Florent Lowet, a young bioengineer, has just joined our Burundi team as an Enabel Junior Expert to work on promoting agroecology and raising environmental awareness among local producers. He talks to us about the experience.

I'm Florent Lowet, a 30-year-old Belgian with a background in bioengineering. My passion for nature and my commitment to the fight against climate change led me to want to work in development cooperation.

What does the project you're working on in Burundi involve?

This project focuses on promoting agroecology and raising environmental awareness among local producers. The aim is to measure the state of the transition to more sustainable farming practices and to support producers who wish to make the transition. We also need to measure producers' knowledge of the dynamics between the environment and their production activities, and vice versa. Beneficiaries who so wish can then define commitments to reduce the potential negative impacts between their activity and the environment identified and benefit from support.

What is your role in this project?

As a junior expert, my role is to provide technical support and contribute to project implementation. I will work closely with local partners to facilitate the collection, analysis and interpretation of data relating to agricultural and environmental practices. I will also provide training to promote the use of the TAPE (Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation) and OIE (Outil d'Intégration Environnementale-Producteur/Productrice) tools. I will also be using these two tools to carry out surveys of beneficiaries. I'm also working on developing recommendations for improving the two tools. Generally speaking, my aim is to strengthen the skills of the teams in the field and propose other innovative solutions to the challenges encountered, but also to capitalise on the results of the experiences of the two projects in relation to agroecology and the environment and ensure that they are shared with the Belgian ACNGs, Enabel and other stakeholders.

What are your impressions of the start of this mission?

Although still short, my experience in Burundi has been both stimulating and rewarding. Despite some health problems, I'm enthusiastic about adapting to the climate, the working environment, and contributing fully to my professional responsibilities. My colleagues have been very welcoming and caring. They are all very enthusiastic about my work in the team and the two projects.

Find out more about our projects in Burundi