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Imelde Sabushimike
Her ExcellencyH.E Imelde Sabushimike has been the Minister of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender, in the Government of Burundi since 2020.
Prior to being appointed as a Minister by His Excellency Major General Evarist Ndayishimiye, the President of the Republic of Burundi, Minister Sabushimike was an active member of UNIPROBA (Unissons nous pour la Promotion des Batwa or Unite for the Promotion of the Batwa), a non-governmental organisation founded in 2003 to defend the rights of the Batwa (Burundi’s First Peoples) community.
Minister Sabushimike and her colleagues have helped improve the quality of life of the Batwa people in Burundi by distributing land, livestock, hoes and seeds to improve food production within their community. Additionally, Minister Sabushimike has been promoting the formal education of Batwa children through the distribution of academic materials and school uniforms in collaboration with UNIPROBA.
Minister’s Sabushimike’s life history reflects community empowerment in practice. In spite of high level of poverty and instability in her family, she was the first Twa woman to complete a bachelor’s degree and the first Twa woman to be appointed as a government minister.