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June &July 2014

NEWs

Myan

ma

r

“the first time in AAM history for a Chief Minister visiting LRP village. ”

Photo&Text/ Tauhid, Head of Programme, Policy and Campaign

Inspired by AAM’s work,

the Ministry of Social

Welfare, Relief and Re-

settlement (MoSWRR)

has launched its new pro-

gramme of volunteer de-

velopment named “ Youth

Volunteer for Emergency

Response and Social

Welfare ”, aiming to cre-

ate a pool of skilful and

well equipped youth vol-

unteers for emergency

response and social de-

velopment. The launching

ceremony was held in

Pathein and attended by

Union Minister, deputy

Minister for MoSWRR

and Chief Minister of

Ayeyarwaddy Region U

Thein Aung, Pathein is

part of AAM’s LRP area

with the specific focus on

DRR, as this region was

severely hit by the Cy-

clone Nargis in 2008 and

is now still vulnerable to

such disaster. AAM has

thus developed the user -

friendly version of Disas-

ter Management Law and

Hazards Pamphlet, and

officially handed it over to

ministries at this day.

With the support of AAM,

UN agencies and other

INGO, it is expected that

this volunteer programme

will scale up in other are-

as in the near future.

Waking up the Spirit of Volunteerism ! Myanmar government launched the community volunteer programme. ws

Text/ Floor, Manager- Project Management Support

For villagers living in

Pathein,14 July is another

big day, as they received

an unusual guest, the

Chief Minister of

Ayeyarwaddy Region, U

Thein Aung. “We have

never seen anything like

this. All these invita-

tions were sent and now

we have all these senior

officials in our village!” ,

a village elder stated. The

Chief Minister honoured

Nyaung Gone Village

with his presence and

words of encouragement

and support. All villagers

dressed up in their Sun-

day-best and Fellow pre-

sented the Village Book.

U Thein Aung stressed

that in this first visit to a

village supported by AAM

and Pathein Myaung Mya

Association , he could

witness the work that is

being done first-hand for

community development

in the region.

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Governance & Campaign

Kayin Field Visit of EU Delegation Mrs. Elisabeth(left) and Mr. Dirk

Meganck (right) .

On 23 June 2014, 5 delegates from EU

jointly visited Ah Nan Pin Kone village in Hpa-

Ann township, where is part of AAM’s project

area. Funded by European Commission, the

project implemented in Kayin state is with the

focus to advance the capacity of local non-state

actors who devoted themselves to the

development of Kayin community. This 4-year

long project started from 2011 has covered 31

communities in Kayin where there’s a long

history of conflicts and political instability. With

the approach of bottom-up planning

development, now the Kayin state government

starts acknowledging the voice from the

communities and is willing to use Village Book

as planning tool.

The EU team also met with the Kayin Chief

Minister and understood more about the impact

of project such as how the livelihood is

improved because of the tube well construction

and how the Child-Centre Approach teaching

methods generate students’ interest in learning.

AAM has been implementing the DANIDA funded

project “Citizens for Accountability in Public Service

Financing (CAPSF)” since 2011, and a follow-up project

just started this May to continue supporting the

decentralisation process and the institutionalisation of

participatory bottom-up planning in Myanmar. Built on the

achievement of CAPSF project such as the roundtable

discussion on budgeting and the nurturing of citizen

journalists, AAM now aims to promote meaningful

participation in the electoral process and to increase

access to quality education in target areas. The already

established “budget watch group” will be strengthened and

the “School Management Committee” will be scaled up in

the following 3 years. Facing the coming election next

year, 2015 will be a vital year for Myanmar’s transition

process, and all the CSOs as well as the government need

to be well prepared.

(From left to right) Mrs. Daw May, Field Coordinator; Mrs. Elisabeth Pirnary,

programme manager-social; Mr. Manuel De Rivera, programme manager– peace

support; Mrs. Isable Faria De Almeida, EU delegation to Myanmar; Naw Htee

Hla, Fellow; Mr. Ian Hoskins, head of sector from DEVCO (Directorate of General

for Development and Cooperation); Mr. Dirk Meganck, director of Asia, Central

Asia and the Pacific from DEVCO; Kyaw Than and Sein Phae, VCBO members.

Promoting Just and Democratic Governance in the Reform Process

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Governance & Campaign

Enhancing Transparency and Accountability Social Audit promoted

community good practice

“Even the children know the quality of the building. They know exactly the ratio of cement, sand, and other materials used.”, said a villagers from Hti Tan village.

As now there’re more public services such as libraries and schools reaching at the village level, there’s a need for the stakeholders to get involved in both the implementation process and final evaluation in order to encourage good practice, strengthening quality services and promoting the idea of transparency and accountability.

Aiming to raising awareness about the importance of monitoring and evaluating public services, AAM piloted the first social audit in two villages in Pyapon Township during this May, and the lesson-learned was widely shared after analysis.

By introducing the practice of social audit to the implementation committee, government officials and local communities, the stakeholders have a chance to review their work and share experiences between different villages. By measuring the road and the school building (photo 1), they can verify the quality of those construction; when checking the vouchers, they can tell whether the budget proposed and the money spent match. In the auditing process, different groups are involved including children (photo 2), women and village committee, and the finding was presented in the final public hearing session where the participant can raise their concern and question the responsible person.

It is suggested that such practice enhanced community’s participation and strengthen CBOs, while more technical input is needed to get a better understanding of social audit, and it would be great if media can also be involved in such process.

World Environment Day

Activista campaigned for sustainable development. Activista in Myanmar has been organised campaigns in

World Environment Day (5 June) for three years, and of

course this year is not an exception ! This time Activista is

collaborating with Gaihahital (a local environment network),

Fellows CBOs and youth groups to mobolise the activities

at about 155 places with 2250 participants across

Myanmar. Campaign activities include trees plantation,

garbage collection and education workshops. Document

such as research paper and video clip are developed to be

used as advocacy tool for sustainable development. It is

expected that those activities will strengthen the network of

youth groups, LRPs and global platforms and strategise for

the coming campaigns throughout the year.

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With the dedication of Global Platform, the

training centre of AAM, a one-month

training on “Youth Participation in

Governance” was successfully completed

on the last day of July. This is the 6th batch

of the Governance series training and we

received more than 20 young people from

both Myanmar and neighbouring countries,

including India and Cambodia (photo 1).

With the focus of local democracy, the

training integrated theory with practical

exercise and field excursions. Moreover,

both local and international trainers/guest-

speakers were invited to share their

experience and bring about new ideas in

terms of governance and the transition

process of current Myanmar. One Myanmar

participant said “I’ve learned a lot about

the political theory and the concept of

decentralisation, though it sounds a bit

difficult to understand, those are all new

learning for me and I am happy coming

to the training.”

On 18th July, those young people also

came together commemorating the Nelson

Mandela Day (photo 2). Organising film and

music session together with our local

partner, Turning Table, those young

professional are using their way to change

Youth & Education

Nurturing Youth Leaders and Visualising Human Rights in time of transition

Longing for Knowledge community library brings about new hopes for rural Myanmar

The community library “Za Bu Htun ” was officially

opened on 6th June in Let Pan Eint village, Meikhtila.

With the efforts of Fellows, community villagers and the

financial support from AAM, the library was finally

completed and now it becomes the new centre of

knowledge in this rural village.

“To maintain the library systematically to be

sustainable by forming library committee, request for the books which is useful for children, youth and villagers from outside, urging the children to read books and study at library etc. “, said the government official in the ceremony.

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For more information about new training and events, please visit

their facebook page: Global Platform and Turning Table.

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LRPs & Fellows

LRP 5 Sarlingyi is Now on Board ! Child-Profile Collection + Fellowship Round One Training

This June, AAM officially

launched its 5th LRP (Local

Rights Programme) in Sarlingyi,

Sagaing region, which is one of

the poorest areas in Myanmar,

and now this area even face

more challenges due to extreme

climate and mining projects.

Land grabbing, floods, outbreak

of disease and other disaster are

becoming prevalent in this region

that threaten people’s livelihood

and limit their opportunity for

sustainable development.

After half a year’s appraisal, it is

identified that to promote access

to natural resource, right to

education, women’s right and to

strengthen local government will

be the main focus for the 10-year

long programme. The 3-week

Fellow Round One training was

just completed in July, and the

collection of 1100 child profiles is

also on its way.

Though newly started, with the

specific approach of AAM’s

Fellowship Programme and

Village Book, LRP 5 already

received much attention from the

regional government. Several

government officials are even

assigned by relevant

departments to work together

with fellows in respective

villages!

Bottom-up Planning Training Round Two Myanmar Youth is taking the lead

Meikhtila Fellow Organisation, a CBO established by

Fellows alumni in 2013, conducted the second round

Bottom-up Planning training with 150 participants

from 42 villages plus government officials from

relevant departments (the first round was on 10th

May). This event gave both the community and

government a chance to understand the current

administrative structure, policies and the importance

of including community’s voice when doing

development work. “It’s our responsibility to go to

the field. ”stated one official after the training.

Open Sky School in Sarlingyi. As there’s no separate classrooms

in the school hall, the teachers thus brought all the students

outside to continue the sessions.

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Sustainable Livelihood

“Now we have a bigger dream, a dream that

there will be water tap in every household and all

the children can go to school. We have greater

expectation now because we’ve experienced the

harvest thanks to the Yinn Daing Taung Dam ”

community in Inn Yaung Village.

Saving Water Feeding Dreams The Story of Yinn Daing Taung Dam, Myaing

Photo &Text / Yi Lan

Surrounded by members of advisory mother

group, the village head, the elders, Fellow and

even toddlers in Inn Yaung Village, it was an

inspiring evening about how their dreams come

true as a result of the Yinn Daing Taung Dam.

For people living in dryzone Myanmar, to reserve

enough water for irrigation or daily usage is always

their first concern, and the issue of water becomes

more urgent due to the delay of rainfall in recent

years.

30 years ago a simple ditch was made to divert the

water in this area, and soon a dam was

constructed. Unfortunately, the old dam was

seriously damaged during Cyclone Giris in 2010.

With the financial support of AAM, the dam was

repaired in 2011, and it is even extended by local

government in the summer of 2014.

“In 2013 I harvested 40 baskets of rice, while

before that I only had 15 baskets maximum

because of delayed rainfall.” stated the lady.

Now their income and harvest is double and they

said “finally we have some spare time and

money for social life!” Whether the rainfall

delays or not doesn’t matter much now, because

as long as there’s rain coming, the dam can

reserve enough water for the whole year!

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Photo taken by Yi Lan

Women’s Rights

The first Global Summit to End Sexual Violence

in Conflict took place in London on 10-13 June

2014, where about 900 participants from more than

100 countries were invited to share their experience

and commitment to end sexual violence in conflict.

Melanie Hilton (women’s rights advisor) and Ni Ni

Myint (partnership development manager) are

among the 10-people delegation group from

Myanmar, including members of civil societies and

foreign minister.

Becoming the 150th country to sign the Declaration

to End Violence in Conflict this June, Myanmar also

commemorated the UN Security Council Resolution

1325 last October to recognise women’s positive

contribution to peace as well as to take on the

responsibility to end sexual violence in conflicts.

However, a National Action Plan on those

commitment is till not yet in place in Myanmar, and

there’s a need to put this commitment into practice.

More than 20 sessions were included in the summit, such as “Improving the collection and use of evidence and data”, “vulnerability of children”, “the role of peacebuilder“...etc.

No More Impunity in

Conflict Zone Global Summit urged the world

to draw an end on sexual

violence in conflict

Photo/ End Sexual Violence in Conflict Facebook page

Women’s Rights as Cross-Cutting Issue Empowerment, Livelihood, Leadership and more...

To promote Women’s Rights is one of AAM’s programme

priorities to enable women to live free of fear and

violence and to be economically independent.

Recently the Social Economic Development Network

(SEDN), a project providing vocational training to rural

women, just updated their products catalogue which can

be accessible on its Facebook page. And by considering

women’s experience in DRR, people are better able to

respond to the disaster in a more comprehensive way.

Furthermore, Myanmar Women’s Day was celebrated in

Meikhtila where Township Administrator and members of

Women’s Affair Association also joined.

Integrating Women’s Rights to all programme activities

ranging from research to advocacy in all levels, AAM

aims to challenge the gender norms in Myanmar and

generate alternatives for both women and men.

Vocational training, SEDN project

Photo/ Thet Oo Maung

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International Engagement

A 3-day Mekong Regional Dialogue held by NGO Forum on ADB (Asian

Development Bank) took place in Cambodia in early June. Wunna Htun,

AAM’s Governance Coordinator, was invited to share the advocacy and

campaign experience from Myanmar. After 30 years, ADB just started

giving loans to Myanmar for the first time in 2013, and ADB is now really

excited about the changes happening in Myanmar and ready to position

itself with new strategy towards Asian region. During 23-26 July, Wunna

also participated as a panellist in the NGO forum’s annual/safe guard strategy

meeting in Manila, where he gave an overview of ActionAid’s work in Myanmar and

gave suggestion about how ADB may engage with the current context. The Forum is

an Asia-led network of CSOs that aims to advocate for meaningful public

participation and dialogue, and it has been specifically working on monitoring and

giving structural critiques on the policies and programmes of ADB.

6th Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR

What ActionAiders Do around the World?

Building Alliance in Asia Pacific

The Asia Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) is a

biennial conference in the Asia region to ensure political and stakeholder’s

commitment towards DRR implementation. Five AMCDRR conferences

have been organised by countries in Asia since 2005, and this year the

conference was hosted by Royal Thai Government in collaboration with

UNISDR. Khual Tawna, the DRR programme manager from AAM, also

attended the meeting as a representative of AAM, Myanmar DRR Working Group

and the Government ministry. This conference is a venue for countries, organisation

and practitioners to discuss and share their knowledge. An out-come document will

be produced and serve as an advocacy tool in the coming World Conference on DRR

in 2015.

David Archer’s First Visit in Myanmar

The head of programme development unit, David Archer, paid a short

but valuable visit to AAM in early June. First time visiting Myanmar, he

already felt the dynamic and growth of this relatively new country

programme in Myanmar. Giving credits to Fellowship approach and

Village Book, David also reminded us about the challenge to keep pace

with the changing context. In the seminar session, he shared about how

ActionAid evolves from a need-based to right-based organisation, and how

the strategy is changed because of the lesson-learned since 1970’s. Finally he

pointed out that “Actionaid Myanmar can play a pivotal role on education in

the coming years !” as the rising opportunities, global collaboration and the

grassroots evidence that AAM can generate.

For David’s reflection on

AAM, please see the Story

Hub in HIVE.

More information on

the conference

including background

documents, please

visit AMCDRR

For more information, please visit NGO forum on ADB and Asian Development Bank

ActionAid Federation: Directors Forum in Netherland

AAM’s Country Director, Shihab Uddin Ahamad, attended the 2-day ActionAid Director Forum in late

June in Amsterdam. In the forum, Country representatives from all AA federation set together to share

about experience from different countries, establish 3-year perspective plan to conclude “People’s

Action” by 2015, and build vision for 2025.

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Editorial

The content of this NewsLetter is the contribution from all the colleagues in AAM and in consultation with relevant focal persons. Feedback and comments are greatly welcome. Address: 1 Wingabar Road, Shwe Gone Daing, Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar Tel: +95 1546671 Website: www.actionaid.org Facebook: Actionaid Myanmar Actionaid Myanmar

Capacity Development & Upcoming Events

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August 2014

Culture of Learning M&E, HRBA and Communication Training

Supported by the People4Change capacity development

programme, AAM is currently hosting 7 Advisors and 3

Inspirators coming from around the world, bringing their

knowledge and experience to Myanmar. Their expertise covers

Impact Assessment, Human Rights, Women’s Rights,

Governance...etc., and series of workshops were conducted in

recently months. In the latest monthly M&E training (photo1),

we integrated the component of Accountability and Impact

assessment with the support of Jake Phelan (M&E manager

from AAUK). And the on-going process of PRRP and HRBA

will continue to be institutionalised in the following months. On

the other hand, with the increasing demand from Myanmar

government to integrate Village Book as part of regional

development plan, AAM now aims to create a pool of

experienced trainers with adequate facilitation skills and

knowledge on sustainable development (photo 2, TOT on

Village Book& HRBA). A two-day communication training also

took place to enhance the reporting system and to capture

Stories of Change.

Coming Soon...

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AAM’s Annual Report 2013: Empowering People for Change is

now available online! Click here for downloading.

Child-sponsorship: child photo collection + child message collection PQIAC: 2-month country-wide PRRP Process Governance: Pro-Poor Budgeting Training with Ayeyarwaddy Parlia-

ment; Public Seminar on “Myanmar’s Future Economic Development: Alternatives to the Free Market Approach”

DRR: KAP survey in DIPECHO area; Gender training. Livelihood: pond water & pipe connection for Kangyitaw East & West in

Myaing Township. Women’s Rights: Training Toolkit Development Youth: Dryzone Fellows Conference Global Platform: Creative Activism Training and Campaign Training

Visitors: AA Bangladesh; SIDA Donor; Rick Rowden, manager of interna-tional governance team.