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Promoting UN’s development work, Norwegian Crown Prince visits Burundi

Promoting UN’s development work, Norwegian Crown Prince visits Burundi

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), today began a four-day visit to Burundi as part of his work to promote global antipoverty targets.

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), today began a four-day visit to Burundi as part of his work to promote global antipoverty targets.

“I am here to learn more about your successes here, abut what you have achieved after the conflict,” he told the press upon touching down in the Great Lakes region nation.

“I am most of all interested in meeting Burundian people and in learning more about how people live here, their hopes and dreams, their aspirations,” the Crown Prince added.

His main objective as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, a position he has held since 2003, is to promote the Millennium Development Goals – eight targets to slash a host of social ills by 2015 – and he is scheduled to visit several humanitarian and development projects aiming to help vulnerable groups.

“With my hosts, I look forward on focusing on some areas where the Burundian Government and the United Nations are in partnership,” the Crown Prince noted.

His programme includes stops at the Stamm Foundation, a national non-governmental organization (NGO) and partner of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which seeks to provide humanitarian assistance and vocational training to orphans and street children, as well as a UN Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) schooling project for street children.

The Goodwill Ambassador will also visit the “Caisse cooperative d’épargne et de credit mutual,” a microcredit project focusing on low-income women, and will attend a theatrical event to curb sexual violence.

In the south-eastern Ghiaro district bordering Tanzania, he will make a stop at the Mukazye seed centre, which is part of a UNDP reintegration and rehabilitation programme for war victims and aims to reduce poverty.

As Goodwill Ambassador, the Crown Prince has also visited Guatemala, Tanzania, Cambodia and Sierra Leone.