Burundi : Experts urge investment in human capital

Burundi’s Public Procurement Week has come to life. For six days, from 12 to 17 February 2024, in Bujumbura, the Burundian capital, almost one hundred and fifty people made up of delegates from the public and private sectors, professional organizations and representatives of state institutions from the continent and experts from other parts of the world debated the theme: «Investing in human capital to improve the performance of public procurement».

Public Procurement Week was held in Bujumbura from 12 to 17 February. More than 150 delegates from the public and private sectors, professional organizations and representatives of state institutions from across the continent, as well as experts from other parts of the world, attended the event in the Burundian capital on the theme of «Investing in human capital to improve the performance of public procurement». Senegal was represented by the Director General of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, Mr. Saer Niang.

This meeting coincided with the large-scale training of public procurement practitioners in Burundi.

The forum provided an opportunity to share presentations, lead panels and interactive sessions related to the main theme. Sub-themes included United Nations standards for products and services; improving infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs); e-GP: facilitating public procurement; professionalizing staff in charge of public procurement; the contribution of MAPs to Burundi’s economic development; and public procurement and program budget management, among others.

According to the organizers, the aim of the week dedicated to public procurement is to give participants the opportunity to share experiences and learn from experienced experts in the field of
public procurement in the areas of dematerialization, public-private partnerships, standard norms for all types of products and services, sustainable public procurement and the evaluation of public procurement systems.

The forum served as a forum for exchanging skills and information, which should enable progress to be made in respecting the basic principles of public procurement management, namely freedom of access to contracts, equal treatment of candidates and transparency of procedures.

This meeting was also an opportunity to improve and transfer knowledge to stakeholders in the public procurement system, namely: the public procurement body, the public procurement supervisory body, the public procurement regulatory body, the procurement approving authorities, the private sector and civil society.

This was an opportunity to maintain dialogue and consultation on public procurement issues, with a particular focus on strengthening integrity, ethics, accountability and transparency, ensuring value for money, competition and fairness in the supply chain.