In Burundi, culture remains an underestimated sector in the development field despite its significant potential. Due in great part to the (near) absence of structure of the cultural sector, relations between cultural actors and stakeholders from civil society and the development sector are still uneasy. This is particularly true for the audiovisual industry. The lack of structure reduces the contribution of cultural organizations to the stimulation of the civil society (in development issues, democratic emergence and freedom of speech). Beyond the recurrent problem of lack of funding, cultural actors suffer from a lack of methodological tools, relevant advocacy and visibility within the development field.

Funded by the European Union and carried by Africalia, COPRODAC and Tubiyage, NZORAMA wishes to ignite the Burundese cultural sector as an active actor to the country’s development. COPRODAC is a fairly recent platform that gathers major audiovisual production companies from public, non-profit and private sectors. Tubiyage is a structure member of COPRODAC. Its focus is to use interactive theater and video productions as factors of education and thus trigger of behavioral change in population as participative citizens.

NZORAMA takes part in the structuring and professionalisation of the film production and audiovisual sector in Burundi. Furthermore, NZORAMA wishes to establish COPRODAC as a key network on both local and national level, capable of providing quality services to its members and the local communities.

Over the next two years the program will focus on two objectives : strengthening COPRODAC’s methodological and technical skills ; the promotion and enhancement of visibility towards stakeholders for the audiovisual sector.

In conclusion, Nzorama aims to : consolidate COPRODAC by helping them to develop management tools ; support COPRODAC’s participation to civil society dialogue ; support the creation and management of a website for COPRODAC that will provide visibility to their activities and comprehensive information on the Burundian audiovisual and film industry ; and finally, train member structures in film production so that once professionalized, the future producer can contribute to the enhancement of the quality of local productions.

At the end of the program, COPRODAC should be a structure able to meet the needs of its members and the sector, but also to fully play its role as a factor of national development.