Introduction:
In June 2003 a facilitator training was organised by the new Reflect ICT Project, initially for 91 of the total 174 facilitators (35% women and 65% men). Attendance was 100%.The training was directed by members of ActionAid Burundi: Salvator Nkurunziza (Director of Programmes), Fred Munyampeta, Fidele Ndindiye and Prosper Mabombwe.

To begin with we asked ourselves: who is going to do what and how? As there were three main themes to develop, Salvator took the first theme (Power and value of information), Fidele the second (Access to information) and Fred the third (Documentation of local knowledge) while Prosper facilitated the elaboration of the Plan of Action.

Fidele welcomed all the participants and explained the objective of the meeting. As the participants came from three different communes where AA Burundi works, time was taken for introductions and getting to know each other. Then the three themes were explored in more detail.

Participants said that the three days had made them think about a new theme entitled: "Seeking and Using Information". All the facilitators were surprised by their understanding of this new subject as they are not used to it in their daily work as facilitators.

This is not a programme which will replace Reflect but which will be integrated into the Reflect approach. As such, the Reflect ICTs Project will be integrated into the work of Reflect circles to promote a model of communication technologies for development from a human and pro-poor perspective.

As Reflect shines as a participatory approach, the participants taking part in this new integration will be largely facilitated by the same approach. It was explained that this project will be undertaken in the three communes within the structures of AA Burundi Ruyigi DA in the first year, although in the long term it will be introduced at national level. The importance of the project is in the process: the ability of the community to receive and use information coming from different sources, evaluate its legitimacy and respond. People also remarked on the importance of organisation of facilitators to allow for sharing of the sensitisation which is an important factor on the impact of communication.

Value and Power of Information:
On this theme, Salvator invited each of the participants to give an example of a piece of information which they had received which had changed something in their lives. Nearly everyone was able to give examples, such as:

• A woman called Languide Nizigiyimana from Bisinde village said: "once, the Burundian tradition considered women as tools, to be used however and whenever - that is to say a person without rights. But when I learned, through community development meetings, that there were laws defending the status of women, I have blossomed thanks to the training received on the people and families code, I have now actually become part of a group in my village which takes forward cases from within the community."
• Raphael Nzeyimana declared: "A long time ago I was a great womaniser, until I found out about AIDS, a disease without vaccine or treatment. I quickly abandoned my bad practice and I am now married. Now I have a family and live happily with my wife."

After the exchanges, Salvator asked them to think about any information they received but which they did not share with others. As this is a country at war, when taking a path you can come across a group of rebels and they might let you pass without problems. It could be that, through ignorance, someone takes the same path without knowing, because you did not share the information. In that case, they are at risk of being seen by the rebels. In that context, the act of not passing on the information to the others leaves someone exposed to danger.

Groupwork:

• When is a piece of information valuable? What makes a piece of information important?
  
• Group 1 · When it reinforces prior knowledge· It can influence the change of bad behaviour· It allows you to get what you want · When it is given at a good time· When it is understandable· When it is directed at the right people
  
• Group 2 · When it creates inner blossoming· When it is not divisive · When it is given to someone who can use it well.
  
• Group 3 · When it orients someone in their path/ life· When it relates to work opportunity· When it can protect you from danger · When it is read without reductions or adjustments· When it is read to those for which it was intended
  
• Group 4 · When it can serve to re-establish security· When it can be a base for development· When it allows for social cohesion· When it gives awareness of the reality overseas · When the receiver is sure it is true· When it is from a trusted and known source· When it is non-subversive and collective nature

Information tree:
Salvator told participants that all information has a source and this source makes a difference to its value. On this basis, he introduced the exercise of the information tree. The roots represent the source of information, the trunk the information itself and the branches are the results of the information or what has changed because of the information.

The tree developed by participants (right) showed roots of information to be the community, radio, Ejo newsletter, local government, leaders, cinema, education and images and the output of such roots to be good health, fight against AIDS, development projects, social cohesion, education and community leadership.

Access to Information:
Fidele opened the debate asking if all human beings of all classes had access to information. Everyone agreed that information should be accessible to all, but unfortunately that reality was not so. The degree of accessibility depends on whether a person is rich and poor, powerful or weak. The group was then asked to think through all the categories of people they know and how each fared in access to information. The first to be mentioned were men, women, old, sick, orphans, boys, girls, disabled, widows and widowers, political leaders…

On the sources of information, facilitators numbered several: radio, television, telephone, cinema, images, newspapers, posters and letters. As before, we noted that these sources are not equally accessible to all.

The participants were given a ranking exercise on accessibility to different source of communication according to category, which also served to highlight some observations from within communities. The following table shows how each medium of communication was ranked for importance to the community:

We then went on to look at the accessibility of different sources according to categories, thereby allowing identification of the groups most vulnerable through lack of access to reliable information.

Sources . Categories Radio Newspaper Letters Television Telephone Internet Total Place
Administrators 7 5 5 6 5 3 30 1st
Politicians 8 8 7 4 2 0 29 2nd
Refugees 7 5 4 5 1 0 22 3rd
Men 7 4 3 3 1 1 19 4th
Boys 7 3 5 4 0 0 19 5th
Widows 4 5 3 3 0 0 15 6th
Girls 4 2 4 3 0 0 13 7th
Women 4 2 1 1 0 0 8 8th
Displaced 2 3 2 0 0 0 7 9th
Elderly 3 1 1 1 1 0 7 10th
Prisoners 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 11th
Total 56 39 35 30 10 4 ---- ----
Place 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th ---- ----

Radio:
With 56 points, radio was deemed significant by facilitators as the medium most used as a source of information and most accessible. Murerwa Leocadie, a facilitator, explained: "In 1993, when the interethnic war began, I was a refugee in Tanzania with my family in Ngara camp. At the time of my journey radio was very important. In the refugee camp, the radio allowed us to know what was going on in our mother country. Old women would even spend all night preparing dinner so as not to miss the programme.

At this time, the station we preferred was the BBC, which broadcast in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda and was considered impartial. Other stations were the National Burundi Radio and Kwizera Radio, the latter broadcast from Ngara itself. If it weren't for these media, my return to my country would have been delayed by months if not years."

Newspapers:
The second most important source of information according to the facilitators, in particular the monthly newsletter EJO initiated by ActionAid Burundi through which they can transmit messages of peace and peaceful cohabitation. The newsletter is distributed free and as such is acceible to everyone who can read.

Letters:
With 35 points, the facilitators affirmed that this is a well-known and long-standing source of information for the less-educated members of the community. Although many are not literate, letters continue to be an important medium of communication. Those who cannot read and write rely on someone to take down their messages or read to them.

Television:
With 30 points it was considered important, mostly because the message is visual and therefore accessible to those without reading and writing skills.

Telephone:
The low importance given is attributed to weak reception and frequency within communities.

Internet:
This source of information is the least important presently and facilitators said that it is never seen in communities and is very modern. The trainer explained how it can be used to transmit messages quickly and as such is a technological advance in communication media.

Women: have great difficulty in receiving information because their time is absorbed in different activities and their mobility is restricted.

Older people: are rarely interested in new and different sources of information.

Displaced: poverty is a great factor for displaced people, as is time.

Prisoners: prison life is very difficult to imagine although it is sure that all prisoners are deprived of information to a considerable degree.

Widows: as with other categories, widows are not so interested in different sources of information, as they do not have spare time.

Children: because of their age and skills in finding information, reading etc, this category is not open to information sources, according to participants of the training, but are more interested in fun.

Documenting local knowledge:
Fred explained that there are two types of knowledge: acquired, for example what is learned at school, and innate, with which you are born, like reflexes. Every human being has knowledge. Local knowledge is that which the community has and use to live and survive. Often people do not even realise that they are sources of valuable information.

What local knowledge does the community have?
Fred asked participants to think through the local knowledge that exists to be safeguarded and shared. Participants numbered several among them knowledge to do with income, social life, careers, health and culture.

How to preserve it?
Facilitators were clear that the only means of preserving traditional knowledge available to the communities was to create a historical library or archive - otherwise the only means of transmission is oral. Information and knowledge which is not given and transformed will diminish or die. After this analysis, all the participants remarked that their knowledge is important for the present and for the future and suggested that they document them using modern technology such as audio-visual equipment. The major problem is electricity. Therefore the trainers proposed that they could think about adopting solar power cells.

Participants also remarked that the oral transmission of a message is efficient within the community, and must not be neglected. But they also suggested that for greater efficiency the use of modern technology would be better.

Who should receive this information?
The group split into four to discuss who could benefit from receiving information and what obstacles they might encounter.

Obstacles Proposed solutions
· Poverty· Misunderstanding with authorities· Insecurity· Lack of electricity · Help vulnerable community to develop· Tell authorities about plan of activities and objectives· Sensitise rebel groups to rejoin negotiation table· See where to find electricity

After the exercise, they were asked to propose a plan of action to take their learning back to the community. The timeline agreed is below: