Myanmar has a rich civil society. In addition to the better-known and well-established NGOs in Yangon, thousands of community-based organisations can be found throughout the country, delivering basic services to communities.
This EU-funded project aimed to empower members of these groups to incorporate a rights-based approach into their everyday work to go beyond welfare provision and towards promotion of human rights. This was achieved through:
- capacity-building training of civil society organizations (CSOs), especially in remote or provincial areas of the country, to understand how to incorporate human rights into their everyday activities
- building the capacity and the confidence of CSOs to critically engage with state and non-state actors
- building networks of groups and individuals working in civil society in remote areas. Local development experts were embedded full-time in project locations and able to carefully monitor and support participants to apply knowledge and skills learned on the course
"Firstly, it was greatly beneficial to meet and have network with different ethnic people from different regions. I had a chance to learn about the different regional situations and what the participants have been doing for the development of those communities. We also exchanged and shared our ideas and experiences. I am currently working for a community library and try my best to apply the knowledge I gained from this program. I also cascaded what I have learned to other local people" - Ma Khet Hla, Kalay