Myanmar

In support of the extraordinary transition under-way in Myanmar, The Asia Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with theGovernment of Republic of the Union ofMyanmar in May 2013 to re-establish a residentcountry office after an absence of more than 50years. The Foundation’s programs work with part-ners in government, the private sector, and civilsociety to build the country’s capacity for regionaland global integration, strengthen the core institu-tions and processes of democratic governance atnational and local levels, support initiatives forinclusive economic development, promote women’sempowerment; and increase public access to infor-mation through policy research and dissemination,and our Books for Asia program which has been inoperation in Myanmar since 2007.

BUILDING CAPACITY FOR REGIONAL AND

GLOBAL INTEGRATION

Regional and global integration are fundamentalto Myanmar’s successful transition to a more openand dynamic society. To this end, The AsiaFoundation is supporting the Ministry of Foreign(MoFA) to enhance the knowledge of its officialsin critical issues in international relations, particu-larly related to the Association of Southeast AsiaNations (ASEAN) as the country assumed thechairmanship of the regional body in 2014. TheFoundation organized a series of training seminars

in collaboration with MoFA, Ministry of NationalPlanning and Economic Development (MNPED),and Myanmar Institute of Strategic andInternational Studies (MISIS) on a range to topics from India’s Look East policy to preventivediplomacy to ASEAN economic cooperation.

The Foundation supported MoFA officials toattend George Washington University’s summertraining program on U.S. foreign policymakingprocess in 2013 and 2014, organized a trainingcourse on basic research methodology in 2014,and assisted MoFA to establish a library inYangon to provide updated information andresources critical for improved policy research inthe Ministry. Whenever possible, the Foundationalso supports experts from Myanmar to partici-pate in international seminars and forums, suchas “The United States, ASEAN, and East AsiaSummit Strategic Dialogue Symposium” inWashington, DC in 2014.

STRENGTHENING CORE INSTITUTIONS AND

PROCESSES OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

Parliament: Development of well-functioning par-liamentary processes is central to Myanmar’sdemocratic reform. To improve comparativeunderstanding of the structure and operations oflegislative institutions, the Foundation organized astudy tour for members of the Union Parliament

The Foundation

works with partners in

government, the pri-

vate sector, and civil

society to build the

country’s capacity for

effective development

and regional and

global integration.

The Asia Foundation

had a resident office in

Myanmar between

1958-1962 and

re-established the

office in 2013.

The dramatic reforms taken place in Myanmar over the past three years have transformed this long iso-lated country into a more open society, one actively seeking to re-engage with the region and the world.Competitive elections, a lively parliament, a more vibrant media, and a growing civil society have allowedfor debates on a range of issues concerning the nature of the state and the development agenda thatwere previously not possible.

MYANMAR

Our Books for Asia

program has distributed

170,000 books in

Myanmar since 2007.

and Parliament’s Office to South Korea’s NationalAssembly in 2014. The eight-member Myanmar delega-tion learned about the significant ways in which theSecretariat and its support offices contributed to thefunctions of the National Assembly, particularly thoseaspects relating to providing budgeting expertise andenabling public participation in the legislative process.The Foundation also provided special book collectionsto the Parliament’s three libraries.

Decentralization and Local Governance:Decentralization and state-local relations as mandated bythe 2008 Constitution is a critical issue for both thecountry’s stability and its long-term development. A history of highly centralized governance, subnationalconflicts, and ongoing disputes over the constitution,however, mean that the implementation of decentraliza-tion in Myanmar is likely to be a contested and challeng-ing process. Yet the exact dimensions of institutionalarrangements as defined by the Constitution and howthese institutions actually relate on the ground are notwell known to many both inside and outside of govern-ment. Given this context, The Asia Foundation and theCentre for Social and Economic Development of theMyanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI-CESD) carried out a research effort in 2013 aimed atmapping the state of subnational government inMyanmar to contribute to the policy discussions of government, development partners, and civil society orga-nizations on broader governance, peace, and decentraliza-tion issues. The report, State and Region Governments inMyanmar, was launched in September 2013.

Beginning in 2014, the Foundation and CESD began an extended research collaboration, releasing a series of discussion papers focusing on key issues related todecentralization and local governance, including fiscaldecentralization, women’s political participation, and thecentral role of the General Administration Department.Upcoming research will delve more deeply into intrica-cies of subnational governance, looking at the functionsof Development Affairs Organizations (better known asmunicipal offices), collaborations between civil societyand local governments, and the management of localdevelopment funds. All of these research reports can beaccessed on the Foundation’s at asiafoundation.org.

In addition, building on the empirical data from theresearch outlined above, the Foundation has begundirect support to build the capacity of state and regiongovernments to implement necessary changes in thereform process and for further decentralization. In 2014,the Foundation, together with MDRI-CESD and VNGInternational, provided basic training on public financialmanagement (PFM) to relevant officials and members ofstate and region parliaments in Mon and Shan states andin Tanintharyi and Ayeyarwady regions. The PFM train-ing will be extended to all 14 states and regions in 2015.

Elections: Myanmar is scheduled to hold national parliamentary and subnational elections in 2015. Whilenational elections are a major political event in any coun-try, these elections hold exceptional significance inMyanmar given the recent democratic transition. Toinform efforts by both government and civil society to

contribute to effective electoral processes aswell as the long-term goal of building a strongdemocratic state, the Foundation conducted anational survey of civic knowledge and valuesin 2014. The survey found that in the earlystages of Myanmar’s transition to democracy,cautious public optimism is tempered by avariety of challenges, including limited publicknowledge of government institutions andtheir functions, limited understanding ofdemocratic principles, as well as deep politicalpolarization. As such, the Foundation willconsider a range of activities to support civicand voter education in 2015, including work-ing with the Union Election Commission andthe vibrant community of app developers inMyanmar to ensure that information on can-didates, political parties, voter registrationinformation, and other official election infor-mation is provided to the public via web-baseddevices from mobile phones to tablets.

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The success of Myanmar’s reform process will be guidedby the extent to which economic growth can be deliv-ered to address both poverty and competitiveness thatwould generate sustainable and inclusive development.Attracting much needed foreign direct investment iscritical, but providing a conducive environment to fostera vibrant domestic private sector is also important forthe long term. To address the lack of available data andinformation on businesses in Myanmar, the Foundationprovided support to carry out the first-ever nation-widesurvey on business jointly conducted by the OECD,UNESCAP, and the Union of Myanmar Federation ofChambers of Commerce and Industry. The survey aimsto capture a comprehensive picture of the current busi-ness activities and enabling environments in Myanmar.The Foundation has also begun to map issues affectingthe country’s small and medium enterprises, whichdominate the domestic private sector, in their interac-tions with government at the local level, to informfuture program activities.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

Political representation: Women’s representation in politics is low in Myanmar, numbering only 4.42% inthe national parliament and 2.83% in subnational par-liaments according to the Foundation’s own research. As the 2015 general elections will afford women inMyanmar their next opportunity to participate in representative government, concrete insights and recom-mendations from the pioneering group of women par-liamentarians of the current Parliament can serve to

inspire, inform, and improve partic-ipation for the next generation. Tothat end, the Foundation is partner-ing with Phan Tee Eain (CreativeHome), a women’s empowermentorganization, to conduct a surveyand series of case studies of this“first” generation of women parlia-mentarians. When completed in2015, key findings will serve as aplatform for promoting increasedpublic dialogue about the currentcontext of women’s political partici-pation and to identify opportunitiesto increase both the quality and quantity of women in positions of political leadership.

Entrepreneurship: Although women actively participatein economic activities in Myanmar, the Foundation’s2014 civic knowledge and values survey found a strongview within society, cutting across gender lines, thatmen make better business executives than women.Foundation experience over the decades has also identi-fied that networking provides important knowledge butalso inspiration to women entrepreneurs. To this end,the Foundation is supporting opportunities for businesswomen in Myanmar to network, share experiences, andlearn from other women entrepreneurs in the region. In2014, the Foundation supported three Myanmarwomen entrepreneurs to attend the South Asia Women’sEntrepreneurship Symposium in Bangladesh.

Protection and providing opportunities: Trafficking ofwomen and gender-based violence are becoming morevisible since the country’s opening, as more informationis available, but also as a result of socio-economicchange in Myanmar. Recognizing an important need forimproved and accessible counseling services for victimsof trafficking and gender violence, the Foundation part-nered with the Karen Women Empowerment Group tobuild its counseling practice by establishing a safe andconfidential space in which counseling and referral ser-vices can be conducted, as well as supporting furthertraining for the resident counselor. Additionally, theFoundation provided the first international grant to theYangon Bakehouse, a social enterprise, which provideson-the-job training in culinary skills as well as mentor-ship on life skills to disadvantaged women, that will leadto sustainable employment in Myanamar’s burgeoning service and hospitality industry.

12/2014

BOOKS FOR ASIA

The Asia Foundation has been pro-viding donations of new, high-quality,English-language educational andchildren’s books to Myanmar since2007 in partnership with the U.S.Embassy. Over the past seven years,the Foundation has donated nearly170,000 books from leading publish-ers to 351 educational and researchinstitutions throughout the country.Together with the Myanmar BookAid and Preservation Foundation, theFoundation is providing Myanmar-language books to one of the country’s fewmobile libraries operated by the Daw Khin KyiFoundation, an organization founded by NobelPeace Prize-winner and member of parliament,Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Special book collectionson topics of specific relevance have also beenassembled and provided to a number of institu-tions in the country: Ministry of Foreign Affairs,the Parliament’s Office, President’s Office, the

Myanmar Institute of International and StrategicStudies, the Institute of Economics, and theUniversity of Yangon’s International RelationsDepartment. Finally, the Foundation carried outthe first in-depth nationwide study of the coun-try’s public libraries to gauge their operations,capacity, and needs that will inform future sup-port by the Foundation and others to the devel-opment of community libraries in Myanmar.

The Asia Foundation

is a nonprofit international

development organization

committed to improving

lives across a dynamic

and developing Asia.

Headquartered in San

Francisco, The Asia

Foundation works through

a network of offices in

18 Asian countries and in

Washington, DC. Working

with public and private

partners, the Foundation

receives funding from

a diverse group of

bilateral and multilateral

development agencies,

foundations, corporations,

and individuals.

In Myanmar, The Asia Foundation’s programs are also funded by the U.S. Department of State, DFID, AusAID, and private individuals.

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MYANMARNo. 21, Bo Yar Zar StreetWard 14, Kyauk KoneYankin TownshipYangon, MyanmarTel: 95 (1) 570 619Fax: 95 (1) 566 701myanmar.general@asiafoundation.org

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