Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, persistently falling in to the bottom five countries on the UN Human Development Index with an estimated 1.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Despite the Government of Burundi’s strong engagement for education and its policy of free basic education which led to a significant increase in school enrolment rate in the last decade, an estimated half a million children – or 23% of children aged 6-14 years old- remain out of school. Extreme poverty, as well as family conflicts and child abuse, have also pushed thousands of children to the street. While the Government authorities regularly return children to their communities, without family mediation and livelihoods support, most of these children return to the street.