens committees and local elites in Burundi

Mainstream development policies often promote citizens committees to oversee basic social services. Such committees require influence over, and legitimacy among, service providers and citizens to perform their roles, which local elites can help or hinder. Using a mixed-methods approach, this  talk analyses the situation in 251 health facility committees in Burundi, part of which benefited from interventions designed to bolster their relationship with local leaders.

Speaker

Jean-Benoît Falisse is a lecturer at the Centre of African Studies and a fellow at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, both at the University of Edinburgh. His research looks at the provision of and access to social services―health-care, education, and justice―in so-called ‘fragile’ contexts. In the last ten years, he has focussed on the African Great Lakes region with research projects on refugee and returnee livelihoods in Burundi and Tanzania, social accountability in primary education and primary health-care in Sud Kivu, and the political economy of sleeping sickness in DR Congo. Jean-Benoit has substantial experience working with and for international and national development organisations.