Switzerland - IOM has handed over 170 tablets yesterday to the Burundian Post Office (RNP) as part of an integrated project between the Universal Postal Union (UPU), RNP and IOM which seeks to utilize different components of the postal sector in Burundi to achieve lasting socio-economic development for the rural population as well as for the Burundian diaspora.

Kristina Mejo, IOM Burundi’s Chief of Mission, Fédéric Francois Sigejeje, Permanent Secretary of Burundi’s Communications Ministry and Benjamin Niyokindi, Director General of the RNP were present at the hand-over ceremony.

The IOM-RNP-UPU project aims to reduce remittance costs, thereby contributing to the well-being of migrants and to development.  The tablets, when coupled with a network and 3G connectivity, will improve access to communication services, thereby enabling the money transfer process, reducing remittance costs and promoting financial education for mainly rural users of RNP’s financial services.

Specifically, they will utilize UPU’s International Financial System (IFS), a tool which allows postal operators to provide money transfer services. Other services that will become more accessible thanks to this project include access to credit for migrants and rural populations, as well as access to international markets for small producers. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Mejo said: “Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa sent home USD 35.2 billion in 2015. However, many remittances are overcharged by money transfer companies. Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average cost of 9.5 percent, remains the region with the highest transfer costs in the world. These costs place a heavy burden on families in countries of origin and affect their well-being.”

She added: “These tablets will provide the infrastructure for financial transfers and services, thus establishing a functional low-cost international money transfer operation in the remittance corridors to Burundi.” Mejo also thanked UPU and other partners, in particular Turkey and the Belgian Development Agency for their support.

In his remarks, Niyokindi said: “This project falls in line with the policy of the Government of Burundi to maximise the benefits of microfinance and money transfer and exchange.” He added that for Burundi this project was of a “capital importance” as a means of reaching out to the diaspora and to help educate Burundians on the role of savings and financial inclusion.

Sigejeje, who attended the ceremony on the Minister’s behalf, said that the project was “economically viable and certain” and that it would greatly contribute towards the “amelioration of money transfers which will help families, financial inclusion, financial education and access to markets.”

For further information, please contact Bruce Reed at IOM HQ in Geneva, Tel: +41 22 717 9330, Email: breed@iom.int or Kristina Mejo at IOM Burundi, Tel: +257 754 00220, Email: kmejo@iom.int