Who We Are

Our Funder

Deo Hakizimana was born in Kanerwa (Burundi) in 1954. Father of six children, he was originally a teacher turned journalist and diplomat by trade and training. Also a writer, playwright and composer, Mr. Hakizimana founded in Geneva in 1996 the Independent Center for Research and Initiatives for Dialogue (CIRID), an African and international NGO with special consultative status with ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council).

A political actor in his country for at least 40 years, he was elected in 2008 to the “National Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism” (MNSE) of the “Dialogue frameworks” project run jointly by the Government of Burundi and the United Nations, which have experienced in this country, as was the case in Sierra Leone, the new concept of peacebuilding in post-conflict Africa under the supervision, in New York, of the Commission of the same name. A certificate of merit was awarded to him for his role in this project.

Living between Geneva and Bujumbura and committing to peace in Africa, he initiated the concept called “demining of minds” and that of internal dynamic voluntarism that has already yielded fruits especially in his country where his role in the reconciliation of protagonists has already borne fruit.

A recognized advocate of strategies for promoting the skills of the diaspora, he organizes annually, in Geneva, the now traditional “Days of dialogue Switzerland-Africa”, focused on the creation of inter-community bridges for a new look cooperation in reports North south healthier.